The Testing...

We had no idea what "screening" meant but contacted Rainbows United to get going with it. First thing they told us to do was have his hearing checked, so they could be sure it wasn't an issue of him not hearing what is expected of him.

So a few weeks later (one think you'll notice is that there's LONG wait times for all this stuff!), we took him to the audiologist, who tested and approved his hearing. That paperwork supposedly then went over to Rainbows for his file.

Next up to bat - the joys of testing!

After waiting another month or so, it was finally our turn to be evaluated! We went up to Rainbows United's Kid Cove building, near 21st/Zoo on the west side. They took poor Emerson into a room with 3 or 4 adults in there and started grilling him.

Could he write this line?

Could he tie laces?

Could he hold scissors?

Etc etc.

They tried it with us in the room, with us out of the room, with bribes, treats, etc. Finally they told us that they just couldn't test him. He absolutely could not finish the tests even enough for them to score anything. Well, hello!? that's the problem!!

So we had to make another testing appointment to try to fill in the gaps. A few weeks later, here we go!

This time they took him in with just one person in the room and it went a little better. I was rather surprised at all the things he couldn't do that I had just never thought about. We never had a tricycle, and I didn't know he should have been doing that! And I never let him near scissors so he'd never had the chance to try cutting lines.

But there were other things like standing on one leg, balance, skipping, drawing, etc, that he really should have been able to do and could not. Their biggest problem though was his reaction when he couldn't do it, if they could get him to even focus long enough to try!!

So then they schedule the results meeting, where they'll talk to us about what they think and if they can help...

In the meantime..... a little bird there told us that we might get more help if we go ahead and have a psychologist evaluate him for a diagnosis... so that appointment is also approaching (after a 2 month search to find one who would deal with children this young!).

Meet Emerson!

Ah, Emerson. Where to start!

First off, he's named after Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, so I guess we just always knew he was destined to be strange. Plus as the son of a gamer-geek and book-worm, he just had "odd" genes.

So no surprise to us when he's just a bit on the quirky side. Plus as a firstborn, it's not like we had a clue what kids were supposed to be like.

Oh look, Emerson's flapping again - isn't he cute!?

Ugh- another tantrum - when do they grow out of this!??

But it wasn't until he started going to a daycare center that we really saw how different he was compared to other kids. Still we thought "he's just himself, he's unique!"

Then the daycare owner called us in and let us know that not only was he "unique," but he was just not acting like the other kids at all, required a teacher for just him, and she really thought we should have him checked out She had us watch him on their video. What did we see that she thought was unusual?

• He didn't participate - he would wander off and play in the room away from the other kids, who were doing an activity together.

• He kept having tantrums - whenever something didn't go right, like he dropped his fork, or his toy fell over, or a kid walked by.

• His tantrums were violent - he kicked a teacher as she bent over him trying to get him down for nap, he would hit the teachers as they tried to calm him, he screamed, he flailed, he threw things.

• He wouldn't eat - we knew he had a limited diet, but even at daycare he wasn't eating. And they noticed a pattern - he wouldn't eat anything colored. All his foods that he did eat were beiges and he avoided any odd textures like pudding or jello.

Young parents with no clue - the daycare lady pointed us to Rainbows United - http://www.rainbowsunited.org - to have him screened. In the meantime, the daycare kicked him out.

And that started a new, huge, strung-out, stressed-out chapter in our lives...

To be continued!