Monday, May 01, 2006

THIS PAGE IS ALL ABOUT MY BROTHER AND HOW IT BECOME HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH MILD ASPERGERS DISORDER.

When i (Jordan) was 16 months old on the 3rd of February, 2002 my brother Nicolas entered this world by cescarian weighing a healthy 7.5 pounds, god had he gone to full term he would have been a whopping 9-10 pounds. Although the Dr's thought by now he was 37 weeks old, they learnt actually infact he was 5 weeks early. Nicolas entered this world with the best lungs, so mum and dad knew he was ok. Previously Nicolas kept wanting to come out early. What was thought at the time being 25 weeks, mummy went into labour and the Dr's were able to stop it. Nicolas then decided again at 30 and 32 weeks he wanted to come out and meet his older brother, once again the Dr's were able to stop the labour but finally not long after they decided to take my brother out to meet me. The fact that mummy had a irritable Uterus didn't help things either.
Mummy had constant high blood pressure throughout so she was always in and out of hospital.

Because Nicolas was 5 weeks early he was covered in lots of yukky Vernix, and the valve to his heart had not formed properly (which forms normally from 37 weeks in the womb), thus causing a murmour in his heart which had to be followed up at 6 months and 1 years of age to make sure it had closed properly. Over time it has taken a while for Nicolas to understand what there is know about me. As Nicolas got older he became my best friend even though by now i was showing signs of being Autistic. We enjoyed sleeping and snuggling up together and he would follow me around everywhere annoying me and interrupting my routines.

When Nicolas was about 3 years old mum and dad started noticing some of Nicolas's behaviours were a little strange as well, but because his language skills amongst other things were excellent from 18 months and didnt really give it much more thought. At 16 months Nicolas got really sick and was hospitalised after having temperatures and seizures. Mummy cried a lot with worry and never left him which didnt help that the fact was she was pregnant with our sister Chloe and at the time her hormones were going wild. A couple of times when she left his bedside to go to the toilet he had more seizures which worried the Dr's. After many tests the Dr's diagnosed him not long later with Phneumonucoccal. Thank goodness he pulled through after spending 5 days in hospital.

After this event he became obsessed with different things, his temper tantrums were still really horrible even after going through the terrible two's stage, which they thought should have calmed down by now.

At 3 years of age, Nicolas started hitting hitting himself all the time, hand flapping and walking on his toes. At daycare he didn't really like being all that social with other kids and preferred adult company with the teachers. They used to tell mum and dad how he would follow them around just talking and asking them all these questions over and over and what a bright, intelligent and enchanting child he was.

When Nicolas turned 4 just before my sister Chloe was born he had become more difficult, no matter what you said to him after trying to explain why he had got into trouble he would take things literally. I mean literally! He would then obsess over and over about it, and then would always apologise to mum and dad after an incident. He started behaving defiantly even more so, having trouble at times processing instructions from mum and dad and was down right disobediant and arguementative. No one believed mum and dad when they said he was showing symptoms of ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and somewhat Aspergers symptoms because all in all he seemed like a normal, developing child. My grandma and poppy (mums parents) had seen some odd behaviours but didnt seem to worry too much about it. Mum and dad also noticed after he would pinch his sister, he would go into distress mode crying and start saying i cant help it my brain tells me not to do it but my brain cant stop me doing it.

When Nicolas was 5 he started school and at first loved going. Not long after he hated going, complained of being bullied, that he often felt strange/weird and that his brain was sore from trying to learn at school. He also told mum and dad he had no friends and no one liked him. The teacher later told mum and dad he was struggling at processing certain things, unable to concentrate on things at times, have innappropriate outbursts in class whilst she was teaching, telling the teacher all about his holidays, how he wanted to work in the police force in the Swat team etc, seemed somewhat Dyslexic, daydreamed in class and thought he may have Aspergers. Mum and dad decided to take him too see my paedtrician who diagnosed Nicolas with mild Aspergers, OCD and ODD.

Later that year Nicolas started a new school after moving out of the previous area.

When he was enrolled at his new school, mum told his teacher the diagnosis and showed the relevant paper work from his Dr, she then decided to put together a learning plan for him that would help with his schooling. He is now excelling in his schooling. Nicolas has recieved many awards from school for his achievments. He has proved to be very popular amongst his peers and gets on especially well with the older kids at his school. Mum and dad are so proud of him because he has also recieved awards for just for being nice to other kids when they have fallen and hurt themselves in the playground or if a someone is being bullied he comes to their aid, being the first one on the scene to pick them up and comfort them.

Nicolas is now almost 6 years old and he loves to bounce on the trampoline with me. He tickles me to death to help make me laugh, cuddles and kisses me all the time especially when i'm having a bad day. All in all he is a loving, concerned brother that has compassion for me and others and even though i find it hard to express my feelings in words, i love him unconditionally and along with mine and his own hurdles and challenges that await for us in life, he will always be there to pick me up and never stop telling me how much he loves me. (By the way mum has started crying again while trying to finish this page).



1 comment:

Kiralea Powell said...

Hi Veronica

Thankyou for your kind words.
Chloe is doing fine thankyou.
Life for all of us presents us with many life challenges. Chloe at times is a little terror with a very opinionated personality, but she makes up for it being a sweet little individual who shows a lot of affection every day. As my nanna as always said " boys will leave and marry his wife, but girls are a mothers best friend all your life"

kind regards
kiralea