Our Journey

Our Journey with Kaytlyn started June 15th, 2005. Kaytlyn was always a happy baby or appeared that way. She was content most of the time and wasnt to eager to get around. She was soothed by the ceiling fan, but what baby isnt right? She rarely cried even when she was teething. The only way we knew she was teething is she would get a diaper rash. She was a relativly easy baby. Never had seperation problems and always slept good. She liked a routine and if it got bent out of shape you had to watch out. Hit her milestones within the ranges. She talked early and well by the time she was 2. She knew her colors and shapes by the time she was 2. Was fasinated with learning new things and loved big words. She was such an easy toddler too. Never had tantrums and was well behaved. She was a sensitive girl. She didnt like the sounds of airplanes or the vaccum or lawnmowers. Basically anything we encounter on a regular basis that was loud. Which was ok. We just kept her away from loud things like the circus for example. She didnt do well with lots of people but generally she was social and talked to anyone and everyone with no fears. The only thing we had a true difficulty with was she wouldnt potty train. We really thought she was just very strong willed and just kept fighting the fight. She eventually potty trained right before she turned 3 and hasnt looked back. She didnt even regress even alittle bit after her sister was born. We totally expected it since she trained so close to her sister being born. She started having meltdowns and tantrums. Again we just thought it was a kid thing. Alot of her "quirks" we thought were just kid things.. Then recently someone said to us "well maybe shes autistic". Right away i start looking up as much information as I could possibly find. I was pretty naieve in the autism department mostly because i chose to be i guess. I was a firm believer that it was just over diagnosed for anyone with any kind of problem. Then the information started describing things that Kaytlyn has ALWAYS done. Shes very very smart. She talked early. Someone on the outside may just see a little girl who is just bratty. But I think our journey with aspergers syndrom began long before we knew about it. Kaytlyn is normal for the most part. We actually thought she was alittle gifted. Specially since she talked early and could understand alot of big words and used them correctly by the time she was two. She is in preschool and is very social to my knowledge anyway. The teachers have no problems with her. But at home everything is a constant fight. She has outburts she meltsdown easily and has tantrums. Shes sensitive to food and textures. She gets over stimulated very easily and that causes her to melt down. Looking at her you wouldnt see a Autistic child. Mainly because she responds to everyone around her. well until you see her at home. We have decided were not going to get her evaluated simply for her to have a label. If she starts having problems in school then we will. But until then she is perfectly fine and we can learn to understand her better. She isnt behind in any of her development except for some motor skills. Like riding a bike. Which is mainly because we have no place for her to ride a bike to learn and practice so that will probably come with time. We feel that the child we have is the one we have always had. We have just adjusted our settings around her. We dont take her to loud full of people places. And her sensitivity to sounds we just deal with. Not much u can do about an airplane flying over or the lawn people mowing. Her eating habits we are gonna have to learn to deal with and not fight with her anymore. We just need to learn to understand her is all. She isnt a truely bad child she only has a meltdown if she is overstimulated or her routine is bent out of shape. I dont know how to tell our close friends and family to learn alittle about aspergers to better understand our little Kaytlyn and that bothers me. I dont want her to misunderstood by people she sees regularly. Thanks for reading i just needed to get some of this off my chest.