Obviously, we’re already on top of everything having to do with the Monster and how his Autism affects him.  We’re keeping on top of his therapy and trying to get him still more (thanks to my insurance), and he’s being tested on a regular basis as part of the various studies he and the baby are in.

But then there’s the times where results from the baby’s tests start making us nervous.

The baby is obviously doing fine comparatively, as I’ve mentioned – he has good shared attention, he brings us things to show them to us.  He’s pre-verbal and moving along in all of the ways that we’d be concerned about in terms of watching for Autism in a second child… except that his receptive verbal skills are clearly lagging.

Some of that might well be our own fault – we’re not doing the same things perhaps as we did with the Monster when he was the same age, just from the pain of juggling two kids and trying to get everyone everywhere… and not having all of the same kinds of sole attention that we’d had when the Monster was that age.  So he’s a bit behind, it seems, on his receptive language, though he’s certainly happily churning along on learning new skills.

BUT, as you can imagine, it freaks us out every time there’s anything that speaks to a ‘delay’.

The wife went to the local Autism Society meeting last night, and did bring it up in the discussion portion of the platform as to what folks recommended.  (Part of it was also due to the topic last night – siblings – where she was concerned that perhaps it’s the Monster rubbing off on the baby.)  The advice given was to get Infants and Toddlers involved now rather than later, since there is a mild delay, and that perhaps services could be provided that would get him caught up on the verbal, where he’s lagging.

The fact is that it’s the only place he’s lagging.  He’s running around, he’s throwing things, he’s showing interest in his surroundings and doing things to get attention.  He’s trying to play with his big brother (or at least do whatever his big brother’s doing).  But we can’t help but just get really, really nervous about anything that has the word ‘delay’ attached…