About a year ago I started noticing that my perfect, beautiful, amazing baby boy was not developing quite like his cousin who's about 2 months older. They were both about 2 years old at the time and while my nephew was chatting up a storm, drinking and eating from "big boy" dishes and beginning the potty process, my Liam had not uttered a word, insisted on drinking from his sippy cup while laying on the floor and was terrified of the potty. Of course, you never want to compare children, but there seemed to be a developmental gap between the two that was only growing. Liam's physical milestones were right on time, however, some even early, so we decided that it must be a language delay. Having had a lot of ear infections as a baby (which ceased only after regular visits to the chiropractor and eliminating cow's milk) we decided to have his hearing checked.
The hearing test came back normal, but we decided to just give him more time. Until, my aunt (the mother of my severely autistic adult cousin) gently recommended early intervention. Within a month, Liam was receiving Speech and Occupational therapy, having been tagged with SPD (sensory processing disorder).
I dove right in, reading everything I could get my hands on and implementing every little thing I could as suggested by his amazing therapists. Liam made great progress... his speech began to progress, he is now interacting with peers and animals, and he's happy! But, we still have a long way to go. Recently, he transitioned from the Early Intervention program to the school system's special education program. Which meant another battery of evaluations, meetings, paperwork and a new diagnosis. Autism.
And this is where we begin.......
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