What's Up with the Kids, Anyway? - Pt. 1, Ben**

To keep things simple, here's a recap in bullet form:

Ben

• Was evaluated by our Birth to Three Center in February and found to be delayed in all areas - speech, fine motor skills, adaptive, social, cognitive, etc.
• Started playgroup therapy 2x a week along with weekly occupational therapy, speech therapy, and at-home therapy with his playgroup teacher.
• Made some good progress in that time, but aged out of the program when he turned 3 on May 12.
• During his time in the program, he saw a specialist who noted some autistic characteristics and behaviors, but didn't feel he should be diagnosed with full-blown autism at that point and asked to see Ben again in 6 months (late October or early November).
• The specialist diagnosed PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified).  It's a disorder in the autism spectrum.  What does that mean?  From the Autism Speaks website:  PDD-NOS may be thought of as “subthreshold autism," or a diagnosis one can give a person who has “atypical symptomatology.”  In other words, when someone has autistic characteristics but some of their symptoms are mild, or they have symptoms in one area (like social deficits), but none in another key area (like restricted, repetitive behaviors), they may be given the PDD-NOS label.
• Ben started in a developmental preschool program at a local preschool on May 16.  He made good progress in following their schedule and sitting for things like circle time without having to be asked.  We're hopeful that he'll continue to do well when the program starts up again in the fall.
• Progress with cognitive skills, language and other things has been slow, but we're celebrating all the little steps along the way.  Last week, for the first time, he answered my "I love you" with an "I lub you" in return.  Yesterday, I got to hear him do it again, and it was wonderful!

There are good days and bad days.  He's a very sweet boy, but sometimes he lashes out in anger and tries to hurt us.  He feels everything very deeply, which is unfortunate when he's grabbing our hair, biting or scratching us; but it's awesome when he's giving us a long, tight hug and saying our names with such love!

This isn't how we would have chosen for things to be, but we're learning to live with the new normal and to be thankful for lots of things that we might have otherwise taken for granted.  The hardest part for me is not knowing how he will progress and what his future will look like.  For that, I just have to continually make the decision to trust God, knowing that He will enable us and empower us for whatever lies ahead.  Easier said than done, but I'm learning.

**Please note that I'm not looking for advice, just sharing and sometimes venting.