18 month "well" check-up jitters
Peyton had his 18- month well check today. "Well-check" is a strange sort of terminology in our family, and most likely other families with a child with an ASD. For Hunter, there is never a "well-check," in the sense that he is not ever really "well." All of these kiddos on the Autism spectrum may appear to be well on the outside (to some degree), but on the inside of their brain, some are as sick as can be. Hunter's autoimmune issues are ongoing and prevent him from being perfectly, well, "well,"
I had the jitters this morning. Could it be the stats from the Autism-PDD.net site?
A 2011 study offers at this point the most reliable numbers:
19% chance if an older sibling has an autism spectrum diagnosis (ASD)
26% chance if the new sibling is a boy
32% chance if two or more older siblings have ASD
It doesn't look like the older siblings' symptom severity or gender affected the risk.
Read more here:
http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/578825--study-auti sm-risk-shockingly-high-for-second-child
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/08/ 11/peds.2010-2825.full.pdf+html
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/siblings-face-high-recur rence-risk-autism/story?id=14290496
Or could be the 5 hours of sleep I had last night due to a three hour stint in the ER for Paige (who split her forehead a bit at soccer practice), waiting for Peter to get home from a work trip to LA, doing my paperwork, and Hunter getting up at 5 AM. I knew when I arrived at the doctor's office that that blasted mCHAT would be waiting for me. All of those questions that trigger a heightened awareness for the doctor related to symptoms of Autism. As I answered each question, I knew that I should not be worried. Peyton is a social little guy, but extremely busy, and sometimes doesn't respond to his name the first time. Thoughts of "does he have a hearing loss? is he tuning me out? is this completely normal??" go through my head and I realized that my hypersensitivity to seemingly normal activities often overtake my better judgment.
One night a couple weeks ago, Peyton screamed as I lay him in the crib to go to bed. He is such a good sleeper that I was actually a little alarmed. The next night, same thing happened...we had to go back in and console him a few times before he would go to sleep. Peter came down the stairs after he had taken a turn rocking him and said, "I hate to say this..." and I finished his sentence.
"The star sheet??"
"That's exactly what I was thinking," he said.
So what's the deal with the star sheet? When Hunter was about 22 months old (post-infection), we bought a new sheet for his crib so we would have some extras in case his bed needed changing in the middle of the night. Each time we put these star sheets on the mattress, he would wake up with night terrors or would have a hard time falling asleep. We couldn't figure out what had caused the terrors until we brainstormed and attributed it to the sheet. Sounds absurd, right?
We changed the sheet and the terrors stopped. Not sure if the pattern was too graphic for this little boy who couldn't self-regulate all the changes going on in his little brain at the time, or if the thread count was too low and it was scratchy to him, but once we took the sheet away, he slept just fine.
The point of this story is that Peyton didn't have a problem with the star sheets. The thread count was just fine. The pattern was not an issue. He had an ear infection, as we found out two days later when he started to run a fever. He didn't want to lie down due to the pain and pressure. It just so happened that I had put the star sheets on his bed that week.
In our mixed up world of normalcy, it's hard to step back and not jump to conclusions when things aren't exactly "well."
Even though Peyton is social, has about 15-20 words (which as an SLP still worries me a little at 18 months!), plays appropriately with toys, extends his hand and points to objects, expresses pleasure and displeasure appropriately (he definitely has that down pat), and shows affection to others, I still can't shake the questions that raise flags in my mind. Even pulling his shoes off as soon as he gets home, just like his older brother, raises a question...
I had the jitters this morning. Could it be the stats from the Autism-PDD.net site?
A 2011 study offers at this point the most reliable numbers:
19% chance if an older sibling has an autism spectrum diagnosis (ASD)
26% chance if the new sibling is a boy
32% chance if two or more older siblings have ASD
It doesn't look like the older siblings' symptom severity or gender affected the risk.
Read more here:
http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/578825--study-auti sm-risk-shockingly-high-for-second-child
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/08/ 11/peds.2010-2825.full.pdf+html
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/siblings-face-high-recur rence-risk-autism/story?id=14290496
Or could be the 5 hours of sleep I had last night due to a three hour stint in the ER for Paige (who split her forehead a bit at soccer practice), waiting for Peter to get home from a work trip to LA, doing my paperwork, and Hunter getting up at 5 AM. I knew when I arrived at the doctor's office that that blasted mCHAT would be waiting for me. All of those questions that trigger a heightened awareness for the doctor related to symptoms of Autism. As I answered each question, I knew that I should not be worried. Peyton is a social little guy, but extremely busy, and sometimes doesn't respond to his name the first time. Thoughts of "does he have a hearing loss? is he tuning me out? is this completely normal??" go through my head and I realized that my hypersensitivity to seemingly normal activities often overtake my better judgment.
One night a couple weeks ago, Peyton screamed as I lay him in the crib to go to bed. He is such a good sleeper that I was actually a little alarmed. The next night, same thing happened...we had to go back in and console him a few times before he would go to sleep. Peter came down the stairs after he had taken a turn rocking him and said, "I hate to say this..." and I finished his sentence.
"The star sheet??"
"That's exactly what I was thinking," he said.
So what's the deal with the star sheet? When Hunter was about 22 months old (post-infection), we bought a new sheet for his crib so we would have some extras in case his bed needed changing in the middle of the night. Each time we put these star sheets on the mattress, he would wake up with night terrors or would have a hard time falling asleep. We couldn't figure out what had caused the terrors until we brainstormed and attributed it to the sheet. Sounds absurd, right?
We changed the sheet and the terrors stopped. Not sure if the pattern was too graphic for this little boy who couldn't self-regulate all the changes going on in his little brain at the time, or if the thread count was too low and it was scratchy to him, but once we took the sheet away, he slept just fine.
The point of this story is that Peyton didn't have a problem with the star sheets. The thread count was just fine. The pattern was not an issue. He had an ear infection, as we found out two days later when he started to run a fever. He didn't want to lie down due to the pain and pressure. It just so happened that I had put the star sheets on his bed that week.
In our mixed up world of normalcy, it's hard to step back and not jump to conclusions when things aren't exactly "well."
Even though Peyton is social, has about 15-20 words (which as an SLP still worries me a little at 18 months!), plays appropriately with toys, extends his hand and points to objects, expresses pleasure and displeasure appropriately (he definitely has that down pat), and shows affection to others, I still can't shake the questions that raise flags in my mind. Even pulling his shoes off as soon as he gets home, just like his older brother, raises a question...
Until I realize that I, too, pull my shoes off as soon as I get in the door. And by most standards, I think I'm pretty normal.:)
Dr. V deemed him "well" at his visit today. She noted my minute concerns and told me to come back in three months instead of the recommended six months.
Let's hope the "well" visits continue in this little brother's future.
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