Of our 3 boys on the spectrum, Emmett, our 3 year old is the most profoundly affected by #Autism. He is considered pre-verbal as he has developed some language and speech skills.
However, despite the great strides he has made in the last year or so, he is still severely speech and language delayed. It’s really easy for me to forget just how much he struggles with communication because we are so used to it that we are able to decipher a lot of what he is trying to say.
Having said that, it’s an immediate crash back to reality when I see Emmett with a neurotypical peer. The difference in speech and language is undeniable, especially when it comes to expressive language.
I haven’t written about this because in some weird, irrational way, I thought by not writing about it, it would be less real. If that even makes sense.
At Emmett’s last session with Dr. Pattie, the discussion centered around how Emmett is showing more and more Autistic traits as time goes on. He has, over time, become extremely sensitive to things like imperfections in a sucker or water on his shoes. He has become a perfectionist and an extreme one at that.
It’s gotten to the point where we will have a 45 minute meltdown over a slight imperfection in a chicken nugget that he is only going to chew up anyway.
We have also noticed that he is using less and less speech as time goes on. We are always working with him and I do my best to incorporate him into many of my daily tasks, if for no other reason than to work on conversational skills. We always make him use his words but anymore, we hear more screaming than anything else.
What literally terrifies me, is that he is approaching the age that Gavin began to regress. That doesn’t mean it will happen to him but it already seems to be happening, just not as rapidly as Gavin did. There is always a part of me that will fear this.
When you lose a child to the regressive form of Autism, that sticks with you for the rest of your life. When your other kids approach that same age, you worry.
I truly hope and pray that Emmett is just in a phase and that we will pick up and continue to move forward.
**Thanks for reading**
-Lost and Tired
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Posted from WordPress for Android so please forgive the typos. Auto-correct and I don’t get along very well.
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