Autism could be possibility...
Eliana at one month old
A a lot has gone on since our last post. We've learned that Eliana's teacher has requested an intervention with other teachers in hopes of finding news ways to reach Eliana and help her learn more efficiently at school. After weeks trying different tactics the end results is the same as it was in the beginning. Eliana's teacher has also told us that Eliana is not participating in the classroom activities. For instance, when ever the class is doing a group project Eliana will "wander" off and start randomly cleaning things and will stay far away from everyone. She doesn't seem to grasp simple concepts or instructions, she just seems to "blank out" or constantly come up to her teacher for direction.
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| Eliana at the local Christmas parade |
The Word Autism has been thrown around a bit and her Daddy and myself has been talking about it and had some concerns but when Eliana's teacher came to us expressing the same concerns we knew we had to do something. This past week we had taken Eliana to the doctor for an Autism Screening. Typically all the signs Eliana is displaying would point to someone who has Autism, However, in our Eliana's case it's a little different. Because Eliana does have Epilepsy the doctor thinks she may be have lots of little seizures, Like her brain is constantly misfiring and is cause her to have gaps of time missing. This does seem that it may be the case because Eliana did have her first noticeable seizure at school this week. On the Tuesday morning Eliana had a small seizure in which has lost her bladder control , What triggered her seizure? She had friend come over ... It was a small change in her everyday routine that caused Eliana to have her Seizure. That day we took Eliana to school , and she was fine when we dropped her off. Eventually I got a call from the nurse concerned that Eliana may of had a seizure. I quickly went to the school and found out that their was a substitute in her class room. Again, something out of Eliana's normal Routine triggered the seizure. The teacher found her in one of the play centers crying and had another accident. When she was taken to the nurse she was kind of in a daze. So, she has been having little seizures and they're not as controlled as we thought they were, but we still wonder why is she doing the strange things that she does? The random cleaning, staying away from groups of people, doesn't interact well with others and "clam up" with loud noises? She at times can be distant and sometimes not even playing with her own sisters but be alone in a room. The doctor thinks it will be a good idea that we take Eliana to a Autism Specialist to see what really is going on. Meanwhile, she will be going to the hospital to get her tested for any gene mutations or disorders that the doctors think she may have and may be associated with her seizures and her delays. We will be taking her this week to do those tests. We will also be taking Eliana to her neurologist to talk about her most recent seizures and her stuttering and see why it has gotten so much worse. There's still many unanswered questions. We believe we will get answers but most of all we believe that our Eliana will be cured. Until then we will continue to fight for her and support her throughout this tough time. It's hard for a parent to see your child go through such difficulty. When holding our Ana as a baby and looking at her we never would've thought Eliana would be go through this. GOD has blessed her with an abundance of strength and with that courage and the ability to overcome. She has done so this far and we know it will continue.
We will start the process in getting Eliana transferred in to her new Special Education Class room this week which entails meetings and evaluations.
