We have been fighting for a diagnosis for the past three years. I have to say that to have our suspicions confirmed is a huge relief but the journey to get here has been long. When Jax was three we noticed that he was not talking as much as other kids his age, the words he could say were not pronounced correctly and he was not speaking in sentences. So we took him to Child Find for an evaluation. Autism had not entered our mind at this point. We just thought he needed Speech Therapy. Once we received the report back from Child Find we could not help but see everything pointing to Autism. Among many other behaviors, he was not using his imagination or socializing with other kids. We met with the evaluation team and they said because of his age they wanted to just give him a diagnosis of Speech and Language Impaired. They were hopeful that if Jaxon was able to communicate better some of the other behaviors would improve and others would go away. We were hopeful too. And they were right. Jaxon started at Shining Stars Preschool in a peer model program. Jaxons language improved by leaps and bounds. Before, we could not get him to talk, now we can't get him to stop talking. His imagination and social skills were also improving. But there was still something going on. What was it we thought? Was it all in our heads? We always wrestling with these thougths and the worry that we were not doing enough for him. Well this past October we met with his teachers and therapists during parent-teacher conferences and they gave us the number to UNMs Autism programs to have Jax further evaluated. They had been observing him closely for years and strongly believed that Jaxon was Autistic. We called UNM right away and were put on a waiting list. During that time I read all that I could about High-Functionig Autism. And everything I read screamed Jaxon. That was my boy they were talking about on those pages. After a four month waiting period Jax was evaluated and they said that he did not fall on the Autism Spectrum. Not to discredit UNM but they spent 3 hours with him and did not see him with his peers. His teachers and therapists who knew him for years could see it, and we could see it as his parents. Here is a boy who out of the blue started reading at the age of four. He will read whatever you put in front of him. His teachers tested his reading and the test indicated that he is reading at a second grade level....the test only went up to second grade we suspect it is much higher. His memory and attention to detail is like no other. Yet he can only look you in the eye for about five seconds max. When he talks he is usually pacing back and forth and the topic of conversation is about his passion at the time. I call it passion instead of obsession. When he likes something he does not just like it...he learns all he can about it and that is what he will talk about until a new passion comes along. He would play with other children but when they were killing pretend bugs on the ground or something along those lines he just could not go their in his mind. But yet he is so very compassionate and loving, not typical for children with Autism. If a child is crying he immediately goes to comfort them. He is always telling us he loves us and gives lots of hugs and kisses. He wants to give to everyone he meets. He is always making cards and gifts. So why worry? His teachers were concerned that without a diagnosis he would not receive the help he needed once he entered kindergarten. Jaxon is well behaved and we do not want him to fall through the cracks in the school system. My husband is an elementary school principal and I worked in the schools for awhile too...we see it all too much. So I knew I had to seek support for Jaxon regardless of a diagnosis. There is no way I will let my son fall through the cracks. So I took him to see a well known social worker a few months ago. He has been seeing her weekly since then. It did not take her long to confirm our suspicions. She said we have an emotionally healthy boy with Aspergers (high-functioning autism). High-Functioning Autism or not I have always thought of my Jax as perfect. I don't want him any other way. I just want to provide him with the tools he needs to be and do his best...HIS best, not the worlds definition of BEST. God made him this way for a good reason and I am blessed to be his mommy and see his life story unfold before my eyes.
