Tuesday, November 6, 2007

The times they are a changin

It's my second Bob Dylan reference in two days! While I was waiting at the doctors office last week, I saw a report on the tv there that the powers that be are requiring pediatricians to screen all children for autism at least two times before two years of age. I have many feelings about this, many feelings. I think many parents go to their pediatricians suspecting that something is not quite kosher and are dismissed by their primary care doctors or are advised to take a wait and see approach. I hope that this changes.

I urge anyone reading my rantings and ravings to check out this article by Kim Stagliano in the Huffington Post!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was a great article - I am sure there will be alot of discussion on it.

Jaws said...

To be frank, Autism scares the bejesus out of me. My oldest didn't START talking until he was 2 1/2.
I constantly feel something is "off" with him and no one agrees with me.
My second ds is an amazing talker and is not even 2 yet.

The statistics are just terrifying.

Essential Amy said...

Jaws,
It is terrifying! It seems like every day I hear about another child getting a dx. 1 in 94 boys, that's a huge chunk of the population! I only hope all of this awareness leads to some answers!
What worries you about your son?

Jaws said...

Bonbon,
I don't know, he just seems extra quirky sometimes. Like he gets extra attached to things, they have to go to bed with him etc. Or things have to be lined up exactly the same way every night on his dresser before bed.
It's not just one or two toys either, he'll have a whole slew of stuff in bed, if I don't "prevent" the extra attachments right away.
Its the same with routines or even clothing sometimes, I try to vary evrything often.
He didn't begin to talk until he was 2 1/2.
He throws the most insane tantrums. For awhile I was really worried because he wouldn't actually play with his toys, he would just turn them over and spin the wheels forever.
When your kid is doing that all the time, not speaking at all, throwing violent tantrums and toe walking, how can someone not be worried?!

He's almost 3 1/2 now and finally talking better, maybe he is just very stubborn.