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Hello! My name is & my Husbands name is . We live in

Southern Calif. We have a 11 yr old that has High Functioning Autism

() and we have a baby boy that is 18mo and has Down Syndrome

(Elijah).

We are learning so much about Down. We registered with

the Regional Center for early intervention when Elijah was born. We

have not had any heart problems or major health problems as of yet.

Elijah is doing quite well so far. He can sign (ASL) 7 words and say 7-

10 words fairly clear. However, he does have a stigmatism and does not

see well and it is a constant battle to keep his glasses on! We had In-

Home OT & play therapist for a year. He was crawling normally and is

pulling himself up and cruising the couch and tables. We requested to

go to a center based OT and play therapy. We now have a wonderful OT

with ALOT of equipment, hope he will walk soon! The play

therapy, " Mommy & ME " did not go so well, when they handed my (then)

14 mo old glue and glitter, I said, " Hold up! " " I don't think that is

a good idea! " . I tried to stay a couple of months later just to see,

but quickly realized that it was strictly a pre school setting and

Elijah was not ready for that...he was just trying to eat and teeth on

everything for heavens sake! We brought the play therapist back in our

home and when they sent me a 20 year old girl with little experience

with children and NO experience with Down I had requested the director

come to our home! Now she comes twice a week. However, as nice as she

is, everything she does with him, we already do, so I continued my

search for a center based program for infants and toddlers! Three

months later after MANY calls (the Regional Center did not know of any

others!) and talking to MANY people I finally found one that I am

going to tour this coming week. The other good news is that our local

community college is starting the exact same kind of program we need

in Jan, they described it as Gymboree meets therapy with OT, PT, oral

stimulation, speech, signing, socialization and fun & songs...can't

wait...I'm on the list! Also, we just changed Pediatricians, I had to

provide the DS growth chart to the last Dr who said there wasn't one!

Speaking of the Dr, Elijah is still spitting up regularly and often

seems to choke or gag briefly for no apparent reason, I thought he was

to old to do that (could be teething & saliva?), spoke to his OT & she

said to request a GI Dr to see if he has reflux or?? So we did,

hopefully we will get an appointment soon.

Well, that's where we are so far with our little snuggle bug. As you

can see we stay busy as the rest of you trying to figure this all out

& don't even get me started on the HF Autism issues...that's a

different group! Will be so glad to have others to talk to who have

been there, done that! We look forward to reading your questions

and answers and will certainly have some of our own as we learn more!