2 years old - May 2003

We had a nice birthday party. M would not touch the cake and he could not blow out the candles. We had to nicely force him near the cake to take photos. Most kids ram their hands into the cake and can't wait to touch the frosting, not M.

We are finally going to the Child Development Center for our answers. I was looking forward to this appointment and had lots of notes. I had filled out a 20 page questionnaire and had already sent it back. I brought detailed notes of milestones hit and behaviors.

We arrived and they took our photo. We waited a bit and then we saw the doctor. I am not sure if she reviewed our file prior to the visit as she asked us many of the same questions. Most of the visit was our answering questions. My husband tried to keep M happy while I answered. M wanted nothing to do with this place. The doctor then tried to weigh and measure M and he wanted nothing to do with her touching him. She also wanted a head measurement and he fought that. I really wanted that as his regular Ped did not check his head so we held him for it. His head measured in normal range. His height and weight were in normal range.

Now that M was upset, she tried to get him to do some things for her. At this point, I wish she would have told me she was going to do some tests like this as I would have said to do this first before the height and measurement checks. We were in a very small room.

M sat on my lap and did ok. There were not many tests at this visit. I am guessing that the better a child does, the more they go on with the tests. She did blocks, putting a chain in a cup, feeding a doll and a few others. He did not feed the doll. He did not even pick up the spoon.

I was looking for answers and really did not get any. I actually got more questions. I was told M had Global Developmental Delay. The word autism was never mentioned. The possibility that he may develop autism was never mentioned. ABA was never mentioned.

I told the doctor that early intervention was starting this month for 2 hours. I was never told this was not adequate for his delays. I was told to keep the speech therapy (we were going once a week) and to get some more occupational therapy if I could. That's it. That was the wrap up of the appointment. I was not told of the severity of what was happening. I was told to return in 6 months for a follow up.

I did not care for the doctor. I thought she should have reviewed our file before we arrived. I did not like how she talked over my son and how she related to him when they were doing the tests. I knew how long it was for appointments so I was happy to have some sort of doctor looking at him and I made that follow up appointment for November before I left.

I googled "Global Developmental Delay" as soon as I got home.