Ava's Story

Ava was born early at 35 weeks. She spent two weeks in the NICU and it has always been SOMETHING wrong with Aves..I always knew there was. I got the NO no no..she is fine, you are the crazy one..the doctors blew me off, hey I am just a worried first time mom that totally over reacts. Around 12 months, I started researching. I came up with Autism. My heart dropped as I read the signs and red flags of Autism . I just KNEW that my Ava had this. No one else in my family ever even heard of it promptly told me to stop it. Never to mention Autism again. My mommy instincts were taking over and by 18 months I think everyone else started to realize..wow maybe there is a problem. Ava was not looking at us, we could call her name..I would yell and scream and cry and she wouldnt turn around. She wouldnt eat, threw up all the time, hated being outside, we would take her tothe park and she would just sit there and eat the mulch while other children her age climbed and ran around the play equipment. She was so aloof..she just would sit in one spot for HOURS. She would stim on objects , piling them up in piles and then moving them one by one to the other side of her, making a new pile.

I took matters into my own hands and called our local Early Intervention program. A couple weeks later they sent out a team to evaluate Ava. She scored incredibly low in all areas, and only 9 months in communication when she was 18 months old. She was basically globally delayed. She qualified for Speech, Occupational therapy and Special Instruction. I wanted to know WHAT was wrong with my baby. I made an appt to see a developmental pediatrician in Childrens Hospital. There was a waiting list and in that time she started therapy. It took a couple of months but all the sudden we seen changes. God Bless those angels ..her therapists . She started to pick up sign language, and after being afraid that she was NOT going to pick up any all the sudden she learned 2. Open and More. Oh my goodness it was a miracle..my baby was FINALLY communicating with me. By the time her appt came around she was making better eye contact and had about 6 different signs. Her sleeping was still very poor and we were still working on her sensory issues, but she had made progress. It wasnt enough. She scored poorly on her MCHAT and they gave her the dx of Autism. Even though i KNEW it...it was so hard to hear. I broke down into tears, hated the world, cursed the higher power for giving my baby Autism. It was a low point.

Now that Ava has been in Early Intervention for 6 months she has made A TON of progress. I am still hopefull ( no, not denial ) that her dx will somehow go away, that one day she won't carry a label. She has about 10 signs , and is starting to repeat words. Lots of words, she is up to about 15. She is saying "ball" randomly which is AWESOME for us. We overcame a ton of sensory issues. She still has a poor attention span but we are working on it. Her therapists are our life savers. Sometimes I dread the long hours and days of therapy, but then I see all that it has done for her. I am a HUGE believer in Early intervetion. Please if you think something is wrong with your baby, dont be afraid to make that call. IT doesn't hurt at all. She will probably not be going to a regular preschool, but one for children with learning disabilities/Autism/Special needs. But I will NOT give up on hoping and praying that she will attend a regular main streamed kindergarten.