Here we go again

Lorenzo had his second appointment with his new doctor today and we were happy at first to report that we have seen a difference in him this last week and that he has made improvements from the last month or so. The doctor has taken him off all but one medication and he upped that to a “more therapeutic level;” and it has seemed to help. So while we were talking he was watching Lorenzo play. Liam was with us and they were over in the toy corner playing how they normally do. He then looked at me and asked if Lorenzo had any odd behaviors. I said yes and then he wanted to know what. I told him about Lorenzo’s weird food crazes. He will only eat about 10 things and he becomes fixed on that food and he eats it every day i.e. he has had a yogurt for breakfast and a tuna sandwich and grapes for lunch everyday for over 10 months. His strange bathroom “stuff” how he talkes or sings in a really strange voice a lot of the time and some other things his teacher has noticed, mainly that he seems to be in his own world a lot of the time. This was how he was playing in his office and this is how he usually plays, mostly by himself and not with other kids. He stands on the sidelines a lot and does not like to actively engage with other people or kids. We have attributed a lot of this to his anxiety but the doctor looked right at me and said I think he has autism. I then told him we have had a lot of people say that but they always end up with the same conclusion that it is anxiety that is causing a lot of his behaviors and not autism and we have just went with that.

I have spent the remainder of my day looking at different autism web sites and I am not so sure now. He has about 60-75% of the symptoms they have listed. He has made some improvement as he has got older but a lot of things are still there. Te doctor thinks that he has both bipolar and autism, and that if he is indeed autistic that he is on the more mild side of the spectrum. I have called and left a message with the pediatrics developmental delay department to insist they have him tested. I guess we are going to be in for another rollercoaster ride.