From the beginning...

 From the beginning, Carson was a normal baby.  He was healthy, active, happy & had the biggest smile!  He started talking around 5 months old by saying Mama & Dada in the same day!!!  And by his 1 yr check up, he was saying 5-6 words.  So I talked w/his doctor about it & he said not to worry b/c boys talk later than girls....As Erica(my 5 yr old) started talking at 4 months & hasn't stopped since then!!  LOL!!  The doctor said to come back for his 15 month check up & we would see where his speech was at that point.  Well we ended up not taking him til his 18 month check up due to not having any insurance.  And once we did take him back in, Carson was not saying as many words & his speech had dropped down to being maybe 3 words one a good day.  So his doctor referred us over to the Children's Developmental Services Agency(CDSA) for a Developmental Evaluation.

The CDSA came out to our house in June 2010 to do the evaluation.  And at that time, they got the background on my pregnancy w/Carson, family history, asked a TON of questions, played around w/Carson & pretty much just watched his normal activity in the house & playing w/his sister.  They commented so much on how spunky he was & how they loved his curls!!  He was interested in the marterials this examiners brought & was eager to explore.  He would sit in my lap & quickly flip through a book, but didn't really look at the pictures in it.  He stayed busy during the evaluation w/either his toys or the toys that the examiners brought in with them.  He babbled softly to himself as he rolled his cars around & he did this the pretty much the whole time they were at the house.  He really didn't have any interests in what they were trying to get him to do.  

They did a few test on him to get a better look at where his was compared to where he should be.  And here is where he started out at in June 2010--

Gross Motor--16 months

Fine Motor--18 months

Cognitive(Speech)--8 months

Self Help--15 months

Social/Emotional--17 months

And here is where he ranked w/the Speech/Language Pathologist as of June 2010

Auditory Comprehension--10 months

Expressive Communication-- 1 yr 4 months

Total Language Score--1 yr 2 months

So need less to say, they told me that day that Carson would need speech therapy.  I was totally grateful for that b/c I knew he need the extra help!  I thank God that night for giving Carson that chance to get into the speech therapy program.  It was a much needed weight lifted off my shoulders as I had no idea what direction I needed to go to help Carson.

So it took a couple of months to get everything put together & started w/the different therapist .  Carson didn't really start his speech therapy til the end of August 2010.  In September 2010, Carson went for his Big Evaluation at the CDSA since getting into the program.  At that time, they did a full family history report from both sides of our family, reviewed all of Carson's medical records & past medical history from all of his doctors, did a Full physical on him(which he HATED), had his vision & hear check, and pretty much just watched to see how he reacted to everything & what he did!  David went w/me to that appt. & it was nice to have him there b/c he was able to give his insight on Carson as well!  After reviewing everything, they told us that they were worried about Carson's head being "BIG" for his age b/c he had had such a big jump on the charts in such a short time & then kept getting bigger.  He went from being in the 75th % at 2 months to being in the 95th % or off the charts from age 6 months til then.  So they told us that they were going to refer us over to a neurologist just to be on the safe side.  But it turns out that David & I just have Big Headed babies b/c David & I have "Big" Heads...LOL!!!  But while we were at the neurologist, he told us that by looking over the review that the CDSA had sent him & watching him that day, he told us that Carson was PDD-NOS. And he told us that we were doing everything that we could for right now & that he wanted to see us back in 6 months for another check up.

Carson has been doing AMAZING in his speech therapy & Educational therapy since the end of August 2010!  His therapist as AWESOME w/him & he has greatly improved.  Even though his is still far behind where he needs to be, its much easier to understand him & deal w/him as a whole!  

I thank God everyday for the blessing that he has given us.  Its funny b/c everyone as me if it would be easier on us if we had a "Normal" child & all I can do is laugh and tell them that this is "normal" for us!  And I wouldn't trade my life for anything else!!  Being a Stay at home Mom has been the most rewarding job I'll ever have!!!

Thanks for reading & I'll update another day!!!