Early in Hannah's life I knew something was different. Around 3 months she would cry inconsolably for hours every night. Many wanted to call it colic. Call it what you want, it left my husband and I exhausted and frustrated as we couldn't figure out what was the matter.
As a parent , not knowing how to help your child is not a very good feeling. We felt helpless and lost. This was a whole new experience for us and we felt like we were failing.
I realized at some point that what she needed was quiet and comfort, consistency and routine. We made her bedroom as comfortable as possible ,found our life changing veggie tales cd and with soft lights (or no light at all) we would rock her through the screams until she would finally be done. Probably done from exhaustion. It was a trying time that left me in tears many a night but we needed to keep this routine , to give her stability and for her to learn that we would be there to help and comfort her. That we loved her no matter what.
It paid off my friends, now all those months are a blur and she sleeps most nights like a champ. She actually looks forward to bedtime.
Move forward... at her first year check up I knew I wanted to discuss how different she was from my first daughter. Eye contact was inconstant if at all, she wasn't really babbling or cooing and making the usual baby sounds. She was a delightful baby with different ways about her. She wanted to move around and be on the floor. She liked tummy time and being underneath her activity center. Both my husband and her pediatrician reassured me to give it more time.
At 17 and 18 months she was losing the few words she had, and many words that came new to her would be imitated from her favorite PBS show. So she was mimicking but not freely speaking the words or spontaneously saying them if you will.
When I would call her name at times she would not respond. Not knowing whether this was selective hearing or hearing loss we had her tested. Her hearing was excellent , so why was she not responding? It seemed as if she was in her own world or somewhere far away. How would I help engage her in the moment, the present time?
Eye contact was a little better but still not consistent. Not having your 18 month old look at you in the morning after sleeping all night alarmed me enough to also wonder what this all meant. Why was this eye contact an issue, my first daughter certainly didn't respond this way. Why was Hannah response different?
This is when I started to read more about child development and write things down that I may (or would) discuss later.
Her motor skills were fantastic and possibly past age expectations but the way she played with things was different and not consistent. She loved her little people doll house but not to use in the usual way. Playing with the family was not her intent , she wanted to turn the house on its side and open the front door dropping blocks into it. For many moments she would put blocks in, retrieve them and then do it all over again. Many of her toys were ( are not) used in the conventional way. I found ( find) this very fascinating to say the least.
I became angry with myself for not pushing the issue enough at her first birthday. I really wondered about autism and my husband also had a suspicion. I knew in my heart that things were not as they should be. So no more wasted time...
At her 2nd birthday I asked about autism and where to go from there. Her doctor gave me a screening questionnaire that we filled out as soon as we got it to get the whole process started. I knew that early intervention is key and if there was something there I wanted to waste no time. We were referred to Kaisers ASD center( autistic spectrum disorders) in San Francisco. This was the middle of November 2013. We didn't see them until Feb. 28th 2014. More on that later.
Hannah had a speech pathologist see and evaluate her. She was found to be very delayed and speech therapy was recommended. She now sees a speech therapist once a week for an hour in our home. We were fortunate to have found a great therapist that we both really like. Important since they spend so much time with your child.
For more guidance I contacted the Golden Gate Regional center on advice from a friend. They have been rock stars let me tell you. Guiding us and giving us the help that we needed here. As autism is suspected but not yet confirmed. We did more questionnaires with them and their own doctor also saw Hannah and suspected autism as well.
Once we were at the ASD center the words I wanted to know but were still hard to hear came about (blog).
3 therapist saw her that appointment and they all confirmed she's autistic. From here our parenitng became more
focused on helping her sensory needs, and communication. We came to the realization that being born with autism is just another view point and have learned so much from her over the years.
We decided as parents to try the very con-traversal idea of ABA therapy. As this was knew for us I did research and spoke to many agencies before deciding to even talk to anyone. We were thinking about what Hannah needed and would this be helpful. After meeting with Gateway learning group . and learning that as a parent I had much control over what was being taught and could suggest the areas of challenges needed help we decided to give it a go. We been blessed with great people entering her life. People that love children and want her to succeed.
We feel so blessed to have had a great start in this short journey thus far. There's so much more to come... I'll keep you posted.
Lynn
We'd love to hear your story. Become part of our Village and a friend to Hannah.
This weeks question, lets create a community where we support one another. Together we'll get through this.
As a parent , not knowing how to help your child is not a very good feeling. We felt helpless and lost. This was a whole new experience for us and we felt like we were failing.
I realized at some point that what she needed was quiet and comfort, consistency and routine. We made her bedroom as comfortable as possible ,found our life changing veggie tales cd and with soft lights (or no light at all) we would rock her through the screams until she would finally be done. Probably done from exhaustion. It was a trying time that left me in tears many a night but we needed to keep this routine , to give her stability and for her to learn that we would be there to help and comfort her. That we loved her no matter what.
It paid off my friends, now all those months are a blur and she sleeps most nights like a champ. She actually looks forward to bedtime.
Move forward... at her first year check up I knew I wanted to discuss how different she was from my first daughter. Eye contact was inconstant if at all, she wasn't really babbling or cooing and making the usual baby sounds. She was a delightful baby with different ways about her. She wanted to move around and be on the floor. She liked tummy time and being underneath her activity center. Both my husband and her pediatrician reassured me to give it more time.
At 17 and 18 months she was losing the few words she had, and many words that came new to her would be imitated from her favorite PBS show. So she was mimicking but not freely speaking the words or spontaneously saying them if you will.
When I would call her name at times she would not respond. Not knowing whether this was selective hearing or hearing loss we had her tested. Her hearing was excellent , so why was she not responding? It seemed as if she was in her own world or somewhere far away. How would I help engage her in the moment, the present time?
Eye contact was a little better but still not consistent. Not having your 18 month old look at you in the morning after sleeping all night alarmed me enough to also wonder what this all meant. Why was this eye contact an issue, my first daughter certainly didn't respond this way. Why was Hannah response different?
This is when I started to read more about child development and write things down that I may (or would) discuss later.
Her motor skills were fantastic and possibly past age expectations but the way she played with things was different and not consistent. She loved her little people doll house but not to use in the usual way. Playing with the family was not her intent , she wanted to turn the house on its side and open the front door dropping blocks into it. For many moments she would put blocks in, retrieve them and then do it all over again. Many of her toys were ( are not) used in the conventional way. I found ( find) this very fascinating to say the least.
I became angry with myself for not pushing the issue enough at her first birthday. I really wondered about autism and my husband also had a suspicion. I knew in my heart that things were not as they should be. So no more wasted time...
At her 2nd birthday I asked about autism and where to go from there. Her doctor gave me a screening questionnaire that we filled out as soon as we got it to get the whole process started. I knew that early intervention is key and if there was something there I wanted to waste no time. We were referred to Kaisers ASD center( autistic spectrum disorders) in San Francisco. This was the middle of November 2013. We didn't see them until Feb. 28th 2014. More on that later.
Hannah had a speech pathologist see and evaluate her. She was found to be very delayed and speech therapy was recommended. She now sees a speech therapist once a week for an hour in our home. We were fortunate to have found a great therapist that we both really like. Important since they spend so much time with your child.
For more guidance I contacted the Golden Gate Regional center on advice from a friend. They have been rock stars let me tell you. Guiding us and giving us the help that we needed here. As autism is suspected but not yet confirmed. We did more questionnaires with them and their own doctor also saw Hannah and suspected autism as well.
Once we were at the ASD center the words I wanted to know but were still hard to hear came about (blog).
3 therapist saw her that appointment and they all confirmed she's autistic. From here our parenitng became more
focused on helping her sensory needs, and communication. We came to the realization that being born with autism is just another view point and have learned so much from her over the years.
We decided as parents to try the very con-traversal idea of ABA therapy. As this was knew for us I did research and spoke to many agencies before deciding to even talk to anyone. We were thinking about what Hannah needed and would this be helpful. After meeting with Gateway learning group . and learning that as a parent I had much control over what was being taught and could suggest the areas of challenges needed help we decided to give it a go. We been blessed with great people entering her life. People that love children and want her to succeed.
We feel so blessed to have had a great start in this short journey thus far. There's so much more to come... I'll keep you posted.
Lynn
We'd love to hear your story. Become part of our Village and a friend to Hannah.
This weeks question, lets create a community where we support one another. Together we'll get through this.