Judy Vorfeld’s Office Support Services

Written by Cheryl Hung on behalf of Dylan and Casey Hung. For the longest time, we couldn’t have kids (two miscarriages) five years of infertility treatment, acupuncture, and then six months later found out we were expecting!

Dylan was born nine days early at 6 lbs. 9 oz. Ultimate pride and joy! For 45 minutes he was stuck (the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice). Every time Mom pushed, his heart rate dropped, and eventually he had to be sucked out with a vacuum. Also, at a month old he developed an inguinal hernia and had to have surgery.

Dylan was generally a happy baby. He met all his milestones: sitting by four months, rolling over, crawling by seven months, and walking a couple days after his first birthday. By two, he was saying one-word phrases, could go through his A-Z book, tell you all the colors and names of the pictures, and say most of the alphabet.

For a while, he seemed prone to ear infections but had reactions to the antibiotics. We were able to narrow it down to one that worked with no side effects! When he turned three, we struggled to get him into a preschool (he was not potty trained), and we began to get concerned as little by little he seemed to be regressing.

By now we had to bring him to sit with us otherwise he could sit in the corner of the room and just play by himself with his video boxes which he would line up or push around like cars or a train. I had a gut feeling despite being constantly told things like, “He’s just delayed, he’ll catch up.” Something was not quite right.

By three-and-a-half, Dylan started losing more and more of the already limited vocabulary he had, and on top of that we thought he was having a hearing problem: we’d call him over and over and he would not respond. He finally had a hearing test, and the results came back fine.

Then there became less and less eye contact; many times it was like he was looking right past/thru you. At a loss, we were told that he was a boy, that boys are usually slower, and he’d improve once he got into school. So, we just tried to shift and focus on getting him ready for kindergarten.

During this time, to our surprise, we found out we were expecting another baby. It was a happy surprise but also scary. Here we were, lost as to what was going on with Dylan, and now he was going to have a sibling.

At this time too, he slowed down his eating. But he still needed to use a certain kind of sippy bottle or he would literally not drink. In addition, he’d bolt, often running into the street or parking lot. We’ve had SO many frightful moments losing him. And, a few times he got lost at our local mall where security had to be called upon. I had to buy a stroller with a stand on/ sit on plate just so I could make sure he’d be close by. At four years old we tried to get him registered for kindergarten, but were told if he was not able to follow directions and go to the bathroom himself we should probably hold him back.

I was disappointed, and now with a new baby, taking Dylan to private preschool was not only costing money but it was becoming difficult to take him to school. I had to leave the baby in the car as I had to drag Dylan out of the car kicking and screaming to the gate, and when I got to the door, sometimes it took the staff 15-20 minutes to get him from me.

By now, exhausted with no extended family and two young ones to care for; everyday after I dropped Dylan off my heart ached more and more. Often, I would cry myself to sleep feeling like I was a horrible mom!

Sudden anxieties, in particular his extreme uneasiness to change, and just the daily routine of bathing had become so challenging. Meltdowns were constant. Frustrated and at wit’s end with no answers from his doctor; I wrote to the school district explaining all our concerns including that Dylan shouldn’t have to be held back just because he couldn’t go to the bathroom and follow directions.

A couple of days later, the director of the district called to set up an appointment for a specialist to go to Dylan’s preschool to evaluate him. Dylan had reached a peak and we found out that he was autistic, which we confirmed with a neurologist in 2007 at Stanford. It was a shock, and we went through the blame game, guilt etc. But, to this day we are ever so grateful to the school district for jumping in when they did and finally giving us an answer to our justified concerns!

Dylan has been in the SDC class in his school district for five years now. He has come a LONG way from where he was and the teachers have each nurtured his growth. But, as a fifth grader he is still far below the average and his comprehension is a tough challenge this year, with word problems in general. He has few friends, and can still get fixated on something he likes and be very repetitive. Other kids shy away and Dylan isn’t too aware of socializing.

Now, Casey was a healthy baby at 8 lbs. 10.5 oz! He was always a happy baby, smiling, making eye contact. As we’d become a little more aware since Dylan’s diagnosis, of course we watched with caution and he grew quickly and met all the milestones as well.

By two years, Casey was still not talking much (just jargon). We were fortunate, though, as Dylan’s teachers and therapist were also keeping an eye on Casey’s development, and when he turned three, their concern prompted approval for Casey to get into speech therapy.

The first year Casey had severe separation anxiety so they weren’t able to do much. As soon as school got going again though Casey was immediately signed up 2x a week. Started off slow but by the third month he seemed happy and making progress and even got buddy up with another boy to widen socializing.

We thought Casey was just echoing Dylan at first. Then, after about the fifth month the therapist mentioned more repetitive jargon and behavior, and I mentioned at home sudden tantrums began to pop up more frequently. The red flag came up full throttle after I’d mentioned Casey having a meltdown while he would bang his head on the floor. And, of course hand flapping when extremely excited. So, he was re-evaluated and tested and in Jan. 2007 Casey was diagnosed with borderline autism. He has been one very lucky boy, and because of Dylan’s teacher and staff he was able to get that window of opportunity that Dylan missed. He was put into a preschool socializing class 2x a week with speech therapy 2x and put into the SDC summer preschool class. This earlier intervention has made such a huge difference that Casey is blossoming so much more!

After our dog Tiffany passed away when Dylan was two, we knew one day we would like to have another dog. With both boys diagnosed with Autism it seemed a great thought to have a dog. Yet, just barely getting the boys potty trained and trying to fulfill and manage their needs (doctor and especially dental appointments where Dylan has to be sedated) are already a challenge.

Dylan had no memory of our dog, and after an unfortunate incident with friends’ three BIG dogs he started to develop a sort of phobia of all dogs. But, we occasionally talked about it, and we continued making occasional attempts to keep exposing Dylan especially. He’s skittish with our friends’ dog but loves to play fetch with him every week after his piano lesson.

I’d heard about service dogs for autistic children and that’s where our journey eventually led us to 4 Paws for Ability. Having no idea about service dogs; I looked into a handful of websites and after an infomercial on TV started emailing and looking into 4 Paws and a few other providers. The discouraging aspects to the other providers unfortunately was the very LONG waiting lists but most importantly, the dog could only be trained for one child. So, after another TV special aired I contacted Karen via email expressing my concerns.

After a year of delay and putting it off the final push came when Dylan (now 10) got lost at the great mall. He walked out of Dave & Busters and ended up halfway across the mall in the food court sitting in a coin operated car! I contacted Karen again about getting a service dog to be trained for both our sons and she told me we could!

And, we are now approved for placement for a 4 Paws autism service dog that is going to be trained specifically to meet Dylan and Casey’s needs.

Note: I highly endorse 4 Paws for Ability as a source for extremely well-trained service dogs. The organization is sound and its goals exceptional. Judy Vorfeld.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Animals, Community Service, Disabilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.