Introduction

[Guest guest]

Hello all.

My name is Cate and I have an incredible 2 yr old son named Henry

(5/05/04). We live in Medina. We received H's dx this past

December and quite frankly, don't know if we are on foot or

horseback.

We had one of those pediatricians who always wanted to 'wait and

see' everytime I brought something up that concerned me. At 18

months, we changed doctors and found out H basically could not hear -

and we weren't sure for how long. He had tubes put in 2/06 and the

difference was incredible - but he was still very delayed. Luck was

on our side - we had an immediate EI eval because of a cancellation

and he started EI just after he turned 2 even though there was a

waiting list for the class.

H is our only child and the next youngest in the family is my

brother who is 33. Needless to say - I don't have an immense amount

of experience with toddler development. So when, this past Nov, his

EI teacher pulled me aside and told me that she was seeing signs of

autism and maybe I should look into an eval - I was devastated.

Again, we were lucky and both the Clinic and Akron Children's had

cancellations and could get us in mid December. We chose Children's

due to insurance coverage. I walked in completely expecting to hear

he was delayed because of hearing - never expected the autism dx.

So - here we are. I'm trying to figure out what therapies would be

best for Henry, what to do when EI ends for the summer, trying to

figure out what the h, e, double hockey sticks to put into the IEP

so H gets everything he needs, not the bare minimum the Medina

School district will pay for and trying to conclude whether or not I

need a lawyer from the get-go based on horror stories I've

heard/read. In between that - I perpetually remind myself not to

beat myself up over 'would haves/could haves/should haves'.

About my baby... He is incredibly smart. He does speak but for the

longest time it was echoing what he heard. He has a huge vocab,

started giving kisses and hugs (primarily on command but sometimes

it's his idea), is pointing and looking when we point, and has a

wicked sense of humor. He does not try to gain our approval or show

us things. He doesn't ask questions (but will tell us when he wants

something) and is one stubborn little man - it's like pulling teeth

to get him to say words I KNOW he knows - yes and please are the top

two at the moment. But he'll do it for a treat.

So amidst all this - I'm trying to keep my act together, decide how

or if to tell family and friends, worrying about him being labeled,

and have a minor meltdown. It feels like juggling.

Thanks for listening, sorry it's so long. If there is anyone with

experience with the Medina schools I would welcome an opportunity

for you to tell me what I'm getting myself into.

Thanks so much - Cate