speech 101.

Maddy had her first speech therapy session yesterday afternoon. She had developed a cold on Monday night so I was a bit skeptical on just how well it was going to go. She was doing better than Maelle (her twin sister) who was coughing and just a horrible mess. Maddy's was more runny nose than anything else.

Then I had to wake her up from her nap to go to speech...so then I got really skeptical on how cooperative she was going to be.

Then we got there and she was....ALL SMILES. That girl. Never ceases to amaze me. I know she doesn't feel well, just woke up, and she's going to a stranger in a strange room and she's fine. Happy. Good spirited. wow. I don't think I would be so happy about all that myself...but she's obviously not me.

So they play in the room, her and her speech therapist, (I'm starting to wonder if I should change names or get permission to use them....hmmm... for now I'll just call her ST for speech therapist) and Maddy is happily babbling and repeating and being extremely cooperative. She is saying words that I have not heard her say before like "in" and "open". We discuss Maddy for a few minutes while she plays and ST is surprised by the autism pre-diagnosis.

"Wow, she must have a really mild case of it. I have children who are severely autistic and it's quite clear and very hard to reach but she is doing great. I wouldn't have suspected that right away."

Of course, that makes me feel about a ZILLION times better. But as Justin pointed out later, that's the curious thing about autism. One professional can see it in one child so clearly and someone else can see it so mildly and from day to day and even hour to hour, just how severe or not severe, changes. It's not as (I hate to use the word "simple") as it is with cancer where the evidence is clearly there. Either there are cancerous cells or there are not. You can't have cancer one day and the next day not really. You either have it or you don't. Autism is sneaky that way, which I think is why many kids go unnoticed for so long because you can excuse it away for a very long time. "oh she's tired" or "she doesn't really like that game" or "well, I was really bored too so I would be zoning out too" or "Well, if I just played with her more often" or "she's teething that's why she got so upset about ....." and the excuses can go on and on. Not necessarily missed...just explained away. And I can say this because it's the SAME thing I did for months before I called Early Intervention.

And in some ways, I'm still having to point them out for people who just see Happy Maddy and they don't see the other factors at play. They don't see the lack of eye contact because they aren't looking for it. They don't see her rocking and banging her head against the door at night to fall asleep. They don't see toe walking. The lack of cognition. They just see Happy 2 year old Maddy. And GOOD. Because in the same token, I don't want people looking at my kids and then saying "oh she's the autistic one" either.

So I guess I'll just try my best to take the general professional and nonprofessional public's take on my daughter's severity of autism with a grain of salt. Until she isn't meeting criteria, she has autism...regardless of degree. When she doesn't meet criteria (which i have hope that she won't some day) then she won't have autism...regardless of degree.

Her pediatrician called and was very helpful. Back on track with her...the last meeting must have been a bad day...for either or both of us. She agreed to our thoughts on trying Melatonin at night for sleep and a vitamin B6 and Magnesium trial. Her hearing exam is scheduled for Friday. I'm not hopeful of that...she hates having her head touched and ears are worse. I'm guessing they will need to sedate her. At this point, I want it CLEAR that her hearing is fine. I have to eliminate all of the potential possibilities that I can.

Tomorrow we go back to her psychologist (it still sounds very odd to say your child's psychologist...it just does) and hopefully get some groundwork ready for ABA training. I have been asked to make a list of the things that I need help with. I hope to get that done soon. So I will have some concrete things that I need so people who want to help can look at that and see where they fit in. I have been blessed (literally blessed) with an abundance of friends willing and waiting to help me...they just need to know how. And once things really get set into place I will gladly take their help. At this point, I doubt I will say "no" to much.

A little sneak peak of that list is that right now we are hoping to have Maddy's therapy for 2 hours every morning at our church. We will need people to watch Eva and Maelle during that time OR willing to help in Maddy's therapy during that time. Generally speaking from 9am to 11am.

I could go on but my mind is spinning already. I'll be working on the 'support list' and hope to post it soon. I don't think I will have any definites until school starts as many of her therapies are dependent on school - ironic since she isn't in school yet but most of her therapist work in the schools with other kids.

On a happy note, because I have to end things with a happy note...it keeps me going. She has started to say "here you go" when she hands us things. This is a like a double note happy note. First that she is giving us things and she is speaking a 3 word combination. Very amazing. Just like our Maddy.