Yea !! We have a new forum now . I think it would be a good idea for people to post their 'story' in order to get to know each other. I will post tommorrow when I have time.
Thanks Bo

Lorraine

Reach for the heart of God and not just His hands.
Organ donation saves lives!
Life happens when love is given.


http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bradenwild

Hi, and thanks Lorraine!
My triplets just turned 2 in April. We have been going to the developmental ped every few months for follow up from the NICU. At our visit in December, the doctor said that she wanted to rule out PDD in my son. He clearly has language delays and attention issues but I did not think it was anything more than just being a busy little boy. We have gone to another dev ped, and have lots and lots of testing to do yet. I have to take the poor little guy today to get a bunch of blood work done. We have an appointment to look at an ABA based preschool in July. (does anyone use this approach for teaching their child?) The more I see him around other children his age (not just the girls) I realize that there is a lot more wrong than I thought.

Tanya
Erica,DJ(David)and Halley
4/07/02 32 weeks, 6 days

Hello
I have triplet boys who will be 5.5 years old on June 24th. Since age 2 have been getting sevices through EI then the school district. This fall they start regular ed kindergarten and will be seperated into their own classes. My son Blake has high functioning autism. He also many sensory issues. He is currently in special day class at our local school for the past 2.5 years. He gets OT, ST & ABA services at school and additional PT or OT privately. He is doiing great and his new IEP has no accidemic goals so he is on track with ABC/123 type stuff. Easton has mild Aspergers and some gross motor delay. Very bright child and immature at the same time. Most of his trouble areas are social issues. Ahead in academics. Hunter has a moderate hearing loss 40% in both ears and his aided. Hunter gets speech at school. They are almost out of school for the summer. they have been in the same preschool class which has been great for them. I am familiar with IEP's and getting services for the kids. This should be a great forum. I also work full time outside the home and am the current president of our local multiple's club. Life is very busy and I wouldn't change my kids. Easton has also worn a doc helmet when younger so I am familiar with Torticolis and Plagiocphaly.
The boys were born at 34 weeks. Blake had 7 days in NICU and the other two came home at 10 days. Blake was diagnosised with Autism at 2.5 years of age.
Looking forward to hearing everyones stories.

p.s.
If you have any questions with getting your child diag with autism or the services we have done with the boys please ask. danielle.draut@attws.com

Danielle
Easton, Blake & Hunter
1-24-99

Lorraine,
thanks for the effort to get this forum up and running so fast.

My triplets are going to be 2 the end of July. I have one son who had mild communicating hydrocephalus, which has resolved (thank goodness) and he also has Duane's syndrome in his left eye. He will have surgery in August or september. But developmentally he is doing great and we are down to just ST and an early interventionist for him--no more PT and OT. YEA!

Then there is my other boy-- we are waiting on our first visit to the developmental ped., and we see a ped neuro in just two weeks. When he was younger (12-15 months) i just assumed a lot of his 'quirks' were just his little personality, etc, but since about 15 months i have noticed that cognitively and developmentally he is not progressing, whereas the other two are by leaps and bounds. It is very hard for me to watch the other two become toddlers who are trying to talk and eating with forks and spoons, doing puzzles, doing the hand motions when we sing songs, etc, but to see Charles basically the same way he was 6 months ago. He doesn't say any words, does not gesture at all (sometiems we can get him to clap) and adamently resists any hand over hand 'help' whatsoever.

i'm anxious for his evaluations, i'm sure it will be a long road ahead of testing and followups, but hopefully we will get more help soon. he graduated from PT, and hopefully next week will begin OT, ST, early intervention and a special playgroup run by our EI office.

It is hard to essentially have 2 toddlers and one infant, which is what it feels like. i don't expect him to be just like the other two, i want him to be his own little person, but i also want him to be able to communicate (which would make his days MUCH happier!) and be able to stick with and play with his siblings and others his age.


anyway, thats my long introduction... Thanks for 'listening'. we are in a daily struggle to help charles cope with his hurdles.
i'm sure i will be back with so many questions once we see the nuero and dev. ped.

Meg

Howdy folks,

I truly wish none of us has to be here but I'm so thankful for an area to discuss my cercerns and issues with. My triplets were born at 26w2d. Ben only lived 4 days. Lauren had a Grade IV/IV brain bleed and developed hydrocephalus pretty quickly. She was shunted at 10 weeks. She had ROP laser surgery at 10 wks also and has been wearing corrective lenses since 11 months old. She has mild/moderate CP affecting 3 limbs (tech term: spastic diplegia super-imposed with left hemi CP). She has been in PT/OT since NICU days. She has a g-tube (MicKey button)and a Nissen Fundo for reflux. Other surgeries include incarcerated umbilical hernia, shunt revision to add 2nd shunt, tonsil and adnoidectomy and a dental surgery to fix some nasty teeth with nerves exposed. Lauren is doing well and started walking independently 3 months ago. I don't think I could survive her first year again but I'm so glad we've made it this far.

Maggie was the star 26-weeker. Only vented for an hour to administer surfactent. CPAP for 5 wks then home a couple of weeks after that. She has a hard time gaining weight and still only weighs 19.6lbs but is following her own little curve (no where NEAR the chart). She's very small boned and is just kind of petit. Her main source of nutrition is chocolate pediasure. She has some sensory issues but is exteremely intelligent.

Lauren and Maggie both attend EI's pre-school 4 mornings a week. Actually today was the last day for the year. They'll start again is August. They each receive ot/pt/st once a week at school. Lauren also receives private pt/ot weekly. Maggie won't qualify for services when she turns 3 but she'll still be able to attend school next year because of when her birthday falls.

Gina
Thomas-4
Maggie & Lauren- 32 months
^Ben^
William-13 wks

Lorraine,many thanks for getting this forum set up!
And thank you to Bo and Janet too!
Well,I'm Korrie, I'm a single mom raising 4 children. My girls are my surviving triplets-they were 24 weekers and spent 4 and 5 months each in the NICU. Robin had ROP that required laser surgery and now she wears glasses. She is very nearsighted but other than that, she is doing great! Abby is also pretty well on target with her peers. She is physically small for her age-about the size of a 2 yr old- but she's a tough little ball of dynamite! Abby had a speech delay and went thru EI,she had PT and ST then went into the school district program for 1/2 a school year last year. She decided at her 3rd birthday, that she wanted to finally talk to us. She literally went overnight from about 25 words to speaking in sentances. I felt like such a fool-like an overprotective mom! But she does still have articulation issues and requires speech but I didn't put her back into the program b/c of Henry's health. Abby also has ADHD and is on adderall XR. From the moment she became mobile I knew it! That girl is a firecracker and gives me a run for my money every day! LOL! My Mom tells me she is exactly the child I was (I also have ADHD)except I was worse! The Girls are 4 1/2 now and will start kindergarten in August 2oo5. My son, McLean , is now 2 1/2 and I believe he also has ADHD. The pedi won't let me medicate him this young (Abby started at 3) but I ,unofficially did a few days and he responds very well to adderall XR..... McLean also has a speech issue. BAsically,he talks like a robot.He was born with that funny voice-he's very husky sounding- and it never raised any flags for me. My neice has the same type of voice and so did I as a child. but we both have inflections when we talk! LOL! Henry's speech therapist and PT noticed Mac's voice and suggested an eval for EI so he's now in the program too and next month we start the 120 days stuff to get him into the school district program. I am taking him to an ENT next week to rule out any physical cause for his voice being so strange. (Strangers even comment on it.) He was my 40 weeker, 8lb 8oz baby! Last, and certainly not least, is my precious baby boy, Henry. He is 16 months old now and just the cutest baby in the whole wide world! Ok,I'm a little biased.... anyway, Henry was born with Down Syndrome. We were quite shocked as the ultrasounds (2) and triple screen test showed nothing. He was 4 days old before we had genetic confirmation. Henry was born with torticollis that progressed and he ended up with plagiocephaly also and a DOC band. He also had a heart murmur and a small hole in his heart. Both has spontaneously resovled, thank Goodness! His eyes are crossed, despite my lame attempts at patching, and next week he goes for surgery. Developmentally,I am beginning to see some delays. EI comes out and he has ST,PT and the coordinater comes out to work with him too. He recently learned to pull up to stand and he does it constantly! He is babbling alot and says about 10 words but not consistently. He also has 2 signs He is very sweet natured and always has a smile for us. He is such a joy and I couldn't imagine my life without him. Well,any of them really! Can't wait to meet everyone else!

Korrie~
^i^B/G/G 24 w 3d,1/17/00
B 10/31/01
B 1/27/03

<a href="http://lilypie.com"><img src="" alt="Lilypie Kids birthday Ticker" border="0" /></a>

hi all!
this group is a great idea!
my gbb are 3 years 4 months. in january, right before our third birthday my third born, bailey, was dx with autism.
he has been recieving speech therapy since he turned two through EI, OT since 2.5 through EI and started preschool through the special education classroom in feb. after he turned three. in school he also gets speech and OT. he has a significant speech/language delay and also significant sensory integration problems.
school is just about over here for the summer(two more days) and im so sad cause i have seen the best gains in speech and in social skills. he will continue to recieve OT and speech over the summer, but not in the classroom setting.
i think having triplets with one having special needs is such a mixed blessing. on one hand, bailey learns SOO much from his brother and sister on a daily basis and has two very good models to watch. but on the other hand, its SOO hard for me to watch them progressing and doing certain things right now (dressing selves, having in depth converstation, etc) while bailey is not ever close to that.
i would love to hear from others that have children on the autism spectrum and how they progressed with their speech and language. right now bailey only uses one-two utterances and really struggles to get his point across.

once again, thanks for starting the group...
julia, gbb, 3.4 years and g, 17 years who will graduate from HS in 8 days!!!

julia, gbb, 19 months and g, 16 years

My three were born at 27w5d and did the usual NICU stay with respiratory issues, reflux, etc. My boys (who are identical) were diagnosed with autism in January 2004 at age 2.5. Since then, DH and I have turned ourselves and our home inside out, getting every service possible for our boys, including getting the county to pay for ABA hours in our home (which they said they never did in the past.) Our children have been in the EI program since they came home, basically monitored because they were "at-risk" and I've heard from more than one outside source that the head of EI says they've screwed up with our family (which may be why they are being helpful to us?) Anyway, we are in the middle of our first IEP's. We are hopeful to send the boys to a non-categorical preschool for speech delays 2days/week and continue the home ABA program. We chose to not send them to the public autism program...it just wasn't where we saw them. (Our daughter will have 1 hr of speech/week for articulation issues and will be attending private preschool.)

Nevertheless, I am such a believer in ABA. Michael was nonverbal in March. Now, he speaks to us in 3 word sentences and really communicates, holds a conversation with us. (And usually tells us what he DOESN'T like! No is his favorite word! But it's so good to hear that voice!) Daniel is echolalic, and we are still working on finding out exactly what motivates him to communicate. We've been doing our Verbal Behavior program since April and I see such changes each and every day.


I am glad Lorraine got this group started!

Krista
Michael, Katherine & Daniel
7/25/01 27w5d

Krista
b/g/b
July 2001

Hello,

This is my first time posting on TC although I've lurked here for several years so I hope I'm posting this correctly.

My name is Sandy and I have all boy trips born at 30w3d who are now 5 years old. Jakob & Collin came home after 4 weeks and Brennan stayed until 7 weeks due to sepsis and bilateral inguinal hernia repair. All 3 of them received ST from 22 months until they turned 3. At that point they were evaluated with the school district - J & C tested out. B one was diagnosed with PDD-NOS by the school psychologist and I got a second opinion from a dev. ped. who confirmed the diagnosis. Now that he is 5 he was just fully re-evaluated for kindergarten transition and now they're telling me he has Asperger's - still spectrum though and he will be in an integrated kindergarten class. He receives ST & OT. I also had him enrolled with a Music Therapy Clinic at the local University for the past 2 semesters and he LOVED it. I will continue that through kindergarten as well.

Anyway, B is not on any medications other than lots of vitamins. I tried the GFCF diet and did not notice any changes in behavior. I decided to keep him off of dairy though.

-Sandy

Hello everyone. My name is Sharon and I have 3 lovely little girls, Emma, Sara and mOlly, who turned 3 in February. Emma was ddborn with a dandy walker variant, which basically means that her cerebellum never fully developed. As a result, she has global developmental delay and is currently functioning on about a 10 month old level, with scatters up to about 12 months. She began EI at 4 months and continued until she began preschool in February. She has made tremendous gains the short time she has been in school, although the transition was difficult for dh and I, as we both felt so intimately involved in all of her EI therapy sessions and, at the start of preschool, suddenly didn't have much of a feel for waht her days were like. We've extablished a good communication system with her teacher, however, and the school has an open door policy, so we are much more comfortable now.

Emma also has a seizure disorder, for which she is currently on trileptal. And, she was born with colonic atresia, which was resolved through 3 different surgeries.

Finally, Emma has a hearing and vision impairment, for which she wears both hearing aids and glasses (when we can get her to keep them on, that is!) She is blind in her right eye because her retina never attached, and she has questionable vision in her left eye (she last tested at 20/270). Her hearing loss is officially moderate, although I would clasiify it as mild based on the reactions I get to sound at home.

It has only been in the past year or so that we have really felt that Emma is interacting with the world around her. Up until then (for about the first 2 years of her life), she basically seemed oblivious to anyone or anything around her, so we are thrilled that things seem to be "clicking" at least a little bit for her.

Sharon

FINALLY -- a few moments of peace & quiet so I can post my introduction.

My triplets just turned 6 on May 18 and are former 27 weekers. Both Noah and Karissa had Grade II brain bleeds which evolved into PVL. Jazmine escaped the NICU with absolutely no delays or impairments -- you'd never know that she was a preemie.

Karissa was diagnosed at 18 months with very mild left hemiplegia cerebral palsy. Most people don't notice unless they watch her carefully. She uses her left hand only as a helper so her fine motor is delayed in actions that require two hands. She has a slightly abnormal gait and walks on her toes with her left foot but she just finished her first year of ballet.

Noah was diagnosed at 10 months of age and has moderate spastic triplegic CP. He has now had 6 surgeries (not all CP related). He walks in a walker for short distances but relies on his wheelchair for longer distances. He just finished up Young Fives with his two sisters - they will all attend kindergarten next year.

Noah also has a seizure disorder (currently treated with Trileptal) and wears glasses (has had two eye surgeries). His speech is pretty good -- a little impacted by his CP but most people understand him just fine.

That's the short version of our story...I didn't want to put everyone to sleep with my first post! :0)

Lori --
Mom to Zac (9/91) and triplets Noah, Karissa & Jazmine (5/98 at 27 weeks)

Lori --
Mom to Zac (9/91) and triplets Noah, Karissa & Jazmine (5/98 at 27 weeks)