Sofia's Story - Part Two, 12-14 Months

In a relatively short amount of time things changed.  We went from our mild worrying about Sofia (because of what happened with Josie,) to actually being concerned.  As I sit here and look back, the signs were quite obvious...  but of course, I mistakenly convinced myself we were just being paranoid.  I tend to think that all parents who have a child with autism worry about the others...


So, what did we notice over those two months.....

• She stopped responding to her name (this freaked me right out...  it's a classic sign)
• She stopped walking (weird....)
• Her eye contact faded
• She never developed any words... (not even ma or da....)
• She failed the Nippissing Screening, so definitely had delays
• Did not attempt to communicate, other than holding up her arms to be picked up
• No waving, clapping etc.
• No sense of object permanence
• Didn't seem to understand simple sentences
• Not returning smiles or giggles - although she did and does both smile and giggle, not in response to us smiling or giggling.
• Just that look in her eyes - I cannot explain it.
• Sensory issues reminding us of Josie
• Stimming

Now, not many of these things seemed OVERLY concerning...  The not responding to her name and stopping walking totally scared me, but the rest seemed harmless.  She had just had a major ear infection and required antibiotics, so I was hoping that most of the issues were just stemming from that.  I hoped that the rest of the issues were because I was focusing too much attention on Josie, and maybe not quite enough on Sofia.  So I shifted my gears a bit, and hoped that would help.

By April 9, 2013 we hadn't made too much progress.  But we had made enough that I was still living in my denial bubble, there was no way she had autism.  That was the day we got her assessed...  and the bubble popped, the rest of my denial went out the window.

Read Part One here.
Read Part Three here.