I am going to start with Sam.
No, not because he is my favorite (as Emily likes to say that he is), but because I have some exciting news to share about him, but that is going to need to wait until the end of the post.
Sam is the 3rd in line of my 4 kids, my first son.
Sam (or Samuel) as he likes to be called now, is ever so precious in so many ways. Sam was born in early June, 2004, a whopping 8 lb 5 oz, the biggest of all my kids. I was so excited to have a little boy. Trucks, cars and trains were loaded into our house. Sam was a GREAT baby, sleeping through the night before his older sister Rachel. Life was good!
In the fall of 2005 when Sam was about 15 months, I thought it to be somewhat strange that he wasn't talking or communicating with us at all. But, seeing he was my first boy, I just thought "that's how boys were", "it is so busy in our house he doesn't have a chance to talk" and really wasn't too worried.
In December 2005 Sam went in for his 18 month check. At that point he was due to have his MMR vaccine. Dr. Knudson (our AWESOME pediatrician) told me that he wanted to wait in giving that shot, because sometimes kids can get a rash from that and he didn't want him to get a rash so close to Christmas. Little did I know at this time, that Dr. Knudson had already feared what WE would find out in a couple months.
I left the doctor office that day, very proud of my very big, very handsome boy and we all proceeded on with life as we knew it. In January Sam got an ear infection and when we went back in for a re-check on his ears (it was a VERY BAD ear infection), Dr. Knudson talked with me more about Sam's communication. Knowing what I know now, I am sure it looked rather obvious to him that something wasn't quite right with Sam, but he played it pretty cool.
"So what words does Sam say in addition to mama and dada?"
"Oh he doesn't say mama and dada."
"How does he get what he wants, does he point to things?
"Oh no, he just kind of grunts and sits there I just know what he wants."
The whole while this questioning was going on, Sam was "playing" with the dial on the blood pressure cuff while sitting in the corner behind the exam table.
Dr. Knudson suggested that we get a referral to the school district for his speech delay and see what they have to say. When Bill got home from work that day, I told him what Dr. Knudson said. That night after everyone was in bed, Bill said he thought Sam had autism. "What do you mean, autism?, he just isn't talking", I didn't even really know what autism was at that point.
I did what any good parent would do, and googled "autism". I came across the Autism Society of Minnesota's website and that time they had 10 early warning signs of autism, Sam had probably 7 of the 10! Wow, I went to bed in tears of the fear of the unknown of what would happen next.
The next month brought many evaluations by our school district. Sam was severely delayed in many of his areas of development.
At 20 months this was his age equivalent for this language:
Receptive Language - 5 Months
Expressive Language - 9 Months
Well, where do we go from here? I decided to make an appointment at Fraser in Minneapolis for a very thorough evaluation to see what treatments they would recommend. We were lucky to get in to see them in July of 2006 and they confirmed the autism diagnosis and recommended their day treatment program.
As crazy as it seems (then and now), I made the commitment to drive Sam to Minneapolis (an hour and half drive on a good day - each way) twice a week for the next year. The progress he made was AMAZING and I am forever thankful for that crucial year that they helped Sam. During that year we also received services with the school district (twice a week) and at Pediatric Therapy Services in Mankato (once a week). Both the school and Pediatric Therapy gave Sam speech and OT (Occupational Therapy). It was a very busy, very interesting year.
In September 2007 Sam stopped going to Fraser and started going to the special ed preschool room right here in St. Peter. He went for half days until January of this year at which time he started full days. Sam has made tremendous strides in his recovery from autism.
Remember that little boy who at 20 months was scoring at a 5 month level. Well, last year (May 2008) his communication was at a 2 year 1 month age equivalent (he was 4 at the time). Now just one year later (May, 2009) his communication is that of a 4 year 1 month old, he had 2 years of growth in just one year!
We had a re-evaluation at Fraser just a couple weeks ago. These evaluations are always very thorough, taking about 2 hours of Sam testing and 2 hours of questioning from us. A psychologist works with Sam and another person questions us. There are 12 diagnostic criteria for autism. In the past Sam was meeting 6 of the 12 symptoms, hence he was always diagnosed with "classic autism". After his visit in May they determined he was only meeting 5 of those criterias so he is officially diagnosed with "PDD-NOS", which to be honest doesn't really even make a difference, but it still made me cry when they told me of this change of diagnosis!!!
We are so very very proud of Sam and he brings a smile to my face, more times in a day that you might possibly imagine. I mean look at him, who wouldn't smile at this smart, amazing, handsome boy?
Oh, what about that MMR vaccine? The reason that is such an important point to make is because MANY people think that vaccinations (in particular the MRR vaccine) triggers autism. Well, I know with 100% certainty that this wasn't the case for Sam as he was already diagnosed before he received his vaccine in July of 2005! I am so thankful that Dr. Knudson decided to hold that shot so it took away that source of possible "guilt" that it was that shot which triggered Sam's autism.
Dr. Knudson has since told me that he really wasn't worried so much about the rash, but at that 18 month visit he was concerned about his lack of communicating and in the back of his mind was fearing the autism diagnosis and didn't want me to think the MMR caused that for Sam. That you Dr. K!!!
And that my friends is the "Story of Sam"!
1 PEOPLE LEFT THEIR COMMENTS HERE - DO IT!:
I agree. Dr. Knudson is awesome!
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