A Little About Me

I am a Stay-At-Home mom of 4 kids, plus I have a couple extras here and there on weekends and school vacations. Two of my kids are on the Autism Spectrum. JR will be 11, Caleb will be 9, Caitlin will be 9 (yes twins), and Bubba just turned 7. My extras are Austyn, who is 6, and Adrian, my godson, who is almost a year.
Honey and I have been married for 11 years. He works full time, 5 or 6 days a week.

Caleb and Bubba are my Spectrum kids. Caleb was diagnosed when he was almost 3. We had figured for a while that he had something going on. We had suspected Autism, but it was still hard when he was diagnosed. He has come a long way, from a boy who couldn't communicate at 3, to a boy who barely spoke at 4, to a boy who is almost never without something to say at almost 9. Caleb also has ADHD, which makes it so he's always on the go. He is able now to fit in well enough in school, even though he's behind other kids his age. He is mainstreamed, with some help, and gets speech services from the district.
Bubba, on the other hand, was just diagnosed in October of 2006, at the age of 5. I was in denial, that was part of the reason it took so long. Yes, we knew he had some delays, he wasn't social, had a hard time with transitions...and the list goes on. Bubba has been diagnosed with a couple of things. Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mixed Speech Disorder, Velopharyngeal Insufficiency, and Mild-Moderate Mental Retardation. Some of these things, like the VI, will probably have you looking on Google to figure them out. Let me spare you that (unless you like that kind of stuff, lol, cause that's what I end up doing on other peoples blogs).
Mixed Speech Disorder, that you can find a lot about, depending on the search engine you use. As near as I can figure, since the Doc and Speech tell me about the same thing, it means he has a lot of issues that affect how and if he can say different words. VI means that the little flap at the back of his throat doesn't close like it's supposed to. So he has very nasal speech. And obviously the mental retardation speaks for itself.
Bubba is currently in a mixed class of Kinder-aged kids, some with "issues," some without. He is one of the lowest functioning kids in his class. He is 7 years old, and not potty trained. He still doesn't sleep through the night, and always comes to my room by 1 or 2 am. He has constantly chapped lips, because he is always licking them, and freaks if you try to put chapstick on him. We have an IEP meeting next month, to determine placement for next year. So far, one of the options that keeps being mentioned because of his present level of functioning is a self-contained class.
Caitlin has some issues as well, but nothing as serious as the boys. She is small for her age, and has some speech issues and motor delays. She was very delayed for quite some time, and was in physical therapy and occupational therapy. In fact, both of the twins were in Birth-to-Three, which is an Early Intervention program that helps developmentally delayed children. Caitlin was so delayed that she didn't sit unassisted(something that most babies can do by 4 or 5 mos) until she was a YEAR old. She also didn't walk until she was almost 2. She took her first steps at 22 1/2 months old. Two weeks before I had Bubba!
JR has issues, but they all relate to being: 1) the oldest child, 2) having sibs with special needs, 3) being a boy, and 4) being a pre-teen. You get the basic picture of our family!