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Sorry it's been a while since I did a blog entry. On Jan 14th of this year, Doc was officially diagnosed ASD level 1 (equivalent of what they used to call Asperger's). She was evaluated for speech (social) and Early Intervention, but neither of them saw anything at the time. These evals are done one-on-one with an adult in a quiet room. She works well in this situation and will mask her ASD quite well. She did receive PT for Hypermobility Syndrome for a few months. We have been working on getting a case manager and a BHP in place for home. Tonight during wrestling practice for our boys I saw a glimpse of how hard socializing is for Doc with her peers. There were two little girls a little older than Doc. All three were playing, running around. "Let's all do this! Ok, now we're going to do this." Doc tends to come off as bossy and rude. The girls followed her "rules" till they had had enough and walked off together leaving Doc alone. There were plen...

"Parents who have a child with autism have about a 1 in 5 chance of having a second child with autism, a far greater risk than previously believed, new research shows." -  New York Times   My youngest daughter, "Doc"has always had very high levels of anxiety. Very cranky baby, crying unless she was nursing or sleeping. We assumed she was colic. She also experiences many sensory and repetitive behavior. In some ways she reminded me of Tink (her older sister), except Doc was very verbal. 9 months old   At one years old I taught her to sign, using ASL.  She would sign "bird" in excitement when she saw one. "Cracker" was her all time favorite.  Some people thought she was deaf.  It was her way to communicate till each new word became vocal, so there is less frustration. When she start to walk, we noticed a limp, We called it her hitch in her giddy-up. One ortho visit later we found out her left leg was a little shorter. She still ...