Let me introduce you to my offspring. Morgana Maeve and Iain Thomas. Otherwise known as my nigglets. They, like my brother and I, were born a little over 4 years apart. They have a typical brother and sister love/hate relationship but with a twist. They both have Autism. Morgana has Kanner's Autism, which is a mid-range, while Iain has a more higher functioning form of Autism. But Iain also has ADHD which adds that extra bit of HOLY CRAP! that every parent of Autistic children need. We kind of knew that there was somethings up with Morgana when she totally regressed at the age of 2 and her father Jon and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to figure out what she wanted because she couldn't communicate what she wanted. If you have ever seen Katt Williams' stand up in American Hustle where he is talks about his adopted baby girl that is what we were doing. I feel ya Katt!! Morgana had us running around like fools trying to figure out what she wanted and if you don't figure out what she wanted in a specific amount of time let me tell you...
ATOMIC MELTDOWN in 5...4...3...2...1.
But eventually, we got things figured out and worked out and she began to communicate more after we got her the help she needed.
Now Iain was a completely different story. His father, Jason, just wanted a healthy baby. I, on the other hand, was more specific. I thought that this would make a difference. I forgot that God has a sense of humor. Knowing a little more than I did before about a childs development had a feeling that Iain was not developing like he should. He did not completely regress like Morgana but there was enough to have him start Preschool. It was in preschool that it was brought to our attention by his teacher that Iain might have ADD or ADHD and to get him evaluated for that. So we did and he did. Since Jason was in the military we were assigned a Developmental Peds doc who also wanted to test for other things. Last August we did the screening for Autism with Iain. Now lets do some math shall we.
Me (assumed NT) + Jon (undiagnosed Aspie)= Morgana (Kanner's Autism)
Totally understand. But then they called and set up an appointment to go over what the testing showed for Iain and I ended up with this equation...
Me (assumed NT) + Jason (ADD)= Iain (Autistic/ADHD)
Does not compute!
How did I hit this genetic lottery twice? Not like I was sad or disappointed. I have one autistic child and I was aware of the challenges I would be up against. The only differences is Iain never stopped talking. In fact, when he started getting the help he needed the boy talked more. And more. AND MORE! You know when you have a child you start in with the "I can't wait until you..." Let me tell you from experience dude...WAIT! You might not be able to keep yourself from saying that but certainly try because once they do they don't stop. You will learn that what comes with the statement "I can't wait until you can talk to me" comes with the words "Shut Up!"
All and all I love me little nigglets and now that they are 11 and 6 my next post...Let's Get Ready to Rumble!! will be coming up soon. Very, very soon.
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