Signs

   

I first noticed Teddy was behind in his speech. Wasn't surprising due to him constantly having ear infections. I often thought his hearing was compromised from the pressure and buildup from the infections. He had a hearing test before surgery and it showed it wasn't impaired. I don't even recall the amount of antibiotic treatments poor teddy bear went through. One right after the other. The medicine would make his stomach hurt and his nose would not stop running. He was chapped all over. He had his adenoids, tonsils removed and tubes placed in his ears at 14 months old. At 14 months he wasn't saying words. He had just began to get sturdy on his feet walking. I do recall at this time he was making eye contact. Im sure Im missing some of the signs and I am by no means a doctor. I absolutely loathe school and would much rather hyper fixate from topic to topic.

 

At a year and a half the signs started to add up. Teddy liked to walk backwards, or even forwards but with his eyes closed or scrunched up. He loved to watch lights circulate. sometimes we would think he was engaging with a toy but now looking back he was stimming from the lights. OBSESSED with water. Couldn't keep him dry, didn't want to miss a moment of water play.

Teddy would hold toys close to his face and kind of dance them from the right side to the left side of his face while grimacing. Teddy never really played with toys as they were intended, instead he would focus on one part of a toy, say a wheel to a car.

He'd cover his eyes a lot, not answer to his name, wouldn't point to objects or follow your gesture, has a sensitivity to certain frequencies of sounds, Teddy wouldn't speak so he would hand lead us to things he wanted or places he wanted to go. He would elope if the opportunity presented itself. Teddy is very into his routine and would get upset if you deviated from his usual, He's shake his head side to side and seemed to enjoy the sensation of being dizzy, he would also spin circles without getting dizzy. Teddy walked on his tip toes often, needed all the doors to be closed, He had no interest in people it seemed. You could speak to him without him ever acknowledging you were there, or once my moms dog was being crazy cute jumping and playing in the water hose but Teddy didn't see it, didn't acknowledge it. He seemed to be in his own space doing what he needed to do without regard of others presence.  

I was seeing all of these things adding up to his second birthday. Jamison took him to his wellness check. Brought back the MCHAT test for me to go over and send in later. I FREAKING DESPISE THESE TEST AND EVALUATIONS. This is a horrible way to evaluate kids. The pediatrician had no concerns over Teddy's delays. I called the next day and pushed for a referral for an autism evaluation. I'm not the type to sit and wait, I knew Teddy was not where he needed to be as far as milestones go and had already started researching possible causes for the delays. We were referred to Dr. Mike Rios and that is where our evaluation for Autism began. 

I guess this post is mostly to encourage you to follow your gut, go with your instincts and become an expert. Educate yourself enough to know how and when to advocate for your child. I didn't want to ask for an evaluation but I knew its what needed to be done if I wanted resources available to Teddy.