A Visit to the Doctor

Stimming - The repetition of physical movements, sounds, or repetitive movement of objects, common in individuals with developmental disabilities, but most prevalent in people with autism spectrum disorders. 

Liam has been talking up a storm lately. Here's a transcript of what he's been saying for the last month and a half:

"Bye…….bye………………bye….bye………bye……bye…."

As the school year wraps up it's IEP time. Liam is steadily progressing, but as his speech improves he adds new and unusual quirks to his repertoire of oddities. The "bye" thing is manageable. His teachers have a Kindergarten lined up for him next year and requested we take Liam in to see the doctor to have his sight and hearing checked, not because they thought he might have any issues with either, but just to rule them out. We hadn't seen Liam and Finn's doctor since he'd moved to a new office. He's great and he's been with the boys since the beginning so Erin and I agreed we'd make the effort to stick with him. We couldn't imagine his being in a new office would make much of a difference. It did.

 We showed up on time for our 9:30 appointment

10:30

11:00

11:30. Still no sign of the doctor.

YAY!!

I was so close to just walking out and making a big scene, but we'd already endured for so long and we had to get that stamp of approval. As soon as the doctor arrived Liam gave him a bright and sunny "good morning doctor". BURN!!! It was noon. Liam may not have mastered the art of complete sentences yet but he's got sarcasm nailed. Good one Liam.

He surprised me with his ability to follow instructions. A young nurse tried to get him to take an eye test. He had to name the shapes which were a square, circle, house, and some kind of heart shaped thing which Liam identified as an apple. As she pointed across the lines he would announce his answer then cheer his success.

"House! Bye house. YAY! Circle! Bye circle. YAY! Apple, yummy apple. YAY!"

It took awhile. After doing it the normal way she tried to make him wear some weird over-sized glasses with one eye blacked out. Liam is not fond of having strange things put on his head so that was a no-go.

Next was the hearing test which involved a terrifying headset. The nurse got within five feet of Liam with that and quickly threw in the towel.

All that was left to be done was to have a look in his ears and give him two shots to update his immunizations. It took three of us to do it. By the end Liam was crying the loudest, followed closely by Finn and then me. His screams were the sound of ultimate suffering, equal parts emotional and physical agony. It was terrible. The nurses slapped on two band-aids and made a hasty exit. As he tried to tear off the band-aids that he was sure were the cause of his pain, he screamed "ICE CREEEEEEEEAAAAM!!!" You're goddamn right you're getting ice cream, pal.