God Often Uses Our Past Experiences

In my mind, precious time was going by. The doctor was next on the list to contact. Their doctor at that time was really great and spent lots of time with her patients. She noted my concerns, but urged us just to focus on his speech (he needed to be using single words). In the new year (2005), I called the doctor before Jeremy's 18 month appointment. Again, I shared my concerns and the information I had gathered. Her response was, "well maybe", but she focused more on the fact that he was still not talking. Her response was, "don't worry. Maybe it could be '2nd child syndrome'." Noah was the big brother who was very verbal and out going. Jeremy was just letting Noah talk for him. We also talked about sending Jeremy for a hearing evaluation after his upcoming appointment. In defense of a great doctor. This was early 2005 and at this time pediatricians knew very little about autism. It was just gaining traction at that time. In medical school and beyond doctors had not been trained or taught how to look for certain signs that may suggest the autism spectrum. Furthermore, at that young age no doctor would give a formal diagnosis of autism. It could have been many other things. Why did I think autism and not something else? I'm sure you have heard many stories about mothers having that feeling that something is not right about their children before the doctors and the tests confirm it. Many moms are with their children all of the time, like I was. I think God also used my previous experiences in combination with how He wired me. When I was in high school, one of my best friends had a cousin who was several years younger than we were. She had been diagnosed with autism. Also, during my time as a Sunday School teacher and Children's Church worker in NYC there was a single mom with 2 children: a girl and a boy who was the youngest. He was on the autism spectrum. She would have to stand outside the sanctuary and travel all over the building most Sundays with her son. He was constantly on the move. When I was teaching, she knew she could sometimes get a break and sit in the church service. I would encourage her to leave her son in the class with us. Around the same time, my cousin's daughter was diagnosed with autism. This was years before the disorder became so prevalent.