Logan

I'm sure every parent who has a child just going into Kindergarten has the same fear and anxieties-will they make friends, will they know where to go, will they like their teachers, etc. But for me, its ALOT more then that.

Logan has always had social problems, mainly in large groups and its made life pretty difficult. I always thought it was just a behavior thing and beat myself up over it all the time. I've tried so many things to help him, but it just always seemed out of his control. It got bad when he started daycare, the way he would act to the other children. He was always getting in trouble, and again, I blamed it on his behavior. He switched to a few different daycares, but never really got better. So we started the testing on him when he was 4 and it was very upsetting and overwhelming. They could never really give me a definite diagnosis, saying he could be ADHD, or it could be Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or Social Anxiety disorder. But that never sat well with me. I just knew my son, and knew something else was going on with him.

Finally someone had mentioned Autism. At first I completely disregarded the thought, because I only knew autism to be one thing-the very severe form of it, which Logan did not come close too. But once I did more research, I learned that there is a wide spectrum of autistic disorders. The one that stuck out was Aspergers, and high functioning autism. The way these disorders were described, it was like they were talking about Logan. I actually felt a bit of relief that maybe it wasn't all Logan's fault, or mine for that matter. He might actually have a disorder that would explain it all.

So now my next step is getting him assessed and evaluated, which is a task in itself. Most place have a waiting list months long to even be seen, and with Kindergarten coming in less then 3 weeks, I am desperate to get him in. So I am doing my homework on the Internet and looking at all the available options for him. I just got a wonderful response back from a place that will do a free screening next week on him. If I can have some information to give to his Kindergarten teachers and principal, they can start setting up an IEP for him and help with the things he might need to make it a more successful experience for everyone.

This has been a very hard thing to deal with, because Logan is very special to me, and I hate to see him scared or upset. I just was school to be a positive experience for him, he is very smart and I have such great dreams for him. He is the sweetest boy and my first baby, and I am determined to do whatever it takes to help him!!!!