Seeking Answers

Justin is just a little over 2 years old.  He's happy, healthy, and the sweetest little guy ever.  But, he's different than some boys his age.  

When he hit his first birthday, he hadn't started talking AT ALL - no biggie.  He has an older sister who is very chatty and often speaks for him.  When he hit 18 months, still no words and at this point he was very mobile and loved to go in circles around furniture - we call it getting his laps in.  And another one of his favs was to shake his head "no, no" - or, at least that’s what we think he means. He received his first set of tubes in December 2017 in hopes of squashing repeat ear infections, which has seemed to work wonders, by the way!  His ENT said there's no telling how long Justin was hearing everything like he was under water.  We just knew that was the ticket to getting him to start talking.  He immediately started making more verbal sounds, but still no words.

As you can imagine, any Momma at this point would be worried.  My 18 month son was still COMPLETELY nonverbal.  My husband, Jason, is always my voice of reason and would reassure me that all was fine.  That man is my rock.

Fast forward to this past June when Justin turned 2.  Jason and I agreed that it was time to talk to his pediatrician about his speech delay.  His doctor asked several other questions about Justin's behavior and not only referred us to a Speech Pathologist, but also to a Developmental Pediatric Specialist for possible autism.

Que tears.

While we knew he was behind on reaching his milestones, we assumed it was all related to a speech delay and that with speech therapy, he would catch up and be a normal toddler.  

Justin has spent the summer in speech therapy, twice a week, with Mrs. Angela.  We have seen some progress and have had a few breakthroughs.  He would make beginning sounds, such as “eeee” for eat or “b, b, b” for bath or bubbles, but nothing ever consistent, so we are fearful that he isn't retaining as much as we had hoped.   He's had great sessions, he's had so-so sessions, and he's had screaming-ain't-nothing-gonna-calm-him-down sessions that resulted in ending the session 10 minutes early and quickly running out of the office.  After almost every session, my husband would call me and listen to me cry out of frustration or out of sadness.  His therapist never seems frustrated or annoyed when he has bad sessions and I can tell she's working diligently to try to help him find his voice.  We love Mrs. Angela!  

Speech Therapy

               

We even thought maybe Justin had some hearing loss caused from all the ear infections he suffered from his first year and a half of his life.  His ENT performed two Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) tests, in which he failed, so he sent us to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth for a sedated Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test.  An ABR test was performed because Justin doesn't understand to respond to sounds that he hears, like our typical hearing test we received when we were in grade school.  Justin PASSED the ABR with flying colors.  Basically, Justin has a severe case of Selective Hearing (insert sarcasm here).  

This August, Jason and I decided it was time to make the appointment with the Developmental Pediatric Specialist in Grapevine.  The moment that pushed us to making the appointment was an unsuccessful trip to the park...  Justin had a severe meltdown (really, all of us did) because he refused to play on any of the playground equipment even after several attempts of encouraging him to swing or slide - or to just play on ANYTHING.  Instead, he just wanted to "get his laps in".  So, we began the first of 4 appointments with Dr. Mike Rios and his team in September.  We will have our final diagnosis and action plan on October 17th.  Justin's third appointment was with an ABA Therapist (Applied Behavior Analysis), and she was very positive that since we are acting now, while he's only 2 1/2, that Justin can have a normal life with ASD.  

Justin's 1st visit to Dr. Rios's office.

We are taking each day at a time.  Some days Justin has a great day - clapping his hands, lots of laughs, playing chase, puzzles (recently), and running outside.  Other days, Justin shrieks constantly, purposely bangs his head on the floor - or whatever is in front of him, and has violent tantrums that last longer than any toddler's tantrums should.  

One.  day.  at.  a.  time.

One of the many reasons I began this blog was to have an outlet on our journey with Justin.  My sister encouraged me to start one this summer when this all began.  :)  Here it is October, and I'm just now getting around to sharing the beginning of Justin's story.  Please continue to follow along on his progress!  I think there's a little follow button.  LOL!  I will try to make an updated post frequently.  Maybe our journey will help give parents some hope and encouragement with their child who is on the brink of diagnosis.

I also want to add, that you know your child.  If you have questions or concerns about behaviors they are doing or milestones they are not reaching, SPEAK UP.  Make your doctor hear you.  I am so thankful that my husband and family have stood alongside me to help get Justin the help he needs.     

Until then, keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers as we face the diagnosis and move forward to help our little guy find his voice.  

#justinsvoice