A more specific timeline of the chain of events

June 17, 2012

A more specific timeline of the chain of events

Hunter at 15 months

At Hunter's four-year-old checkup, I wanted to review the sequence of events, since Peter and I have a hard time remembering exactly when each behavior appeared. I asked her for a copy of the M-CHAT I filled out at his 18 month check-up, and then again at his 2 year old check-up. Every good pediatrician should be handing these out at these two age markers, possibly even at the 12 month checkup. Being an early interventionist, I am floored when I work with families whose pediatrician hasn't mentioned concerning behaviors, lack of language, etc, as red flags for Autism.

Here is my 18 month MCHAT checklist:

I remember filling this out, thinking I know what they are looking for! I even asked the nurse when she came back in the room if this was the Autism screener. She kind of laughed with me and said it was standard procedure. Absolutely no concerns.

Here is my two year MCHAT:

My only concern was the staring- that had started post viral tic. How it progressed in the beginning was as follows according to the patient charts at the office:
December 7: Parent called regarding illness in WI and eye blinking (patient 17 months). Scheduled appointment that day- determined it was a viral tic and to keep a close watch- should disappear in 30 days.
December 14: Regularly scheduled 18 month check up. Continue to watch tic.
December 21: Parent called again. Patient has started to walk on toes. Tic still present.
December 23: Parent called again. Tic increased up to 30 times/day. Toe walking increased. Scheduled appointment that same day- scheduled an EEG to rule out seizure activity.

Our pedi looked back at several of the phone calls/appointments and couldn't find the beginning of the arm flapping, but I am pretty sure it started when we moved to our new house in March of 10. I don't remember it in the old house. I also remember one day at the new house seeing him walk to a corner, and do a strange thing with his fingers, something I had never seen before. I remember making a mental note, just in case something developed in the future.

Kind of depressing to review old documents, pictures, and videos. Unfortunately I cannot figure out how to load videos to this blog- I am going to try and see if Peter can figure it out. Here are a couple of pictures from pre-virus: