PotteryGal
Active Member
I found it alarming how misdiagnosed it is. I think she said that she noticed that something wasn't right when he was a baby and the doctor said something like it being an inner ear infection or something. It wasn't until he was in Pre-school or Kindergarten that a teacher (an underpaid teacher) caught it.
I actually did a research project on autism back in college...but it was more focused on the "gifted" autistic children with the amazing abilities.
That is sooo frustrating. There's this misconception that boys develop slower than girls and that moms are just overreacting. We can't afford to do that anymore. What needs to happen is a developmental screening within the first two years of age. There are also two possibilities...one being infantile autism, the other being regressive (that is more heart wrenching I think). In regressive, the child's development is normal until about 15-18 months, some cases they start talking, and then boom....everything goes away.
With Joel, he was, as we described it, a very laid back boy from birth. We attributed it to a personality difference with his sister, who is very type 'A'. Around his first birthday, we noticed he would look at the TV peripherally, not straight on. He also covered his ears when we sang happy birthday to him. As he grew older, language would not develop...he would say a word once and then never say it again. I think the biggest alert to us was one Easter, we were doing an egg hunt at my mom's and he broke away from his dad and started running for the road. We called his name, we told him to stop, and he kept running. Fortunately, DH caught up to him, but they took a tumble on the pavement. And there was a car coming, but they had seen and slowed down. That was the first BIG clue that Joel was in his own little world. He was 27 months, and he was officially diagnosed just before his third birthday.
Wow, sorry, didn't mean to write a mini-novel.
