My name is Rhory
I want to introduce you to my amazing and special son. His name is Rhory and he is 3 years old. He was officially diagnosed as Autistic November 9th, 2012. This is a new diagnosis to his list of disabilities, and the start of an amazing journey of lots of love, understanding, patients and memories to hold a life time.
Rhory was born September 2009. He was born with no problems and seemed to be on time if not early with all the basic milestones up to 6-9 months old. I did start to notice around 10 months, that he still was not speaking. I was always told that boys were a little slower, so I did not think much of it. At a year old he was only saying a couple words at that time. To me this did not seem right either. At 1, my girls were talking sentences, so even if he was just slower because he was a boy, he should still be saying more than a couple words. I gave it more time. But behavior changed and there was still no progression with speaking. I then became more concerned. At 1.5, I brought my concerns up to my Dr. The Dr. at that time did not seem concerned, but a mother knows when something is not right. At about 2, he was up to about 8 words. It was little progress, but I was happy.
The Dr. was still saying that he was not concerned and that he would probably talk around the age of 3. I still expressed my concerns, but nothing. I got a new Dr., and my concerns were finally addressed. The Dr. could tell that there was something off. She sent a request for Rhory to have a speech evaluation done. This was the first step to a diagnosis. It was obvious that he was at least a year behind when it came to speech. His initial evaluation was done June 2012, and it was recommended that he do speech therapy once a week for at least an hour. I was very pleased to know that there was steps being taken to start getting him the help that he needs to get him on track with other children his age. His therapy started July 2012.
Therapy was going well, and soon there was a diagnosis for his speech delay. He was diagnosed with Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder. This of course explained his speech problems, but still did not explain the other issues that he was having. I had talked to some other Dr.'s and they said "Sounds like Autism." A friend of mine talked to a friend of hers who is a Psychologist, and he said he was certain that is was Autism too. I asked his speech therapist if she thought that he may be, and she said that she sees signs that may point to it, but can not say with certainty that is what it is. She did however recommend that he start occupational therapy due to his anger and frustration problems as well as other things such as the not wanting to be touched by anyone but me. The recommendation was put in and he started OT in August 2012. After his first 2 visits, there was another diagnosis given. Sensory Defensiveness (also known as Sensory Integrative Dysfunction). I had never in my life, till this point, heard of such a thing. But that did help give some understanding about some of the other issues at hand. Freaking out when certain situations were harmless, screaming when a stranger would speak to him or act as though they would touch him. It was nice to have a name to go with his abnormal reactions to situations. Since I has another diagnosis, i did some more research and found out that many children that have this diagnosis, usually fall within the Autistic Spectrum. This made my "Unofficial Diagnosis" of Autism seem more and more likely. Learning more and more, I approached the Dr. to get a referral to get official Autistic testing started.
His initial testing was scheduled out about a month or so out. But it was at least a start in the right direction. In the mean time, school was starting and had to get his two older sisters ready and set in school. With information given to me from his Dr., I contacted the Help Me Grow program in my county to see what resources I would have available to use to get my son into some kind of programs to get him around other children his age. They came out and conducted some interviews at my home, and seen how Rhory was. The lady on the first visit asked me if he was having any other testing done, and I said yes, he was going to be tested for Autism. She said that was great, and with the current diagnosis's that have already been given, he would qualify for Pre-School services at no cost, and he would be enrolled with an IEP (Individualized Education Program). Since school would be starting very soon, she put a rush on this matter, and with in a week I was contacted by an employee of Help Me Grow and a lady from the Special Education program at the school. A meeting was set up, they met with Rhory again, and more paperwork was done to get him enrolled. I met with his teacher a week before school started, we sat down and worked on the IEP, and what things needed to be done to be ready and prepared for this new venture. He started school Sept 2012, just a couple weeks before his third birthday. I have to say, that was easier for him than it was for me. He was so stimulated by everything there, it was nothing for him to walk in and not even notice me leaving. I on the other hand, cried for one of the three hours that he was gone.
School went really well. Like all things, time has been needed to adjust and get used to the routine there, but he is doing it. They did have to bring in someone just for Rhory in class though. He, for the longest time, did not want to stay in the class room or do regular school things. He would get bored and try to run out to the playground, so having someone to "supervise" him the whole time that he is there was important. She is a very wonderful lady, and Rhory seemed to catch on fast that she was there for him. He adjusted well with that. With her around, he has been able to focus a little more and able to participate better with class things. He is still not a "normal" student but he is doing very well considering his disabilities.
On November 9th, he had his first official testing done for Autism. He seen a few different people, one being a Speech Language Pathologist, Psychologist, Dietary Specialist as well as another specialist. It was a unanimous group decision at the end of his appointment that he was in fact Autistic. Even thought I have assumed this for months, to hear an official diagnosis, still broke my heart. No parent out there wants to hear that their child has a disability that will make simple tasks, such as talking, difficult, and in some sever cases, impossible. It was heart breaking, but I was glad to know that I had an official diagnosis, and that it is something that can improve with lots of hard work, not just on Rhory's part, but with anyone directly involved in his life. This testing was of course a two part testing. He just had the second part of the testing done November 17th. I have a follow up appointment on December 17th to go over all the evaluations done and to see exactly where he is on the Spectrum. I know at this point, according to the Psychologist, he is not a minor case of it, but he is not the most severe either. I was instructed to continue his therapies and schooling, because the structured environment and consistency is what he needs. This is something that will help him, and I have seen changes. They are baby steps, but I will take them.
Of course, after the sit down, I will post more information about Rhory and everything that deals with his diagnosis. I will continue to keep everyone informed. I will also be doing a blog on here from this point on. I will blog about anything that is important, not important, all the way down to silly things that he is doing. I will blog about his good days, bad days and all those in between. Not only will that give insight to all of you out there that do not have a child with disabilities or have any knowledge of Autism as well as his other problems, but it will also give insight to what I, as well as other mothers with a child with Autism and other mental disabilities, go through. I will admit. It is not an easy journey, and lately we have had more bad days than good. BUT I would not trade my son for anything. If he was any different, he would not be this amazing little boy that I know. He is my perfect little boy, in ever way regardless of what label or disability is put on him.
Please continue to search through the pages of this site. There will be resource pages on here with links to outside sites dedicated to informing people of Autism and other disabilities. I will also have a page with a contact form as well so that if there is any questions about anything that you see on here, or if you would just like to comment on anything, you will be more than welcome to. Thanks for your time, and I hope that you will follow this adventure with us.
Rhory was born September 2009. He was born with no problems and seemed to be on time if not early with all the basic milestones up to 6-9 months old. I did start to notice around 10 months, that he still was not speaking. I was always told that boys were a little slower, so I did not think much of it. At a year old he was only saying a couple words at that time. To me this did not seem right either. At 1, my girls were talking sentences, so even if he was just slower because he was a boy, he should still be saying more than a couple words. I gave it more time. But behavior changed and there was still no progression with speaking. I then became more concerned. At 1.5, I brought my concerns up to my Dr. The Dr. at that time did not seem concerned, but a mother knows when something is not right. At about 2, he was up to about 8 words. It was little progress, but I was happy.
The Dr. was still saying that he was not concerned and that he would probably talk around the age of 3. I still expressed my concerns, but nothing. I got a new Dr., and my concerns were finally addressed. The Dr. could tell that there was something off. She sent a request for Rhory to have a speech evaluation done. This was the first step to a diagnosis. It was obvious that he was at least a year behind when it came to speech. His initial evaluation was done June 2012, and it was recommended that he do speech therapy once a week for at least an hour. I was very pleased to know that there was steps being taken to start getting him the help that he needs to get him on track with other children his age. His therapy started July 2012.
Therapy was going well, and soon there was a diagnosis for his speech delay. He was diagnosed with Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder. This of course explained his speech problems, but still did not explain the other issues that he was having. I had talked to some other Dr.'s and they said "Sounds like Autism." A friend of mine talked to a friend of hers who is a Psychologist, and he said he was certain that is was Autism too. I asked his speech therapist if she thought that he may be, and she said that she sees signs that may point to it, but can not say with certainty that is what it is. She did however recommend that he start occupational therapy due to his anger and frustration problems as well as other things such as the not wanting to be touched by anyone but me. The recommendation was put in and he started OT in August 2012. After his first 2 visits, there was another diagnosis given. Sensory Defensiveness (also known as Sensory Integrative Dysfunction). I had never in my life, till this point, heard of such a thing. But that did help give some understanding about some of the other issues at hand. Freaking out when certain situations were harmless, screaming when a stranger would speak to him or act as though they would touch him. It was nice to have a name to go with his abnormal reactions to situations. Since I has another diagnosis, i did some more research and found out that many children that have this diagnosis, usually fall within the Autistic Spectrum. This made my "Unofficial Diagnosis" of Autism seem more and more likely. Learning more and more, I approached the Dr. to get a referral to get official Autistic testing started.
His initial testing was scheduled out about a month or so out. But it was at least a start in the right direction. In the mean time, school was starting and had to get his two older sisters ready and set in school. With information given to me from his Dr., I contacted the Help Me Grow program in my county to see what resources I would have available to use to get my son into some kind of programs to get him around other children his age. They came out and conducted some interviews at my home, and seen how Rhory was. The lady on the first visit asked me if he was having any other testing done, and I said yes, he was going to be tested for Autism. She said that was great, and with the current diagnosis's that have already been given, he would qualify for Pre-School services at no cost, and he would be enrolled with an IEP (Individualized Education Program). Since school would be starting very soon, she put a rush on this matter, and with in a week I was contacted by an employee of Help Me Grow and a lady from the Special Education program at the school. A meeting was set up, they met with Rhory again, and more paperwork was done to get him enrolled. I met with his teacher a week before school started, we sat down and worked on the IEP, and what things needed to be done to be ready and prepared for this new venture. He started school Sept 2012, just a couple weeks before his third birthday. I have to say, that was easier for him than it was for me. He was so stimulated by everything there, it was nothing for him to walk in and not even notice me leaving. I on the other hand, cried for one of the three hours that he was gone.
School went really well. Like all things, time has been needed to adjust and get used to the routine there, but he is doing it. They did have to bring in someone just for Rhory in class though. He, for the longest time, did not want to stay in the class room or do regular school things. He would get bored and try to run out to the playground, so having someone to "supervise" him the whole time that he is there was important. She is a very wonderful lady, and Rhory seemed to catch on fast that she was there for him. He adjusted well with that. With her around, he has been able to focus a little more and able to participate better with class things. He is still not a "normal" student but he is doing very well considering his disabilities.
On November 9th, he had his first official testing done for Autism. He seen a few different people, one being a Speech Language Pathologist, Psychologist, Dietary Specialist as well as another specialist. It was a unanimous group decision at the end of his appointment that he was in fact Autistic. Even thought I have assumed this for months, to hear an official diagnosis, still broke my heart. No parent out there wants to hear that their child has a disability that will make simple tasks, such as talking, difficult, and in some sever cases, impossible. It was heart breaking, but I was glad to know that I had an official diagnosis, and that it is something that can improve with lots of hard work, not just on Rhory's part, but with anyone directly involved in his life. This testing was of course a two part testing. He just had the second part of the testing done November 17th. I have a follow up appointment on December 17th to go over all the evaluations done and to see exactly where he is on the Spectrum. I know at this point, according to the Psychologist, he is not a minor case of it, but he is not the most severe either. I was instructed to continue his therapies and schooling, because the structured environment and consistency is what he needs. This is something that will help him, and I have seen changes. They are baby steps, but I will take them.
Of course, after the sit down, I will post more information about Rhory and everything that deals with his diagnosis. I will continue to keep everyone informed. I will also be doing a blog on here from this point on. I will blog about anything that is important, not important, all the way down to silly things that he is doing. I will blog about his good days, bad days and all those in between. Not only will that give insight to all of you out there that do not have a child with disabilities or have any knowledge of Autism as well as his other problems, but it will also give insight to what I, as well as other mothers with a child with Autism and other mental disabilities, go through. I will admit. It is not an easy journey, and lately we have had more bad days than good. BUT I would not trade my son for anything. If he was any different, he would not be this amazing little boy that I know. He is my perfect little boy, in ever way regardless of what label or disability is put on him.
Please continue to search through the pages of this site. There will be resource pages on here with links to outside sites dedicated to informing people of Autism and other disabilities. I will also have a page with a contact form as well so that if there is any questions about anything that you see on here, or if you would just like to comment on anything, you will be more than welcome to. Thanks for your time, and I hope that you will follow this adventure with us.