A taste of Autism? Maybe.

I know I left you hanging at the beginning of the week while I processed some thoughts and tried to organize them in my mind so I thought I'd try to bring you up to speed on what's going on with Carson. As you probably know, we took him to a neuropsychologist (whew...long word) on Monday and talked to her about things that we have been seeing in him over the past year. She didn't spend any one on one time with Carson but just sat and listened to us and then asked us questions and then booked him another appointment for testing in June. Testing could reveal that he's o.k. but from what we've told the doctor, this is what she thinks.....

Carson is what she considered PDD-NOS which means, Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified. If you go to http://www.autismspeaks.org/ you can type PDD-NOS in the search box and it will bring up some more things to read.

What this means is that while Carson is not exhibiting behaviors of someone with full blown autsim, he is exibiting enough for them to be recognized and somewhat concerned. His inability to adjust to crowds of people, tip toe walking, rubbing head on the carpet most of the time while playing with toys, spinning, his small selection of food choices, along with even more was enough reason for concern for Brad and I and so we felt it best not to wait until kindergarten to see if it went away on it's own. We were afraid if we waited that long, then the problems would only mount.

So the doctor gave pretty firm instructions to get more speech therapy involved, along with more occupational therapy and some ABA therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis) this will give him more time with kids and teach him how to interact with them better.

I left the appointment on Monday with a long list of numbers and people to call and felt at peace with things. The best part was that we didn't feel like we were crazy, this behavior really isn't "normal." Then, I woke up on Tuesday feeling completely depressed and not really wanting to believe this was happening to us. Even though, I have suspected it for almost a year now. I made a few phone calls that day that had to be made and then called it quits so I could just try to take it all in but quite honestly, all I wanted to do was sleep so I did lay down for a little while in the afternoon while Gabby was at school.

I am feeling better about things today. I know we're going to get through this and I shouldn't have been surprised by what the doctor said but, it still isn't something you want to hear about your child. Don't get me wrong, Carson is a lovable, happy little guy, we just know he has some issues that need to be worked out. So...here we go..................I'll keep posting on our progress and how testing goes in June! Thanks for your prayers!