Going Back in Time Part 1 (2010 Jan- April)

Okay, let's go back in time for a while.  I may be doing this "going back in time" thing for quite a while, as I play some sort of a catch up game. 

January 2010:
We went ice fishing with Grandma and Grandpa McDowell.  Uncle Wayne came, too.  It was pretty cool, literally.

The kids made snowmen outside of our house in Liberty.  We used Cherrios for eyes.  Diamond went and ate the eyes off of Kayla's snowman!!  ha....ha....!!  She was SO MAD!!

April  2010:

In April 2010 Korbin turned 3 years old!  Shortly before his 3rd birthday I was concerned about his development.  While he seemed to be a very smart little guy, he didn't seem to be socializing the way other kids his age were.  He, also, had some very strange habits like lining up toys rather than playing with them and doing all kinds of "must do" rituals before certain activities.  He, also, seemed VERY bothered by sensory input.  So, I took him in to see an occupational therapist at McKay Dee Hospital.  There he was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and they said it was possible he had high functioning autism.  We began working with the OT.

I, also, took Korbin to see an excellent doctor, Dr. Humphrey, who specializez in the DAN Method.  That stands for "Defeat Autism Now".  Dr. Humphrey ran a lot of tests and said he believed he could help Korbin.  We found out he was very, very low in Zync and that the flora in his digestive track was out of whack. 
We, also, began taking Korbin to see my high school friend, a chiropractor, named Dr. Kevin Lundell.  He began doing adjustmens on Korbin, which helped "balance" his sences.
In addition we took him in for Early Intervention Testing at Weber School District.  They said he had "Pervassive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified".  PDD-NOS is on the autism spectrum.  It is not classical autism, but it is on the spectrum.  Confussing, huh?  Basically, there is Autism, Aspergers, & PDD-NOS all in the "Autism Spectrum".  PDD-NOS just means that he meets some of the criteria for Autism, but not all.  PDD-NOS also means that these delays significantly impact his life.  Korbin was enrolled into Valley's Developmental Preschool for two years.  Ms. Linda Burton was his teacher.
After his first run with Dr. Humphrey his school was amazed!!  Korbin went from lining up toys to actually playing with them!!  He began to take an interest in his peers and, overall, he just made massive noticeable improvements.
Now in 2012, it is safe to say that while Korbin still has things to improve on, he is getting very close to being "on target".  Socially he still perfers adults over peers, but he has made some friends: Gabe, Will, Sean, and Mason.   He still struggles in new social situations and with groups of children, but he's working on learning social skills.  His speech is amazing and always has been!  The speech therapist, who tested him, reported that he was at a 2nd grade speech level with articulation and speech structure!!  (He was only in pre-school during this test!)  Academically he is on target.  He is working on self-help skills, independence, and socialization.  We know he can do it!  We are getting scheduled with Dr. Humprey again to discuss the next step.
Here's Korbin on his 3rd birthday:

Landon, Ethan (also celebrating a b-day), Korbin and Maylee

Korbin with an octopus at The Living Planet Aquarium

Korbin, Maylee, Landon, Grace, Aunt Diana, & Isaac

Easter 2010:



Pleasant View Easter Egg Hunt

I get the feeling this "going back in time" thing is going to take a long time!  Anyway, here's the first part.  :-)  I'll do the best I can and then blog better from this point forward!