thanks everyone! Just to clarify a bit ... the referral from EI ... I am actually the one who started looking for answer (especially with the experience we already had with our older on). So I am the one who came to EI to get him evaluated first and start therapy "just in case" and I went through our pedi to get a referral to Pediatric psychiatrist to look into the possibility of autism but the waiting list is so long that EI offered to get him evaluated through their contracted specialists as that would cut the waiting time in less than half. The good thing is, if i don't like the outcome on Thursday, I still have the referral to Children's hospital ... Lurie as mentioned by kikiandkyle above ... to get futher testing done if I feel we need it. I do see the signs there but I also see the gifted signs and don't want those to be overlooked. He is still speech delayed but so was my older one who now won't keep his mouth shut and speaks like an encyclopedia! ... thus my disagreement with current pdd-nos diagnosis (to me he seems VERY Aspergerish). so I am expecting my younger one following in his big brother's footsteps, meaning his speech will probably really take off in the next 2 months and then Asperger would be a good fit.
Once question to those of you with Asperger / PDD kids ... how much eye contact are you getting from them? DS4 was all about eye contact from the hour he was born until about 1.5 years old and now just can't ever keep his eyes on me. DS2 had great eye contact as a baby too but then it slowly went away around 1 years old and since then it seems to come and go. (one of my concerns why I started looking into this) ... He gives zero eye contact when he lacks interest but gives pretty good eye contact when he's happy and doing what he enjoys. Then he gives me this warm look saying "yeah! I knew you'd understand me eventually!" ... it's hard to explain.
So just wondering how much direct eye contact do you get? With my older one I am convinced it's the autistic part of him when he can't look at me (or anyone else) ... with the younger one, once again I'm not sure. I myself had to learn to FORCE myself to look into people's eyes as I got older. I can't look at people when I need to concentrate. I have to look away into one spot and think (and listen) so there's a chance the younger one is doing just that. But can't know for sure.
It will be nice to finally have some answers (hopefully!) this week but I'm pretty anxious!
