When I found out that I was pregnant with Isaac I had romantic dreams of becoming a stay at home mom and stretching out on the couch with a Jane Austen novel while he napped or was at school. I would sip tea and perfect the British accent inside my head. That's happened three times in the past two years. Well, four if you count how many just-for-fun books I've started and not finished- or my record-fast reading of the Harry Potter series. The past year has been especially filled up with research. I don't think I could take Dr. Bob Sears quite as seriously if I read The Autism Book using my British head voice and picturing him to look like Colin Firth, but it might make it more fun.
While I wouldn't consider The Autism Book by Bob Sears to be a fun read- like All I Can Handle, it is anything but dry. I was really stalling to start this book after Kim's, but I finally plopped myself on the couch and read through the first few chapters today- sans the British accent. My initial thoughts are: Where the hell was this book two years ago? Oh, not published yet. (Thanks, a lot, Dr. Sears!) I could have saved myself a lot of late night obsessive internet research and read a lot more Jane Austen if this book had been out when my gut first started telling me that something was off with Isaac. It is succinct, accessible, even interesting. Dr. Bob answers the questions that all parents with developmentally delayed children have in their heads, but are either too afraid to ask, have asked and not received clear answers, or don't know to ask because they are still living in the land of denial. One point that he makes, which I love, is that any developmental delay should be addressed immediately even if autism isn't an immediate concern, because early intervention (through therapies) can keep a minor delay or regression from turning into a bigger one.
Waiting for a precise diagnosis or for a child to "catch up" on their own is lost time that could be put to better use. It drives me crazy when I think about how I waited 3 months before calling Early On, as suggested by our pediatrician, because I was waiting for Isaac to do just that. Well meaning relatives and friends will sometimes inadvertently make you doubt your gut feelings with sweeping statements like, "Oh, kids do that. He'll catch up. Some kids are just late bloomers..." Take it from a mom who knows; Always trust your gut and err on the side of caution. A little "unnecessary" speech therapy never hurt anyone. Likewise, changing a child's diet is a lot easier to do when they are two than when they are twelve. What do you have to lose? It could be nothing or it could be autism. Or in our case, it ended up being PDD-NOS, but it could have been full blown regressive autism had I not finally given into my reasonable paranoia. All this to say, I recommend Dr. Bob's book to anyone concerned about any degree of delay or regression in their child even if you aren't concerned about autism, because he goes over the science behind what could be causing that delay and how to help treat it. The thing I love about Dr. Bob Sears? No, he doesn't look like Colin Firth, but he is a REAL doctor that actually sees patients, instead of a talking head with nothing to back up his claims.
In other news, I found this http://drhyman.com/breakthrough-discovery-on-the-causes-of-autism-2730/ interesting article today via a perusal of The Huffington Post. Dr. Mark Hyman is a practicing physician that writes for HuffPo. This article is from his own site.
That makes up today's reading. I believe I'll go to bed now and dream about corsets and Colin Firth. Happy Valentine's Day!
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