Logan's Evaluation at Vanderbilt

 I know several people have been following along with Logan's speech journey. I often get asked questions and I do not mind answering them at all...especially if it can assist another mother with her child. Logan talked late. Very late. Kal-El was a very early bloomer and like me he has always articulated well. The comparisons both helped and hurt the way I evaluated Logan's challenges. Some days they were comforting bc I told myself that he was just a late developer and I needed to let him be a toddler and back off of my developmental childhood knowledge and stop making everything textbook. Then, I also told myself to stop making excuses because clearly there was an issue. I bounced back and forth for awhile and education won out despite protest of him being "fine" from those close to us. We started speech. I will be honest here. The social interaction was the primary benefit to us. If he had a speech impediment there might have been something to work with but Logan quite literally had ZERO language. No receptive language. No expressive language. No language. It was a tough time for me. I wanted to help him but I couldnt do it for him. It was almost like the light switch was just off. He never displayed any sensory type issues, did wonderfully socially..eye contact was great, smiles etc. Loud noises never bothered Logan nor did textures or foods. Still, in the back of my mind I suspected he was on the spectrum. He was only 2 at the time so there was just no way of knowing. I called and set up an appointment with Vanderbilt when he turned 3. I didnt want to have him evaluated prior to him being 3 because he was just too young. Im glad we waited. They couldnt see him until 6 months out. Little did I know how much everything would change during that wait. His light came on. Literally just one day words started coming out. At first a few...that he could use repetitively and understand their meaning. Momma, Daddy, dog...simple and amazing to hear for the first time when you have a child that struggles with language. Tons of new words. Identifying things for the first time. I think the part the touched me the most was when he was able to identify himself. When he had an understanding of individuality. "I'm Logan" Yes you are buddy. Self worth and authentic self esteem is one of the most important thing you can do as a parent for your child. Off of the child psychology sermon and back to the appointment. Chris and I took him a couple of weeks ago to see a wonderful dr at Vanderbilt. Im obnoxious about medical care. When you have a clear understanding on many medical issues you expect a certain standard of care. I was not disappointed. They were wonderful and very through with Logan. We went at the perfect time. Logan has been speaking in full, short sentences for about a month so they got a really clear picture of where is at in terms of development and prognosis. I went into the appointment ready to accept whatever it was that we were dealing with. Once Logan's language picked up and even prior to that when I could see his receptive language had improved I started leaning way more towards ADHD than autism. Ive had experience in the field with adult and adolescent attention issues but Ive never worked with children. Still, he seems text book at times even now. We were told the same day that Logan is definitely not on the autism spectrum. It was wonderful news for our family....primarily bc when you know what you are dealing with you can tackle it better. Hes a healthy happy little boy that is quite hyper but diagnosis free for now in terms of attention span issues. I have a feeling thats the road we will be on but its one Im confident I can help him deal with. I have been an anti corporal punishment advocate for some time now. Every medical expert agrees on this subject and the dr and I had a very good talk about how not effective it is plus a high five :) I really cant fathom how negatively hitting a child could effect their development. Actually I can ...there are studies and if you want resources hit me up :) Back off the psychology soap box...we left the appointment with very clear instructions for how we could continue to help Logan. It basically equates to him being put in a very structured setting so he can understand whats expected of him and prepare him for his early school years. I'll update again soon about how our search is going bc its proving to be somewhat of a challenge . Thank you so much to everyone that has been so supportive. Logan is an amazing little guy and I couldnt be any more proud of him. I love you weapon X! ;)