The thing I am not ready to say.

I am not ready to say that Joel has Autism.

For as many signs that he DOES have Autism, there are many signals that he does not.

There is no doubt that he is far behind his sisters, developmentally.
There is no doubt that he has a seizure disorder of unknown origins.
There is no doubt that he tippy toe walks.
There is no doubt that, for now, something is "off".

But I am not ready. I am not ready to take him to Pittsburgh. I am not ready to put a label on him.

Not yet.

Because for as many signs that ARE there...there are signs against that diagnoses:

He is cuddly.
He is happy, and acknowledges us.
He has eye contact...it's not great, but it's there.
He's made improvements, and now even has a few words.

So I have decided to continue to wait some more.

We hired private speech therapists, and we are considering putting him back into occupational therapy for his severe sensory avoidance issues.

But he is doing well. He's happy, and I want to wait. Maybe he just needs time.