Autism

This is a completely random blog post, just stemmed from some recent articles that have been published and on the radio, all over CNN lately. I just felt like I needed to put my 2 cents worth in as well. If you agree or don't agree, I personally dont' care either way. These are my thoughts and opinions and the reason why I blog.

Obviously, we've know the number of children being diagnosed with an Autism disorder has increased TONS over the years. These radio/news reports state they are trying to figure out WHY they've risen so much. Here's my take on the situation. I feel that however many years ago they "started" tracking cases, the umbrella of Autism wasn't as prevalent as it is now. (or Dr's didn't care to make it as prevalent, might be a better way of saying that) I think only "classic" Autism was what was tracked. It's those children that were "labeled" with the specials needs innuendo. It wasn't the children that had sensory issues, or social issues, or anything like that, it was the more severe signs so to speak.  Autism as we know is a HUGE umbrella of numerous types different developmental {Brain} delays. You have PDD-NOS, you have Kanner "classic" autism, You have Aspergers, and Rett Syndrome just to name a few. Now a days, so many children are able to get help at such a YOUNG age that things are looked at so differently. Early Intervention, which has always been around, has become more of a tool for parents like us. We are better directed to search for help, and get answers to our questions, and diagnosis' for our children. Our doctor's have a better understanding of these disorders as well.  Here's why I really think that number has risen so much over the past decade or so.

Courtney was born in 1997 - no developmental "autism" testing was done on her AT all, outside of a typical physical examination and the doctor normal developmental questions. There was no checklist to go off in regards to any one disabilities.

Caden was born in 2005 - Again, there was still no physical "autism" testing done on him either. HOWEVER ~ We had an amazing doctor, who noticed, that between his 9 month check up and his 12 month check up, that he regressed in numerous area, instead of progression in others. If he would learn a new skill, the other skills that he had already learned, were all lost. He no longer had words, or could roll a ball. Thankfully our awesome doctor, noted that this was not "typical" suspected something was right, and got us in touch with early intervention. Caden began therapy by the age of 14/15 months old. It was his team of therapists that noticed even more severe delays and recommended that we take it a step further and see a developmental ped and find out what was going on. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with Aspergers, ADHD, anxiety and Oral Motor Apraxia by the age of 3. He was fluent in sign language and never began speaking verbally until 4/5 years old.

****Those articles all state that when caught early enough, a child diagnosed can and will grow up to become a typical child. I firmly believe this. Look at how early Caden's delays were caught. How soon we started therapy for him. Not just speech, but OT, Counseling, and special education. Long before he was even 1.5 years old. Full time therapy and classes at a school at the age of 3 in a 6:1:1 class. That's huge!  Do I think Caden is a "typical" child right know? No, not at all. Caden has his quirks. He still {to us} shows lots of Aspergers symptoms. He still struggles with speech/apraxia problems. He still shows a ALOT of ADHD and most importantly, he has a LOT of learning disabilities to overcome. BUT he has come FAR in 6 years. Farther then he ever would have come, had we not traveled the route we would have. We go back to Rochester for more testing next week. DO I think they will keep his diagnosis the same? Nope, not at all. He probably doesn't show enough "autism" signs to be classified as such any longer, but he still nonetheless, has some pretty severe developmental/emotional delays. And I am interested to see what we walk away with next week.

Colin was born in 2007 - exactly 10 years after Courtney was born. Only 2 years after Caden. The things that changed in those years were drastic! I couldn't believe the amount of testing they did and questions and paperwork that you have to fill out. Your actually asked "do you think your children may be autistic"? Or maybe we were only asked that because we had one child diagnosed already? Regardless, Colin at his 12 month/18 month and 24 month appt WAS given autism testing. he passed 12/18 months. By 24 months, he was already showing delays and not long after 24 months, he was diagnosed with severe anxiety. He began therapy before the age of 2 as well. He still does. Speech, OT, PT, counseling, and special Ed. he's been in a therapy based school program class room since he was 3 as well. Because of Col's Anxiety, getting diagnosis for him was much much more difficult. You have to work through all that anxiety to figure out the underlying causes etc. He acted as if he has ADHD (which is does now) But was the ADHD playing out as anxiety, or the anxiety playing out as ADHD?? We had to work HARD for over a year to get Colin the proper treatment, let alone a diagnosis. (which in the end, was Aspergers/ADHD) explaining where his anxiety's came from. Thankfully, with meds, Colin is much easier to live with. However, therapy is STILL very prominent in our lives and he has a LONG way to come.

So you see, after my novel, I feel like the number have risen so much more, is because it's tested more often. AND the different aspects of it are diagnosed  more often, not just "classic" autism. Mine were diagnosed with Aspergers. They have a family member diagnosed with PDD-NOS. 10/20 years ago, where those "other" parts of the umbrella counted? I personally dont' think they were.

And let's not get started on what causes Autism. If you ask me, It's the way my children were born. They came out of utero with these delays and disabilities. They didn't wake up one day and were "autistic" maybe one day they had a diagnosis yes, but they weren't fine one second and not the next day. Looking back at infancy - EACH of the boys had alot going on. And this all makes so much more sense to us now. I believe it's genetic. I believe it's who they were obviously meant to be. It bothers me that people try to "blame" things on making their children the way they are. They don't "have" or didn't "get"  Autism, they ARE autism. Love it and embrace it for what it is.

And if you'd like to read the article from CNN Click HERE Mike and I, had conversation over this at dinner last night!