As I said in an earlier post, I knew something was different when Corby was an infant, but I had no idea what it was. The first time mommy in me wanted to believe all of my well meaning friends and family when they said he would grow out of it, or that he was just quirky.
Last September, I started to wonder if Corby might have Asperger's Syndrome, which is similar to high functioning autism. He had some of the same signs and symptoms, and even the same mannerisms to another little boy we know who has Asperger's. Part of me wanted to ignore it, the other part of me wanted to learn more. I asked for strength from the Lord and I asked Him to open my eyes to what was wrong with my son. He answered that prayer with great big letters! I started seeing all of the little things that Corby did that were different from the other toddlers and preschoolers I know. He reacted to noises differently, he played differently, and he was just so hyper! He freaked out at the tiniest things, and seemed to be bothered by things that weren't a big deal. Another friend of mine noticed some things in Corby that were present in her son when he was Corby's age. Her son has Asperger's. So I went online and was looking through all of the checklists. Did Corby have Asperger's? He didn't fit that mold. I was so confused! I was elated that he didn't seem to have Asperger's, but I still had no clue what was wrong. Then in one search, I found this: http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com. I actually found something that sounded like Corby!!! But now what? What do I do with this information? I was starting to understand a little more about Corby and why he did the things he did. I was able to change my tactics to be more understanding of what his needs were, rather than what I thought his needs should be. But I still had no idea what to do with that information. I told Ryan of my findings, but I don't think he bought into it.
Fast forward to November 17, 2010. The day Corby got tubes put in his ears. The pre-surgery screening was his nurse's first clue about him. She didn't say anything to us, but I was watching her very intently. I was watching how she interacted with him, and I was paying close attention to her wording. Corby is scared of standing on the scales, and I think that's what clued in the nurse.
The surgery went well, and as soon as he woke up, they came and got me. By the time I got to Corby in the recovery room, he was screaming. I asked the recovery nurse if he was in pain, and she said "no, he sat up and very calmly asked where his mommy was". She explained that if he was in pain, he would have woken up screaming. He was just fine till he saw all of the tubes hooked up to his body with all of the stickers. At that point, with him being groggy from the anesthesia, he lost all control of his emotions. He was in full meltdown mode. I found out later that meltdowns are very different from tantrums, and this was a classic meltdown.
Corby was screaming for so long, and so loud that they moved all of the children out of his room and closed the doors. The nurse that did his pre-surgery screening came in and witnessed the whole ordeal. She asked me if I've ever considered that "he might have sensory issues". That sentence meant everything to me! It told me that I wasn't being a paranoid mom who was making excuses for my son. It told me that there is a valid reason to his behavior. But it also devastated me because I had to face the fact that Corby was different.
The next day I made an appointment with his pediatrician. I knew that his pediatrician was well known for treating autism and other neurological disorders, so I felt comfortable with accepting his diagnosis. The appointment was set for the first week of January, and in the six weeks that I waited, I researched everything I could on SPD and how Corby fit into it.
His pediatrician was convinced that Corby had SPD and needed treatment. He recommended a nutritional panel to look for nutritional deficiencies, and occupational therapy. He said the nutritional panel was optional, as it is highly expensive, but since our insurance covered it, I opted to do it right then.
The panel came back that he was deficient in B vitamins and vitamin D. We started him on supplements, except for the B complex, because that was a tricky one to find. But we found one, and now we're waiting on it to be mailed to us. The B vitamins he was deficient in are responsible for nervous system development, so we are hoping that once he gets enough of those, his symptoms will diminish. But that may not happen, so we started occupational therapy today. But that is a post for another time.
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