You really think that Evan is?

I took Evan in to a school here this past Wednesday for his evaluation.  Let's give a little bit of background information about this "evaluation." 

Back in April, Evan's doctor gave him a clean bill of health.  But she told us that she was concerned about a slight delay in Evan's speech skills.  She gave us a referral to a government funded educational program called "Infants and Children". 

I called and set up an appointment to meet with a lady.  She came to our house and basically gathered as much information as possible about Evan and our family.

They set up an 'evaluation' for him the following Wednesday. During the evaluation, they tested Evan on a variety of activities, including drawing, stacking cups, puzzles, reading (how he 'reads' books), feeding a baby, playing with a ball and stacking rings. 

Evan was a total brat.  One thing about Evan is he DOES NOT like people "telling" him what to do.  He wanted to wander around and explore the room that he was in, not be force to sit down in a chair (or held in my lap). 

So, by the end of the evaluation, he was ornery and ready to leave.  The evaluators left the room and came back to a much happier Evan who was roaming around playing with the toys on his own.  They proceeded to sit down and tell me that Evan because of a few things they noticed, is showing 'red flags' for being on the autism spectrum.


What were the red flags?

-He doesn't make prolonged eye contact.
       *Well, neither do I OR my husband.  Evan makes eye contact enough when we're looking at them.  I know that I never really make eye contact with people I don't know that well.  And Evan definitely didn't like them.

-He doesn't follow directions.
        *Um... yeah, well.  Let's see.. How old is he?  Oh, yeah.  He's only 21 months.  Wow.  Who knew he was already supposed to following directions and listening to them already.  Have I also mentioned what an impulsive and trouble-making child I have? 

-He doesn't imitate sounds.  
         *  Sorry, that's because he doesn't like you.  I don't go around saying "pow", "wow" and "bam" all day, so why would Evan imitate you?  Maybe the problem is that I don't talk "baby" enough around Evan. 

-He doesn't imitate behavior. 
         *  They gave him a baby to feed a bottle to.  Then they tried it with a stuffed animal because he didn't like the baby.  He was so annoyed and refused to do it.  That same day I made some french fries and pretended to feed a fry to his cheetah.  He smiled (while making eye contact at me) and then a couple of minutes later I caught him trying to feed his fries to the cheetah.  Hmm... doesn't imitate behavior?  Sorry if I don't pretend to feed his doggies and stuffed animals, but now I guess I will.  

-He doesn't point to the objects in the book when asked.
         *  But he does point to his belly button when I ask him, and his nose and mouth (still working on that one!).  And the other day, I asked him to point to the dog in the book and he did!  Amazing that he does this stuff for me, but not for the evaluators! 

-He tends to zone out when he's doing something. 
          *  That's genetic... All the way.  Rick and I are the exact same way we're doing something interesting, and well, EVERYTHING is interesting to our Evan.  So, it doesn't surprise me that he's doing that. 

I don't by that my little man is showing symptoms on the autistic spectrum.  Evan is usually such an easy going kid, and honestly, he was really having a bad day on that evaluation.  They gave me some options.  They want him to go to a class (about 20 minutes away) Kind of like a Pre-preschool.  At first I thought that it might be a good idea (it's free) but now that I've talked to Rick about it, I'm not so sure. 

First of all, Evan is far too young to be going to school, of any kind in my opinion.  Everything that they are teaching in that class, I'm positive that I can implement at home with Evan.  I just hate that I feel like I have to do it NOW! 

I have been planning on helping Evan learn his letters and reading and all that stuff, but now I have flash cards that I made with pictures and words on them to try to teach Evan the words.  I wasn't expecting to do it for a while!  I wanted him to learn to speak at his own pace and not be forced, but honestly, I now feel like a bad mom because of what the evaluators said. 

I held my own against them and told them that I disagreed.  I told them that he's far too young to diagnose something on the Autism spectrum.  I then told them that I knew they were going to say that was his issue.  They asked "How did you know?".  I told them I could tell by the way they so casually asked me, "Does he make eye contact at home with you?"  When I told them yes, I just don't think they believed me. 

And who were the evaluators?  No, not doctors.  Just a speech pathologist and a special ed teacher.  Thank goodness I have educators telling me this and not a medical professional!  Seriously, who would believe a doctor over them?