I'm sort of glad I wasn't on the internet when Jake was born.

then I realized these folks are taking what scant knowledge they have about Y and applying it to the kids they come in touch with.

Yeah, this was a "reminds me of a friend of my son's" thing, and I couldn't help thinking, "Your son's friend is 16. Annabel is 4. This can make a difference." OTOH the teacher has seen far more 4-year-olds than I have, so if she doesn't think AB's behavior falls within the normal range... t shrugs I'm going to call the pediatrician and ask, just because AB's next scheduled physical is nearly a year away. But I'm not climbing the walls or anything this time.

Not pointing is a sign of autism? I didn't know that.

Yeah, it was a major reason the first person who evaluated Annabel for autism thought she had it. She didn't point. But then we, uh, made a point of modeling it for her, and she started doing it occasionally. It's never been her major way of getting our attention or indicating something, though.

But then we, uh, made a point of modeling it for her, and she started doing it occasionally.

See, that's the thing - I don't point much either. I mean, why would I? So I'm not sure why he'd pick up on it as a means of indicating "that thing over there" when waving his arms and yelling works just as well. (Not a behavior he picked up from either parent, btw. He came up with that one on his own.)

I don't remember my kids pointing, especially, either. Jake was big on "dat?" and sort of making grabby hands, but not pointing.

You see, Annabel sometimes spaces out, even in the middle of an activity, and for maybe 10-20 seconds it's difficult to impossible to get her attention--you have to get up in her face, say her name loudly, etc. And then she snaps out of it and will answer your question or go back to what she was doing before or whatever.

Susan, if it's any consolation, I did this all the time as a kid. I mean, I would just...kinda...blank out for a few seconds and then come back to reality and move on.

I grew out of it.

But I kinda miss it, sometimes. It was restful, in a strange way.

I did the blanking out thing too. My mom would kinda yell at me and tell me to quit making stupid faces, that I looked like a freak. Years later (um, a month ago when I was home) I told her I probably had epilepsy or something and, that was probably REALLY helpful, THANKS. She claims (now that she works with special ed kids as a speech pathologist) that she thinks now that I was probably "self soothing" like an autistic kid (I think I kinda vibrated, too--somewhere between seizure and flapping my hands, eh?). Great. Well, thanks anyway, mom. Though I suppose either way I don't do it any more, grew out of it or whatever.

YAY Miracleman job!!!!

Fred, probably best to plan the vacay at a point where everything would've been figured out--like, not right when she would've taken off, y'know? But it all depends on the office and the jobs, it might be the the original dates will work fine, since there's so much notice.

Shit.

I was totally expecting the nurse to say "nothing to worry about" upon hearing my description of AB's behavior. Instead, she said, "Let's get her in here and see what Dr. B thinks."

NOW I'm freaking out...

IME, Susan, it's the nurses' job to say that. They don't want to be liable for telling a parent to ignore something potentially serious, even if the chances of it ACTUALLY being something are very slim.

IME, Susan, it's the nurses' job to say that.

In my head, I know that. Unfortunately, that's not enough to keep me from wishing I could curl up into a little ball and cry right now, and I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to do ANYTHING at work today...