On my due date, he wasn’t moving so my doctor decided to induce. Looking back, I realize that he didn’t move much due to low muscle tone. He would not breast feed and had to use a fast flow nipple also due to his low muscle tone. He was very colicky for the first 4 months and had bad reflux. We tried every formula made but nothing helped. Finally we stayed with Nutramigen. He was delayed in all his milestones. He didn’t crawl until his first birthday (before that he would either roll or do an “Army” crawl on his belly), he walked at 22 months and had his first word (tree) at around 19 months but didn’t really start talking until around 3-4 years old. Even though I told the doctors repeatedly that something was wrong, they told me that “boys were lazy” and “he will be fine”. At 3 years old, Ryan got the diagnosis of Autism. The doctors told us that we needed the diagnosis for services (we are in the military) even though Ryan never really fit the “autism picture”. He has received OT, speech and ABA therapy for the past 3 years. The combination of these therapies have helped him immensely.
Ryan is very sensory seeking. As soon as he could walk, he was into everything. Touching and mouthing everything. He still puts things in his mouth but not as much as he use to. He was so sensory seeking/ADHD that he got kicked out of 3 daycares for “touching everything” as they put it. We are not sure if the ADHD is due to his deletion or in addition to it. My husband, his father and his grandfather all had ADHD. I still feel that ADHD is over-diagnosed but I finally accepted the fact that Ryan needed help. We tried Ritalin and it worked wonderfully. For the first time in his life, he was able to focus and learn. Learning new skills came slow. Lots of repetition and patience but skills came. Potty training was one of those skills that we struggled with for years. Finally at 7 years old, he was developmentally ready and he potty trained in one weekend. Looking back, Ryan seemed to do everything at about ½ his age. Today he is 9 and functions around 4-5 years old. He likes being around 4-5 year olds and doesn’t really play with kids his age. He is very gentle and kind to others. He loves to color and play outside. He loves music, especially Phantom of the Opera. He also loves to travel and see new things.