new difficult child 2

[Liahona]

Well the past few days have convinced me that easy child 1 is actually difficult child 2. Fits, fits, fits!!!! Mostly over communication. He knows what he wants. He knows the sign for what he wants. BUT he can't sign to us what he wants. Its very frustrating for a little 2 year old. Sunday he got so upset he gave up on breakfast and just wanted comfort. It was heart breaking. I so wanted to know what he wanted. He is so sweet and loving. The autism specialist has been pointing out some things to us. Like, he doesn't look you in the eye. He'll look at you when you talk to him, but he won't make eye contact. He doesn't ask for things he needs. He'll patently wait until his frustration level is over flowing. He even pushed her away when she tried to make eye contact with him. She also wants us to get a sensory test because difficult child 2 is exhibiting some sensory issues. He likes to be wrapped tightly, he hits/bangs his head, doesn't like a certain pair of socks unless they're on wrong side out. She says he has some real postives and she is optimistic. She also gave us some ideas to help him learn to make eye contact and warned us it'll take forever to learn. She has definitatly opened our eyes/ educated us about our wonderful difficult child 2. I like her.

Some of you will remember the awful psychiatrist apointment difficult child 1 had. (difficult child 2 ended up screaming for over an hour because the psychiatrist induced a meltdown. And then the psychiatrist blamed it on my parenting.) The autism specialist wanted difficult child 2 to go be diagnosed by the same psychiatrist. I didn't want to and told her why. (I'm also trying to find a developmental pediatrican.) She asked the psychiatrist about it. The psychiatrist is now backpeddling as fast as she can. I have an appointment with her on Friday for difficult child 1. I'll see how it goes. I'm glad I could find a babysitter for difficult child 2 and easy child.

 

[SRL]

I'm really glad you have an Autism specialist to help give you some guidance. I know this isn't good news that you are wanting to hear from her but the good news is that you are catching this very early (thanks to a persistant mother I remember) and that of all of the disorders that come through here, kids with ASDs tend to respond to early intervention in very positive ways.

One of the downsides to having to work with higher up specialties such as child psychiatry and developmental pediatricians is that there really aren't too many choices since there aren't very many of them. Frankly, none of them that we saw were doctors I was very thrilled with although they were exeptionally good at the diagnostic end of things. I finally came to the conclusion that unless I was willing to travel a number of hours from home for regular appointments my "shopping" was going to be limited to a very few individuals and I was going to take what was useful from them and ignore the rest. ;-)

Thanks for the update--keep us posted.

 

[tiredmommy]

Emily,
Welcome over to ECZ, I really wish you didn't have to be here.
Bravo to you for addressing this so early! You just gave difficult child 2 the best chance to have a happy and productive life. :bravo:
Be prepared for lots of dead ends and detours along the way. I know you will fight to get your son what he needs. :warrior: