My Autism Insights

Today my thankfulness will center mostly around our visit to the neurologist and to see a classroom.

First, I am thankful that we found a neurologist who actually spent time talking with us and listening to us about Gus.  He spent a good deal of time asking questions and observing.  He talked to Gus, was not condescending to any of us, and actually seemed pleasantly surprised by some of the comments I made to him.  (”How do you know all this?” I explained about my blogging.)  He was very patient (unlike the last doctor) when Gus was climbing and touching things he shouldn’t have been.  This guy didn’t even get annoyed when Gus turned the lights off in the room.  I don’t think I’ll have to worry about him shouting at me if we disagree.  It seems we’ve found a keeper!  Gus will go in for an EEG, and we spoke about medication, but I’m not feeling pressured.  Win!

Next, I am thankful that I decided to take Gus to visit the class I saw last week. I still think he’s better off in his current program, but it showed me that he does have options and also that he has the ability to function better than I was aware of.  Watching her interact with him gave me a slightly different perspective than I had during our first meeting - I liked her.  I’m also glad that the teacher saw the unmedicated version of Gus - she seemed to enjoy his presence.  That’s important in a teacher, at least to my way of thinking.  It was a good experience.

Finally, I’m thankful that my husband took the day off to come to the doctor with us and that my neighbor picked up MM so that we could both go.  As I was telling her, it seems to make a big difference when service providers see both parents taking an active role in their special needs child’s care.  I could read a lot into that, but I think it might be a post for another day. For now, I’m just glad that I don’t have to handle everything on my own.

What are you thankful for today?

  image from Webweaver’s Free Clip Art

Since Gus didn’t have school today, it was a perfect time to get him in to see the doctor to make sure his eyes were all right.  They are fine.  The eye exam says that he has 20/20 vision, although I think I annoyed the assistant when I asked if she wasn’t sure he hadn’t just memorized the line. (Which he did and he proved it by reciting it to me after we were back in the exam room.  Not my fault he has such a good memory.)  The doctor gave me some information on tics and said that we should probably not worry about it, but she gave me the name of a neurologist anyway, in case we were interested.  Gus has an appointment at the end of February to see the neuro.

From what I read on tics, they’re not as uncommon as I had thought.  They are defined as “repetitive, rapid, involuntary muscle contractions or vocal outbursts that usually involve muscles of the face, head, neck, shoulders or respiratory tract.” ~Disneyfamily They can last anywhere from a couple of weeks up to a year  before becoming a serious cause for concern.  The movements are frequently transient, meaning they can start in one part of the body and move to another, and generally end on their own.

The cause of tics is unclear, but has been associated to physical growth, stress and nerve disorders like Tourette’s Syndrome (which can include chronic and severe tics).

Apparently up to about 20% of school-aged children may experience some form of tic, and one study showed that the incidence of these movements increased during the winter months.

The advice for dealing with the tic that we received mostly said to help the child relax and to ignore it as much as possible unless it starts to interfere with daily functioning.   We’re not going to freak out over this.  We’ll try to find out what might be causing stress for Gus and will try to help him relax. Any other information or suggestions are welcome.  Otherwise, we’ll wait to see what the neurologist says next month.

   Now as for our Manic Monday on Snow (prompt from Mo of course), here’s a silly conversation I had with Gus at the bus stop while waiting for MM to get home:

“Did you want to play out in the snow today?”

“Yes.”

“Yes??  What do you mean yes??”

“Can we play in the snow?”

“No!  It’s too cold!”

“Why did you say that?”

“I didn’t expect you to say yes.”

Fortunately, he wasn’t too attached to the idea of going out in 20 degree weather, or else I’d be standing outside cursing my own big mouth.  He actually got a laugh out of it, so it’s all good.  Happy Monday!