The Ups and Downs of 4K

At about 4 1/2 yrs old, Joey had progressed to using 5-6 word sentences. Although he still referred to himself in the third person, it was great to hear him speaking after years of shrieking. His vocabulary bank was quite large, but using those words to create meaningful, conversational exchanges was just not happening. He was still receiving speech therapy through the school, and because of this, he was eligible for the school's 4K program.
Before Joey started 4K though, he was evaluated and observed by both the district psychologist and autism specialist. They agreed that he had some autistic traits, and so he was labeled autistic for educational purposes. This would allow him to receive a broader range of services. He scored quite low in all social/emotional areas, as well as auditory/verbal. But in the visual/spatial cluster he scored in the 97th percentile, meaning that out of 100 children his age, he ranked #3 for his visual abilities. If not for his language delay, he wouldn't have been accepted into the 4K program because his cognitive skills were remarkable.
And so began the IEP (Individualized Education Program) way of school life. His initial IEP included goals for pretty much every area, but there was an emphasis on social/emotional and language goals.
When Joey began school in the fall, everything was going great, and he was thriving. He loved school and riding on the bus. His academics continued to progress normally, but he still had issues with other children entering his personal space and transitioning from one activity to another. He was in an Inclusion classroom, which means that all the children had IEP's, but were receiving a regular education. They were also receiving extra support in the form of speech therapy, behavior therapy, occupational therapy, etc...First semester went great, even though he had the occasional tantrum, and he was beginning to exhibit OCD tendencies. (i.e. He wouldn't touch the playground equipment at school because it might have germs) This was also around the time he started with imaginative play, which is an autistic trait....I'm not sure I understand how having a creative mind is a symptom of autism, but there you have it.
But by the second semester of school, Joey's tantrums had increased tremendously, and he had become very disruptive in class. His language skills were still growing bit by bit, but he often had meltdowns, both at home and school. School behavior didn't seem to be getting any better, and I really wasn't sure what to do at that point.
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The highlights of that 4th year weren't innumerable, but they were milestones nonetheless. Just before he turned 4, Joey joined a special needs baseball team. The first game, he was forced to hit and run the bases, kicking, screaming, and crying the entire time. By the second game, he was happy to play! He was hitting off the pitcher (usually on the first pitch), and had no need for a tee.
Joey's biggest interest that year was Thomas the Train. He drew Thomas and his friends repeatedly, sometimes staying focused on his drawings for hours at a time. He also had a Thomas track set that he would engineer into various patterns, utilizing wooden blocks and anything else his creative mind could put to use.
I think his biggest accomplishment that year was that he was learning to read...a goal I felt he might never reach. But he did it, and by the end of the school year, he was on level with other typical 4-5 yr olds entering Kindergarten.
It was also at 4 yrs old that Joey had Grandma, my mom, enter his life full time. My parents lived 750 miles away, and we rarely saw them for both financial and medical reasons. In 2008, when my dad passed away, my mom came to live with us. It was an adjustment, but Joey had someone much like himself now to play, color, and draw with. With the exception of high IQ scores, my mom was also a socially awkward, anxious, and energetic person just like Joey. She was also kind, generous, and very humble, just like Joey. My mom was an artistic savant, able to play piano by ear in her youth, and she fancied drawing and painting.
When Joey started 4K, Mom got him ready for school in the mornings, and put him on the school bus. I was usually home from work just before the bus dropped him off in the afternoons. Everything seemed to be going great, and Joey and his grandma were enjoying being in each others' lives. But as life sometimes does, we were thrown a curve ball AND had a monkey wrench thrown into what seemed like a progressive track...

Joey's Drawings - Age 3

Year 3: This Too Shall Pass...

September 2007 - Joey is 3 1/2 yrs old at this point, and has begun staying at home with Daddy while I work full time. Daddy usually took him to his weekly speech therapy session at the school. There was some progress, but the speech therapist had too many expectations of a 3 yr old. She would send home worksheets that were clearly meant for 5-6 yr olds. Needless to say, I was very unimpressed with her therapy.

Joey's behaviors began to escalate, specifically the meltdowns and hyperactivity. His repetitive play, building and rebuilding the same things over and over again, and some echolalia became more intense. His sleep schedule was all over the place. One month he would sleep peacefully through the night, then for the next 3-4 months he'd moan and cry through the night. Then for several more months it would be impossible to get him to fall asleep. We started him on a low dosage of melatonin to help him fall asleep and stay asleep. It was like a miracle supplement for him. He slept through the night with almost no problems whatsoever...at least not at that point.

Joey's knack for taking the unconventional and innovating concepts and designs beyond his young years skyrocketed that year. Wooden blocks, sofa cushions, toys, shoes, clothing, wooden spoons, pretty much anything could become something from his wild imagination. How many 3 yr olds do you know who build a scaled model of a scene from a movie, tv show, or book using green and brown clothing to mold a mountain?

At this stage, Joey was fascinated with Spongebob Squarepants, and would watch the same episodes over and over again. He also began drawing Spongebob repeatedly, even on his bedroom wall. It was actually quite good, so I couldn't bring myself to paint over it when I began painting his room.

Joey stayed at home with Daddy until we decided it would be better if Joey were around other children so he could learn social skills. So I found a gymnastics daycare program that I thought would be perfect for burning some of his excessive energy and becoming more socialized.

At first, things were going well. He was the only boy, and was volunteered during playtime to be the prince, the king, or on one occasion, the groom. He seemed to enjoy being in the company of all girls, much like his dad at that age. The daycare teacher sometimes couldn't understand what Joey was saying, and she gave us reports on all tantrums or screaming.

One common autistic trait is echolalia, which pretty much means repeating what others say, or just repeating one's self a lot. So when he began screaming a certain bad word (the mother of the them all) ONLY while he was at daycare, I knew it had to be coming from one of the other children. I was right. The oldest girl, a 4 yr old, had been whispering foul language into the ears of the younger kids. The teacher finally figured it out, and kicked the girl out of her daycare. But she never apologized for blaming us for the language Joey screamed when he was melting down.

His teacher knew he had a language delay, but on one occasion (in front of other parents...and Joey) she asked, "Is there something else wrong with him other than the speech?". First off, it's a language delay, not speech delay. And, yes, there is a difference. Anyway, I was a little peeved because it sounded to me like she was saying my son was academically delayed, like he couldn't learn. Strike 1, daycare moron!

On another occasion, the daycare teacher punished Joey for being afraid of a movie she had put in for the girls. You see,it was just before this incident that Joey began having an irrational fear of things on tv or in movies that he once was fascinated with. Specifically, Pixar or Pixar-like films or shows. When I say "irrational fear", I'm talking running away, screaming, hands covering ears, scared to death. So when this daycare teacher put in a Barbie movie, and Joey freaked out, she took it to mean he just didn't want to watch Barbie, and was "pitching a fit" about it. To punish him, she put him in seclusion. Brilliant move on her part (sarcasm). Strike 2!

By December of that year, I'd had enough of yet another daycare provider who wasn't fit to watch children period! She refused to do academic work with Joey because "he didn't understand any of it anyway." Strike 3! You're Out!!! Having been pegged as LD or mute and/or dumb myself by classmates because I was so painfully shy, I can say this without any reservation: Do not EVER mistake a quiet wallflower personality for stupidity or incapacity. If I didn't talk, it was because I had nothing to say or those around me were, quite frankly, boring. Idle chit-chat is still an annoyance for me, as I'm sure it is for Joey.

My search for a daycare that would accept a child with autistic traits...and had an available spot....led me to a wonderful Christian daycare with a 3K teacher who was so sweet. And she genuinely enjoyed the children. She and the rest of the staff at the daycare were great with Joey. And they never complained or questioned anything. They just worked through situations in a creative manner, and fostered his creative spirit. The only time they ever came to me in concern was when all the kids at the daycare took a trip to see Disney on Ice. They asked me to tag along because they weren't sure how he would handle the crowd and noise level. He stood during the entire event, but he was the most quiet of all the kids. The other day, I asked Joey if he'd ever watched "Aladdin" because I noticed it was coming on the Family Channel. He said he hadn't, but he remembered how the fire-breathing dragon scared him when he saw Disney on Ice....He was only 3 yrs old when he went to that event.

To say Joey has a remarkable memory would be an understatement. I wouldn't be surprised if he came to me one day and said, "Mom, I remember falling down this very short, dark tunnel"...hahaha!

Preschool Woes

Have you noticed the pattern of shrieking and screaming yet? I know I certainly did, but I tried and tried to give Joey the understanding of what we were communicating to him. But it seemed like the harder I tried, the more frustrated we all got. Back then, I knew very little about autism or Asperger's, so I brushed off the symptoms I saw when more positive things were happening with him.

Joey's aptitude in academics began early. And his visual propensity manifested during his 2nd year. He drew his 1st recognizable figures at 2 years old: a bubble person wearing dark glasses and a turtle. Around the same time, he began writing his name and the word "moon". He drew this same funny cow and moon picture over and over again.

He was also very resourceful in his play. Just before his 3rd birthday, he created a horse-drawn buggy from his stuffed horse, a belt, and a plastic wagon. He would build and rebuild...and rebuild....and rebuild. Certainly I noticed that he acted out scenes repetitively, although I wasn't sure where he got the ideas.

And his preschool director noticed too, which is why we had several meetings to discuss Joey's screaming and "odd behavior", otherwise known as "imaginary play." When I asked her if she had experience with a child like Joey, she expressed that she had, and those children went on to become very bright, gifted students, but suggested that I place Joey in the public school's 3K program for kids with "his problems." To this, I expressed that I didn't care for their secret nickname for my son (Josephine, because he had a high-pitched shriek) and if memory served me correctly, Joey was knocking his academic parts of the day out of the park AND was drawing and writing while his 2 and 3 year old classmates were shoving Playdoh up their noses or flushing random objects down the toilet. And somehow MY kid needed special care? Ha! The director pretty much said their CHRISTIAN preschool didn't want him to go into their 3K program because he screamed in the mornings when I dropped him off, and because he probably wasn't learning anything anyway because he was "special".

So I did what any mother would do: proved them wrong. I did have Joey screened for the school's 3K programs, and, big surprise, he was entirely too "smart" and his fine motor skills were at the level of a 5 year old at barely 3 years of age. The only issue they found of course was a language delay. They didn’t see where his behavior needed intervention because frustration and tantrums go along with the language delay territory. So he began weekly speech therapy at the school. Did I inform the director of the preschool of this gratifying (mostly) news? You betcha!

Thankfully, at this time, Joey was also going to a wonderful babysitter after pre-school because I had gone back to work full time. Having her own children with special needs, she had a great understanding when it came to Joey’s language delay. And being the natural-born teacher that she is, she was able to help Joey communicate better with sign language, and she provided plenty of structure as well.

And so, while Mommy and Daddy were working, Joey spent his mornings at preschool where he was often punished for becoming frustrated with building blocks or being misunderstood. In the afternoons, he was with Miss Sabrina, learning communication and social skills, and having fun….except for those days when he had to tag along for shopping trips or doctor’s appointments. (My apologies, Sabrina  Or Misabina, as Joey called you) . She was quite gracious about the whole sensory overload meltdowns.

In the evenings, the same old same old would occur: hyperactivity, frustration, meltdowns, and nightly bedtime struggles. There were nights when Joey wouldn’t fall asleep until 12 or 1 a.m.. You would think after a very active day of screaming, playing, learning, running, running…..and running some more, that he’d be somewhat tired come 8 or 9 in the evening. Nope! The nightly routine was bath, jammies, and me attempting to read to Joey. But he would get frustrated with this part very quickly, and until about a year ago (almost age 6), he would fight being read to. Even as a newborn, when I’d try to softly read to him, he’d get agitated and start wailing. I began to wonder if my voice was just that abrasive, or was something else going on.

Reading time finished…somewhat…let the horror film shrieking commence! Sometimes Joey would shriek for as much as 2 or 3 hours at night, running to his doorway screaming only "Mommy!" Eventually, he'd wear himself out, and I'd have to pick him up from the floor to place him in his bed. This went on for probably a year or so.

I'd like to add here that affection, hugs and kisses, were something Joey didn't do. He would barely tolerate them from us, and shunned others' attempts. But he was extremely happy when he was happy, and a holy terror when he was upset. He made okay eye contact, but he didn't enjoy the company of other children, unless they were older. He LOVED adults.

When Joey turned 3, things got a little better in the communication department because he was in speech therapy, but we still couldn't get past the meltdowns and hyperactive behavior. I soon found out why the Terrible Two's were no match for the Trying Three's...Yikes!

(THE PHOTOS IN THE NEXT POST ARE OF SOME OF THE VERY FIRST DRAWINGS JOEY CREATED ALSO AT AGE 2...THERE WERE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WHEN I INITIALLY TRIED TO ADD THESE TO THIS PARTICULAR POST)

The Terrible 2's: Tantrums, Tears, and Hair-pulling....(and it was a rough time for Joey too!)

Ahh, the Terrible Two's. As a parent, you will hear stories of tantrums, biting, strong wills, and maybe even the occasional "my kid used to bang his head on the wall repeatedly". You'll hear an equal amount of over-embellished tales of how well-behaved, smart, and completely compliant a mother's child was from birth. I say "mother's" because it seems some women can't bring themselves to admit any such woes. It could tarnish their self-reputed Good Mother status, don't ya know!
Let me see if I can paint the most accurate picture of what 24 to 36 months of age was like for Joey....Take the typical menu of "Terrible 2" attributes and multiply it times 4 or 5. Now add a lack of language development to the equation and you've got yourself a recipe for frustration.
Joey's 2nd birthday didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Without going into too many details, hyperactivity and shrieking ensued.
At this point, I was a novice stay-at-home mom trying to get into the groove of being full time caregiver, teacher, nurse, psychologist, chauffeur, warden, cook, maid, etc....Joey's day was structured for his organization....and my sanity. We ate breakfast together...when I could wrangle him and sit him down long enough, that is. In the mornings, he'd help me vacuum< There's that vacuum cleaner thing again.
I tried my best to only go shopping once per week because that was the most my nerves could handle. A short trip out usually went something like this:

1. Strap Joey into car seat while he kicks and screams because he doesn't want his rapid mobility stopped.
2. Drive 15 min. to the store while Joey struggles to get out of the car seat, shrieking if a truck passed by or the sun was too bright.
3. Arrive at the store, and now Joey is happy and bubbly, ready to......RUN!
4. Convince Joey that the child seat in the shopping cart is way more fun than running all over the store, and promptly bribe him with Cheerios and a sippy cup.
5. By the 2nd aisle, Joey is overwhelmed and grumpy....and he's letting the entire know it.
6. I beg, plead, attempt to distract, and even bribe him more to stay put in his cart seat, or at the very least to hold the cart while we walk the aisles.
7. Chase him down the aisle (my attempts failed miserably), then wait for the ear-piercing scream that follows.
8. Try to ignore the ignorant remarks of witnesses who are under the delusion that screaming is something only spoiled or sleepy children do. (FYI, the worst of the spoiled children don't need to scream because they've never been denied anything. Therefore they have no manipulative reaction that's displayable.)
9. Finally make it through the store, but I've not gotten everything on my list because quite frankly, I'm exhausted.
   
10. Make it to the check-out lane where screaming begins again because...well, I'm not completely sure why. Maybe it was the sounds of the registers overwhelming him, or maybe it was that he just didn't want to leave the store....which becomes an irony in the near future. Either way, I get the usual disapproving looks of parents who are apparently perfect, as are their children.
11. Try not to lose it driving home from the store because now he's not happy about being placed in his car seat once more. Translation: more shrieking.
12. Get Joey in the house before bringing in the shopping bags, otherwise they'll never get taken in because I'd be too busy chasing him down and trying to muffle the screams so neighbors don't think he's in physical danger.
13. Put away groceries and sink into the sofa while trying not to cry my eyes out at my failure as a mother.

The rest of the day was filled with power struggles, "No, no, Joey!" 's aplenty, and an endless amount of random energy that I couldn't seem to help him channel positively. Building and imaginative play were his only interests, but there was only so much pretending he could do without developed communication skills. By 2.5 yrs old, he was still using only single words. But again, my concerns to his pediatrician were met with consolation that he would soon catch up because he wasn't lacking intellectually. If it weren't for Joey's preschool teacher, I never would have known that the public school system had a speech therapy program for children beginning at age 3. And so began the road of searching for answers, options, and support.

The Mommy Moment

Joey's 2nd birthday was marked by lingering uncertainties, as well as tremendous milestones.

He still wasn't talking very much, using only single words. But his pediatrician was confident that he would catch up soon. I took her word for it, but day-to-day living was becoming increasingly frustrating. Joey couldn't communicate his needs and it seemed that most of what we tried to communicate to him got lost in translation and frustrated him.
By 24 months old, Joey could speedily count to 10, recognize more colors and shapes, and loved to build with Mega Blocks. He liked lining up toys (to resemble a train), and also liked stacking common items. A full-blown tantrum would manifest if said stacked items fell.
It was at 23 months old that Joey easily transitioned from the crib to a toddler bed. He loved The Wiggles, and since I couldn't find a Wiggles-themed bed, I made one from a Winnie the Pooh bed. He loved it, but I worried that my little go-go-goer would wander the house at night. He didn't...but he was satisfied in giving me near heart attacks often in the middle of the night with his screaming. He's almost 7, and I still hear that screaming sometimes in the middle of the night.
You wouldn't believe the super human strength my little guy had. For at least 6 months, he had been pulling himself up onto the kitchen and bathroom counters. But he had the common sense not to get into anything...other than the cups...lol. And he knew the cold water from the hot, so if he did turn the water on, it was always the cold. It's like he was born knowing what was dangerous, what could hurt him. And because of this he wasn't curious about things like what's under the kitchen sink. But I digress; his favorite place to hang was the overhanging part of the kitchen island counter.
It was on March 10th, 2006 that Joey used the word "Mommy" for the very first time. I had left work for the day, and was driving to the in-home daycare, still worrying about the upcoming weekend. We would be hosting Joey's 2nd birthday party in our home. On top of the anxiety that comes with trying to make everything perfect for a party, I was also experiencing the stress that comes with hoping and wishing that your child will be on their best behavior. By the time I reached the daycare's driveway, I was nearly in panic attack mode. Would my house be neat and tidy enough? Would there be enough food? Would we make it through the 2 hour party without Joey going into meltdown mode?
As with most days, I collected myself and prepared for the inevitable "your child is bad...there's something wrong with him" nonsense from his sitter. As I opened the front door, the usual hustle and bustle of small children exploded, and from the center of it all came this happy, laughing toddler...arms stretched out, enthusiastically calling, "Mommy!". It took me a few moments to recognize this toddler as my Joey. I know there's a certain amount of emotion that floods a mother when her 9-12 mo baby first says "mama", and I don't mind telling you that I fell to my knees, took him in my arms, and tried to choke back the tears because I knew my crying would frighten him.
Ironically, on that same day, Joey was kicked out of the daycare for reasons unrelated to him, but completely related to my knowledge of the sitter's tax evasion. I won't elaborate on that though....I was now thrown into the tough situation of choosing between finding another sitter who could handle Joey's quirks or becoming a stay at home mom.

Toddler on the Loose!

When Joey was a toddler, I put him in an in-home daycare with a lady who eventually came to me in concern. She expressed that Joey wasn't talking anywhere near as well or as often as other children his age with whom she had experience. And he seemed, in her not-so-humble opinion, to be hyperactive. Because of these 2 things, she gave up trying to "teach" him. I won't even get into why a 16 month old would need to be educated, but I will say that having someone else recognize these issues was both relieving and scary.
So I immediately drove home to begin making a list of all the words my son used: cup, teddy, shoes, keekee, and about 100 other singular words. For his age, I thought this was pretty good. But the words "mama/mommy" and "dada/daddy" were not part of that list. I began to research language delays, and realized that he was really only using 2-3 words regularly. And he wasn't combining words into any phrases at all. When I brought this up to his pediatrician, she assured me that not all children develop at the same rate, and the words would come eventually. But I just knew she was mistaken.
Joey's energy level remained extremely high, and he was taking (most days) a brief nap in the afternoon. He would sleep through the night occasionally, but still seemed to require less rest than his peers. His favorite things were the vacuum cleaner, Pixar movies, and trying on all of my shoes. The blood-curdling shrieks were still persistent, and I dreaded taking him anywhere because I knew that inevitably a meltdown would occur.
Toys. Toys were pretty much useless, except that it was quite fun (apparently) for Joey to pull them all out to the center of his bedroom floor, and not actually play with them. He liked taking unconventional things and making something else out of them. Sofa cushions. Not real sure what made the sofa cushions so appealing, but he would sometimes arrange and rearrange them for hours. If it didn't look "just right" or stay in place, a tantrum would erupt. And his preoccupation with the vacuum cleaner was unreal. He was mainly mesmerized by the hose, and this created problems when Mommy needed to clean the carpets.
Up until about this point, Joey would eat just about anything: lima beans, squash, all meats, etc...Seemingly overnight I saw him transition from a well-rounded eater to a very picky eater. He even went through a phase where he would choke and gag on certain foods. There were several times when I had to use my finger to fish out whatever was causing him to choke.
I learned the entire scripts to Shrek, Monsters, Inc., and of course Toy Story...1 &2, thank you. He would watch them over and over and over...He knew by 2 yrs old how to play a dvd and rewind a video. Before anyone goes all "why do you let your kid watch so much tv?" on me, let me just state that he has never (except when he had the flu) just SAT in front of the tv. While he's watching, he's also playing, drawing, building, and even dramatizing. Anyway, his Pixar fixation only lasted until about age 3...then the ironic happened. But that's for a later time.
Joey absolutely loved bath time. He would request (pull me to the tub) baths sometimes in the middle of the day. And he didn't mind having his teeth brushed. He actually thought it was quite amusing. This may seem like useless information, but I promise you, you'll see the importance later in this blog.
Joey's day consisted mostly of running, jumping, and climbing....repeatedly. Fortunately, he never hurt himself. We attributed it to luck, but we would eventually figure out that luck had nothing to do with it....

Milestones...

The only physical milestone Joey didn't reach by 12 months old was walking. He held his own bottle early, he sat up unsupported early, waved at the typical age, and started using a sippy cup around 8 1/2 months. Crawling and pulling himself up into a standing position were a piece of cake.
But the only words Joey ever really spoke, which was rarely, were "kawoo" (kangaroo) and "tank oo" (Thank you). As a matter of fact, "thank you" were his first words ever. He was using these at 10-12 months. Of course my fears were amplified by the fact that he never called us "Mama" or "Dada". He would smile, laugh, and even giggle a lot. But the words just weren't coming out.
He took his first unsupported steps at 13 3/4 months. A little late, but we always joked that if he had stopped trying to run and would have just taken it slow, he would have walked earlier. At this point, he became officially unstoppable. He had figured out the baby gate and the baby-proofing devices before he could even walk. Once he started walking, he didn't stop. It was like watching a tennis match...only the ball was shrieking 8-9 hours per day. You read correctly: Joey would scream an average of 8-9 hrs during the day, almost everyday. I only know this because his pediatrician asked me to keep a journal of every screaming fit he had for a week, and to calculate the amount of time he was doing so. Those 8-9 hours don't count when he'd awaken in the middle of the night shrieking.
I noticed at family gatherings or at the store or anywhere that had crowds, fluorescent lighting, or lots of visual stimuli, that Joey would get VERY active and VERY irritable. Hyperactive doesn't even begin to describe what my baby was experiencing. He would go from happy to mad at the entire world within a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds. As a frustrated parent, I often blamed myself, and wondered what exactly I was doing wrong.
I know babies/toddlers are supposed to be active, but I felt like my little guy had a compulsion...a need to constantly be on the go. And it was at about 16 months old that someone other than myself finally noticed this constant need for movement and his lack of language skills. And so my quest for an answer, an understanding, or just plain affirmation began...

In the Beginning...

In the very beginning, Joey was a "normal", typical 7lb 6oz baby who was born healthy, and the pregnancy was without complications. It did seem to me that he cried excessively, even for a newborn, but no medical problems were apparent. I blamed my sensitivity to his wailing on being a new mom.

After a couple months, I noticed that crowded or visually stimulating environments would send Joey into a screaming frenzy. Also, he moved his arms and legs nonstop when he was awake. I remember telling my husband that I just knew (from Joey's constant movement) that he would surely be ADHD or hyperactive. Again, I chalked it up to being a rookie parent.

By 4 months old, Joey was VERY active, adding darting eyes to his already chronic movement. His little eyes were looking here, there, then there, then back over here...very quickly, almost anxiously. Particularly when we were out in public, he'd be happy, smiley, bubbly one minute, then screaming bloody murder the next. He still cried more than I thought a baby his age should, and colic didn't seem to be the answer.

At 5 months old, Joey had mastered the skill of unbuttoning his sleeper in the early morning, and removing his wet diaper. Sometimes he'd even do it during the night, and I'd find him soaking wet in the morning. So, naturally, we assumed that he would potty train early and easily....more on that misconception later. By this stage, most babies are sleeping through the night. Joey, however, was waking up 2-3 times per night, and seemed to require much less rest than the typical 5-6 month old.

Some of these things may not seem like a big deal, or like anything to worry about. And of course everyone said, "that's what babies do." But when it's your baby, and your instinct tells you that something isn't right, you wonder if you're overreacting. It wouldn't be long before others would start to see some of the same quirks I saw...

Diagnosis: Unknown

I think it's important early in this blog to explain that my son, Joey, has not to this day received a medical diagnosis of autistic or otherwise.
Joey is a happy, sensitive, and sometimes dramatic almost-7yr old boy. This blog will outline his journey from infancy to the present. Most stories would start with "In the beginning...", but I think discussing the present first and foremost will create a sense of understanding...especially in those who've not been introduced or educated on the meaning of "autistic".
Joey attends 1st Grade at a great school here in SC. Through the school district he is "double-labeled" as academically gifted and autistic. Although he's in a regular class now, he receives extra support for areas concerning social/emotional development. He's no longer in speech therapy because he "graduated", but I'm looking into getting him back into speech because he has issues in the area of receptive language. He doesn't talk or play much with other children, unless they're older than him. And he enjoys the company of adults even more.
But none of what I've just told you defines Joey. He's been labeled visually/spatially gifted as well, testing in the 97th percentile for the visual/spatial cluster. So he's very detail-oriented, artistic, and recognizes patterns where others would not. He's also the most creative, imaginative child of his age I've ever known...other than myself at his age. His mind is in constant "create" mode. He'll write or tell you a story, and sometimes spend hours writing/illustrating. He builds amazing vehicles and structures using Lego blocks. He has an imaginary friend named Joey (not very original for such a creative mind, I'll admit...lol). And his best friend is a large, floppy stuffed dog he named Max.
Aside from his extraordinary creative genius, he's also a kind, gentle, empathetic kid who worries about some of the same things a typical kid might worry about: ghosts when it's dark, water splashing in his eyes, or that he may disappoint someone he looks up to. The only difference is that his fears are set to "super sensitive."
But this blog isn't just about who Joey is now; it's also about the obstacles he faced the last 7 years...and overcame. It's about the challenges yet to rear their ugly heads. There's one very important thing to remember while taking in Joey's story: neither Joey nor his mom will back down from a challenge.