Alexander is a lovely 9 year old boy who is my greatest pride and joy! He lives life in a more honest and full way than most, since he generally doesn't worry about what other people think. If he wants to be a baby chick, then nothing will stop him! ;) He loves unconditionally and is fiercely loyal.
We have known for quite a few years now that Alexander isn't what you call "typical". He has what I often refer to as a "laundry list" of issues, but some (not all) of these "issues" is part of making him who he so uniquely is, and I wouldn't change that for the world. This laundry list includes Global Developmental Delay, where he acts and thinks more like someone around half his chronological age. He also has Epilepsy, which thankfully is right now controlled by medications. It has been almost 5 months since he last had a seizure (yay!). He also has a combo of ADHD and severe executive dysfunction, and this is somewhat helped with medications as well. On top of this he has severe receptive verbal delay - so while he might understand all the words you say, he usually only takes in a bit of what you are telling him. When you think about how much in life is learned through hearing what people have to say, you might begin to understand what he has missed out on. We have learned that anything we need him to know, we need to teach him using visual aides. It is amazing to see how effective that is! The rest of the "laundry list" is Dyspraxia (gross and fine motor weakness and development problems, including severe motor planning problems), Sensory Processing Disorder, and some rather undefined endocrine problems. Oh and did I mention that he doesn't sleep?
Here's a link to our story, so to speak. It tells how we got to where we are today.
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