Luke scored high on the ESAC. This means that he definitely qualifies for the autism diagnosis. There are two reasons why he scored high on the ESAC; 1. The test is for children who are at the chronological age of 12-36 months and Luke is that age, but he is significantly delayed and acts more like a 6-9 month old baby, 2. He has definite sensory issues as well as many autistic like behaviors.
The autism society's theme, which is puzzle pieces, truly fits what is going on with Luke. Think of it this way- The answer to what is going on with Luke is the big picture, a fully put together puzzle, if you will. We only have a couple pieces of the puzzle put in place and it is a puzzle with, at least, 500 pieces (if not more). We know what it isn't- He is not deaf, blind, or mute. He does not have a life-threatening condition, as far as we know. We speculate over a couple different diagnosis'- autism and cerebral palsy. Autism is more of the academic diagnosis for Luke, while Cerebral Palsy is more a medical diagnosis. So, we know that Luke fits these two diagnosis', yet autism and cerebral palsy leave many huge questions-
-What caused these issues? Immunization maybe given at birth? Medical malpractice? A virus?
-What causes his yellow skin?
-What about the small hole in his heart? Will that heal itself?
-What is his true cognitive ability?
-What is he seeing? How is he prossessing visual information? How is he processing auditory information?
-What medical issues does he have that we just haven't discovered?
It is going to take many years to gather the right puzzle pieces in order to see the full picture more clearly. For now, I will just have to go to each doctor appointment with ammunition ready.
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