Early Warning Signs and Cam Update

A couple of my friends have asked me if I would post about some of the early warning signs that prompted us to seek a diagnosis for Cam.  To be honest I think if Cam had been my first child I probably wouldn't have noticed anything. He has always seemed like a such happy well adjusted little guy. But since my girls started saying words at 10 months, and were putting 2 words together by 12 months, I definitely was concerned when Cam hit 12 months and hadn't said one single word.

I talked to my pediatrician and she said something like, "Oh boys just develop speech slower than girls, don't worry about it." But my mommy instincts were tingling and I was worried. I started to make more deliberate efforts to teach Cam words, especially Mama, Dada, Uh-oh and dog, things he saw a lot and heard a lot. I would show him pictures, repeat the words over and over, read him books, sing him songs, but not a word came out of his mouth.

At his 15th month appointment I told my doctor that Taber and I were really getting concerned. She still seemed to think he was just taking his time and said that if by 18 months he still hadn't said at least one word we could talk about further testing.  We increased our efforts to teach him words and still nothing. I don't think I would've been as worried if he would at least babble or make different sounds, but the only sounds he ever made were buh buh and duh duh. No other consonants or vowels sounds came out of his mouth.

Another thing that signaled something was off was that he didn't seem to understand language either. We would ask him simple questions, "Where's the ball? Where's Mama? Where's Daddy?" And he wouldn't point or even look in the right direction. I later learned that not pointing to things is an early warning sign, and we've been working really hard in therapy to teach him to point to things and bring people into his world through gestures.

When Cam was just a week shy of 18 months we went to visit family in Utah and Colorado.  Our family members noticed that he didn't talk or even respond to language and they started to worry too. A big red flag was that Cam wouldn't respond to his name. Some of our family thought he might be deaf or have some serious hearing loss. I knew he wasn't deaf because every time music comes on the kid starts to boogie like it's nobody's business! But listening to our family's concerns lit a fire under us and we were determined to find answers.

As soon as we got home from Utah I scheduled appointments with an audiologist and an ENT to make sure Cam's hearing was okay. When his ears and hearing checked out perfectly we went to a speech pathologist who did a thorough evaluation and told us Cam's speech and language development was at the level of a 6-9 month old.  I had no idea that autism was tied to language delays, I just thought it had to do with social development, so when she told me he might be on the spectrum it was a huge shock.

After doing research though I could see the early warning signs and red flags she was talking about:
-Cam was a late walker (17 months) and has really low muscle tone in his legs and upper body
-He drools a lot (low muscle tone in his mouth and face, makes it hard to form sounds)
-He doesn't respond to his name (since we started therapy he responds to his name close to 60% of the time which is a huge improvement!)
-He doesn't point to things
-He doesn't identify objects in pictures or books by pointing to them when we say their names.
-He doesn't look at us to see if we're looking at what he's looking at, he doesn't try to bring us into his world through pointing or gestures (he's looking at us a lot more since working with our therapist)
-He doesn't engage in imaginary play (i.e. feed a baby doll or pretend to talk on a phone)
-He uses us a tool to get what he wants instead of communicating what he needs (example, if he wants me to turn on the t.v., he will grab my finger and make my finger push the button, instead of making eye contact with me and pointing to the t.v.)

So those are the warning signs that prompted us to seek an evaluation. If you are concerned about your child here is a great website with more early warning signs and great tools and resources CLICK HERE

Also others have asked if Cam's seizures might be connected with his speech delays. Several doctors think there might be a connection so he's been referred to see neurologist to have an EEG done as soon as we get to Chicago. I'll be sure to post results once we know :)

I'm just so glad that we found this out early and have access to lots of resources to help him learn and grow. Besides his speech sessions he just got assigned an OT who will be coming this week to start working with him. Also Taber's mom bought him the Baby Signing Time videos and he's learning signs so fast! The other day he came down into the kitchen, looked right into my eyes, and then made the sign for banana. I signed it back to make sure that's what he wanted and he made the biggest cheesiest grin! So I gave him a banana and he was so happy. It was the awesomest thing! He can also sign "milk, more, eat, food, drink, please and all done." We're trying to teach him "help, mom, dad, and water" right now. Having signs to communicate has helped him so much. He still gets frustrated when we don't know what he wants but he's learning that there are ways to tell us and it's been really great to see him communicating.

The one thing Cam has no problem communicating though is happiness. It doesn't require any words, just his deep, rich, wonderful giggles that he freely shares with us every day. What an amazing little blessing he is to our family. We love him more than words and are grateful for his sweet spirit in our home.