well, at 2.6 yrs old, Tyler was not talking yet. He would babble, and repeat, but no sentences. The pediatrician at Tylers 2 yr visit said give him 6 months, he's a boy, boys take longer, no worries...so off we go! Well, at 2.6 still no talking, so I set up a speech evaluation, and planned to send Tyler to pre-school, being with other kids would surely bring on his speech.
Well, August 2006 came around, and the 10th was the worst day of my life. My brother Joey took his life. Devastated, absolutely devastated. The year after my brother died, I was lucky to just meet Tyler's daily needs. A week after Joey died, Tyler had his speech evaluation, and it's the first time I heard the word autism. The teacher said he doesn't look in your eyes, he avoids eye contact. I told her I never noticed, and went into denial, with it always in the very back of my mind, but kept thinking, he will catch up, I baby him. She diagnosed him speech delayed, and we started speech therapy and pre-school, and just went on with our lives. Tyler met all his milestones, but speaking. At preschool, he always stood out. He would chase the wheels on the bike, he couldn't sit still, or walk with the other kids, always moving, no speech like the other kids...still, we did speech. About 6 months later,we had a school psychiatrist evaluate him, he said no to autism, just mannerism's, and he believed it was behaviourial, and he was spoiled, and work on him being independent. He went to a special day class, for kids that were "autistic like', and speech delayed....and again, just went on with our lives, heart broken over Joey, but taking one day at a time with my son....
