Asperger Syndrome ?

Been a long time since last I written in here...

24 March 2011 - at last the very first appointment with child psychiatrist; Doctor Hajah Fauzi Binti Ismail at General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur.  The appointment was set last year... meeting her (actual) about less than an hour....that hard huh ?
Iman was having runny nose at that time.  What was the diagnose? Possibly autistic with Asperger Syndrome (AS)...Iman didn't respond to her name being called... she lined up the alphabets and toys... well she didn't do that at home (at least not lately)...I was sad (of course) that the word `autism' mentioned again after for quite some time been put off .....at least for awhile.. I just cried... hearing the word again...from a so called an expert...the doctor at least tried to calm me down...she passed me some tissues... being a psychologist she should understand the turbulence in my mind at the moment, right? Iman was heard saying out loud - ABC and then sang her favorite song- twinkle twinkle little star (that's made the doctor mentioned about AS).  It can't be real... till today I admit that I am still in denial about the syndrome...how can that be... Iman is normal and must be normal ..or is it only me...can't face the truth.
The doctor was saying - we have three years to try to help her...before she starts kindy..intervention.. more speech theraphy and occt... more days will be spent visiting GH and Serdang Hosp.  I prayed to Allah to give strength and patient to go through this all...as the doctor said - Allah parked a mercedes in your house...u should take good care of her... nothing much was said and discuss actually...just setting up another appointment to see her in 4 months time...meanwhile - occt and speech theraphy ...again... I hope we are going in the right direction... I still pray that Iman is as normal a child could be...
The truth is I am really scared of her future...school...work...life...or her life after my death so to speak...she is really so special....
As the doctor said... it's not the fault of the mother or father for that matter...

Occupational Theraphy Visit

19 May 2010 - Iman went for her first occupational therapy at Serdang Hosp.  We met a lady therapist, quite a nice lady.  After the question answer's session she start to get to know Iman.  She tried to sit on the swing but Iman refused; may be Iman didn't know the therapist yet.  The therapist said Iman was `strong' and she is big for her age.  She did try to get Iman to clap her hands after doing some task but Iman refused.  We heard (we were outside the room) the therapist commented on Iman's chubby hands.  The therapist has a daughter the same age as Iman and her name is Zafirah while Iman's is Zarifah.  It was a short session and we were scheduled for the 2nd session on 10 June 2010.  Another therapist (also a lady) was surprised to learn that Iman was only 2 years compared to her body build. 

10 June 2010 - Iman went for her 2nd therapy session.  This time Iman didn't have any problem on the swing.  She only `complained' when she was put on the swing which needed her to lay flat on her back...she didn't like it but went with it.  She didn't threw any tantrum not like a common autistic child - the therapist said).  She did enjoy jumping up and down on the trampoline and counting while doing so (to the therapist amazement).  I did peeped at the glass window from the other room... I could see Iman enjoying herself on the trampoline.  Then they did some coloring with crayon (Iman did follow the therapist drawing circle and the therapist said Iman was happy to choose color and doodling).  Then then did the colored stick in the hole game; Iman did count the stick herself.  In the end the therapist told us Iman was okay, no problem with her therapy tested on her that day.  She acted as any normal kids would.  The therapist said from her experience, Iman didn't show any autistic characteristic but maybe she did show some ADD characteristic because of a bit lack of focussing and attention.  Other than that she thought, Iman was normal and she did suggest may be Iman didn't need therapy.  However, she did give us the 3rd date (in August) for another session and to see Iman development. 

We were relieved to hear that somebody else thought Iman was not autistic.  Thank God. 

About her homeopathy medicine, my hubby thought we could stop it now since Iman was developing well.  As for me, I thought we should continue at least for another month just to make sure that Iman is doing okay.  This week we just used the last week's medicine and wait and see.  We will decide what step to take by the end of this week.  Nowadays, Iman did mumbling more and she began to sing twinkle twinkle little star song (in her own language - funny) and she responded to music by moving her feet to the rhythm sometimes.  She is more vocal and she could say `susu' now when she wanted her milk (sometimes).  We are very happy with her daily development and wishing for the best.

5th Visit To Homeopathy Clinic - 29 May 2010

29 May 2010 - another visit to the same clinic.
Updating the `Dr' about Iman's development - not so exciting; Iman's was reported to began losing concentration but mumbling a lot and a lot of the time with `words' we never understood.  The medicine was supposedly to work continuously but seemed to loose it's `power' sooner than expected; said the Dr.  By right we can stop the medicine from now on.  The medicine was the lowest dosage and usually prescribed for baby 2 years and below.  In the end the Dr put her on the medicine with higher dosage.  He adviced us to give Iman the med for two weeks and see the result.  I just don't know what to think.  If possible I want to stop the medicine, any medicine for that matter but what should I do ?  We can't let Iman be ?  Please... Allah help us.  The Dr also said Iman's didn't show any character of an autistic child at all... how nice to hear that... may be she was never an autistic child ?

18 May 2010 - Meeting A Dietitian

Today, 18 May 2010, we went for the rescheduled visit with the Dr at KK Nilai concerning Iman's weight.  The Dr's waiting room were packed with people and Iman and my husband went out for some air and because Iman didn't `like' it in there.  At last we went in to see the Dr (she).  She didn't commented on the BMI (when I brought up the subject) may be because they didn't record any height measurement.  She quickly emphasized on the weight graph which Iman had exceeded the `normal' curve and into the`red zone' but didn't comment anything about Iman's static weight for the past 2 visits.  She also told us that the government is trying to control the obesity in babies in order to reduce heart problem in the future.  I was not happy with her at all.  After hearing my explanation of Iman food intake, she told us to reduce her milk intake to twice a day and food to be increase to trice a day.  Then she refered us to the dietitian.  Luckily the dietitian was in and we went straight to see her or else we have to come back another day.
The dietitian was also hoping that the height reading was available for her to calculate BMI.  But it seemed that nothing could be done.  Hhhmm... she was quite surprised when told Iman's food intake pattern which shouldn't be the problem for her weight.  Except for her milk intake, the dietitian advice us to give her 3 times a day and 250 ml each time.  She couldn't give me the conversion from ml to oz when asked.  She did try to flip over her reference book on her table (the only one that she had !!) and couldn't find it.  She did agree with me that it was not fair to say that Iman was obese based on the weight graph only.  She also said that Iman didn't seem `chubby'.  From her birth weight, she said Iman can be considered as `big baby'.  Well, Iman is always `chubby' to us (and to most people who saw her) from the very beginning.  I remembered when my third sister's sister in law kept on saying that Iman was `big' when she first saw her  (Iman was 5 months at that time).
I conclude that from today's visit, Iman's so called obesity was still not confirmed. 
What a day !!
Tomorrow will be Iman's first visit to see the Occupational Therapist at Serdang Hospital, I wonder what will happen there ...

Iman's 2nd B'day - 15 May 2010

15 May 2010 - Nur Iman Zarifah's 2nd birthday...
We celebrated Iman's birthday at her atok's house.  It was not much of a celebration, just for fun, we bought a birthday cake for her and brought it to her atok's house as we were also visiting her atok who was discharged from IJN last Thursday.  Even though there were only us, atok and nenek but it was fun to see Iman excitement to cut her cake and to get her fingers in the cake too.  Iman did her counting; one, two ... as she was holding the knife, ready to cut in the cake.  However Iman didn't like the icing, sounding like about to throw up when she tasted the icing.  Iman only ate a bit of the cake.  She never like sweet things.  I just couldn't believed it that she is actually two years old now.  How fast time flew... just like yesterday I held her in my arms, my little sweet baby.  My dear Iman, umi will always pray for only the best things to happen in your life journey... Umi will always love you and you will always be my little sweet baby angel...

The cake
 

Ayah lighting the candle while Iman counting so ready to cut her cake.
Atok, shirtless, to nenek disapprovement ...hehehe

At last... cutting the cake, atok looking on and smiling.

Let's cut some more...
nenek quickly grabbed her tudung
just in time to join the cake cutting ceremony...

Iman tasting the icing...oppps... didn't like it !

Iman posing for the camera with a smile; icing on lips.

Iman stamping the poor duck cartoon all over the place....
on the cushion...desk... hhmmm...

Here is a picture of Iman's 1st birthday last year - celebrated `in private @ at home'.
I prefer to celebrate Iman's birthday in private, just the three of us...yes ... Ayah + Umi = Iman

Just a small cake... she didn't taste it either.

Look at her ... how much she changed ?  In a way, I kind of sad seeing her growing up so fast... Before I knew it she won't be needing me anymore ... hhhmmm... hope Iman will always love me even if not as much as how I loved and cared for her.