It's Confirmed

On Tuesday of this week we returned to Seattle Children's Autism Center to meet with a neurologist. He went over the report that was done on Jacob last month, then asked me some more questions. After that, he spoke with Binker for maybe fifteen minutes, having him point to different parts of his body, and give him a high five. Then he tried to get Binker to complete phrases. For example, the neurologist would say, "If fire is hot, then ice is ___", and he would wait for Binker to answer. That was the only part of the interaction that our son really struggled with.

Then the doctor addressed me again. "So today's appointment is the confirmation of diagnosis, and that's what we're doing here. It's confirmed."

And there it was. Two simple words. 

13 months of worrying, and wondering, all led up to that moment. It was surprisingly anticlimactic.

Just as surprisingly, I took it well. Maybe because it was what we had been assuming for so long, so in a way, it was just nice to finally know, for sure. Now, we can truly move forward. The good news is that we're already on the right path, getting Binker the services and therapies he needs. The neurologist said he doesn't believe that Binker requires occupational therapy, but he said we may want to do it, just so that he has yet another opportunity to engage with another person, since his social skills are well below where they should be. The doctor wants to see Binker back in six to nine months, and I feel very motivated to work with him as much as we can, so that they will hopefully be impressed by his improvement at our next appointment.

At one point I asked the doctor is he could be more specific about where Binker is on the spectrum, but he said that since our son is still young, he prefers not to do that since many kids can move up on the spectrum, and some even outgrow their diagnosis altogether.

One last thing we're going to do is have genetic testing done on Binker. The doctor told us that autism can be the result of many things, such as a brain injury, a genetic syndrome, or simply being born with it, (and there are many theories as to what causes that). During the genetic testing, a sample of Binker's blood will be taken and compared to a bunch of known syndromes in the human genome (if this isn't totally correct, I apologize. There was a lot of doctor-speak going on, and I tried my best to keep up). One benefit of this test, is that if it turns out that Binker does have some genetic syndrome, then we would know for future family planning the odds of another child being born with it (oops, too late for that), but also, we would be able to save his doctors some steps, by telling them he has XYZ Syndrome, and then they would know what to expect of Binker. Then again, it may come back that he has no syndrome at all. I have my personal beliefs of what caused his autism, but that can be a controversial subject for some, so I will keep my opinion to myself for now. Regardless, I am interested to see what the genetic test results will say. 

Oh, and apparently as part of the genetic testing, they are able to tell whether or not Husband and I are closely related. I nearly laughed out loud when the neurologist mentioned that part. I mean, how awkward would that be to find out your husband is, like, your fifth cousin? I'm not expecting any surprises like that though.

So, there it is. Binker officially has autism. And life - sometimes sorrowful, but oftentimes sweet - goes on.