Hayden continues to receive speech & Occupational Therapy for his delays & the sensory integration processing problem that he has. He has started saying one new word in the last week or so, "HI" the first one in 6+ months :). It is so good to hear him say a word & when we say "Hi" to him usually he will say it back....YEAH!!!
During one of his visits to the pediatrician that Tim took Hayden too, they talked about some of the things that Hayden was doing & wasn't doing. His ped thought it would be a good idea to have him further evaluated at University of VA. But before we could make it to that appt, Hayden began having seizures. We were quite concerned about the seizures & got Hayden into a pediatric neurologist at UVA. Hayden has also had sleep deprivation EEG's (those are NO fun at all....we have to keep him up late & get him up by 4 am, keeping up until his appt time) & sleep deprivation b/c that will often will trigger a seizure. The EEG's (the eeg looks at one's brain waves) have helped determine the specific type of medication Hayden needs. We've been doing a lot of worrying...the fear of the unknown is very worrisome. Lots of people have been praying for our little man!
Hayden started one type of medication in August, but it was discovered that wasn't the correct type of med for his seizures after the second EEG. We are now in the process of changing medications...it is a slow process where we have to wean one while starting the other. We are also having to teach others how to care for Hayden after a seizure & what to do/expect during one. We are always on guard these days. Hayden's seizure are more like the grand mal type where his arms & legs shake, he gets unresponsive during the seizure that last 1-3 minutes (a life time while watching the clock) but quick resumes consciousness & then usually sleeps for a while after the seizure event.
Hayden visited the UVa Kluge Children's Rehab Hospital on Wednesday, Sept 19. They do all sorts of testing & treatments there. We are so fortunate to UVA pretty much in our back yard. Anyhow, after about 2 hours of talking, testing & examining Hayden the team at UVA feels like he has a mild case of autism. They use a scale of 30 to 50. Hayden rated at 34. While this really wasn't a huge surprise to us as we have been talking w/ his speech therapist & OT off & on the past several months it is still a bit hard to swallow. BUT........rest assured, we are going in fighting hard for our little man to get him as much help/treatment as needed. The first thing that was recommended was school or a head-start program that has speech & OT on a daily basis the sooner the better or at least by January 2008. The team feels like with a 'full court press' or a regular, consistent routine Hayden will make better strides in his communication. Hayden tested well in the cognitive areas, wahoo...that's our boy :).
Tim & I have been researching autism the past couple of days on the internet, talking w/ a family friend whose son is autistic, doing lots of praying for patience & deciding which way we want to go.
Do you know anyone with autism? Now you do.....meet our son Hayden, whom we love very much!
xoxo, Amy
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