My Life 20 Years Ago

Today, May 31st is my birthday, I turned 23 years old. lets go back in time 20 years or so, and see how things were for me, from documents we have when my mom was trying to figure out what I had, I was her 3rd child, so she already had some experience raising children and knew something was "different" with me

So here we go, the man the myth... the legend... Michael Sisemore, haha just kidding.

Yes, I used to have blonde hair

In a binder (I was so awesome I had a binder all about myself, my siblings didn't had one, I'm the favorite.)  my mom kept the documents and testings, which we had done for me, she had a section where she kept track of my "Unusual traits and behaviors & development skills" I was 3-4 years old during this time, she was asked to keep track of them from some Doctor in Spokane

 3/21/97, she met the Dr and had a two hour consultation as her notes reads.

I actually have a small memory of one of the other specialists and doctors in the area, I don't remember much about it, but they talked about me (I was pretty popular)


Physical Traits & Motor Skills:

*Bounding gait
*overall delayed fine and gross motor skills
*Can't ride bike, stand on one foot, etc
*Doesn't like drawing or coloring
*Diffuclty with dressing/undressing ie. socks, shoes, zippers, buttons
*Can't poor drinks well
*Clumsy, falls off porch steps and tripes a lot etc..."

Verbal ability:

*Dyspraxic
*Loss of early language skills (from 18-24 months lost language and became very *shy* about attempting speech)
*Usually a very LOUD child

4 years old me (btw, Batman rules)

*Seems to miss some humor which other kids get
*Beginning to see some odd sentence structure ie.. "Ah be" for I don't know. "Where it is"

Behaviors: 
*Always been a Mama's boy. (I'm still am a Mama's boy ;p)
*Likes being carried everywhere (This has diminished mostly because we stopped allowing it)
*Fixation on the color blue (Currently, used to be red) -If I might add in, my favorite color is still blue, I have always remembered  it to be-
*Likes to line up cards, trucks and cars, etc...
*Fascinated with finding *matches*

*Often does repetitive play by pushing a car back and forth in a small area repeatedly
*Sometimes runs his lips up and down my (My mom's) bare arms. Used to lick his hands and arms a lot and tried to do it to others but this seems to have disappeared. - Well yeah, other people tasted weird. hahaha ;p -
*Very uncomfortable and hard to console when we sleep away from home, even when we are with him (does better when we are away but he can be home)
*Obsessiveness with pointing and labeling in books (Richard Scary) this has diminished some

*Chases kids with sticks and bats in an attempt to play (Like come on Jimmy, I wasn't going to hurt you, I promise)
*Overly aggressive in his play, gets *carried away* and can be unknowingly hurtful (Alright.. maybe I lied)
*Gets confused with pretend play, hear complaints "Michael's doing it for real!" when they are play fighting for example
*can be very excitable

Excitable

*Prone to tantrums and frustrations/anger
*Dislike difficult tasks and avoids them
*Easily angered with himself and his *performance*
*Prone to hyperactivity
*Bedtime drink *ritual* needs a drink, but if too much time passes between then and getting in the bed and going to sleep, he HAS to have another one

*Doesn't seem to learn well from mistakes (burns from stove, rushing into traffic etc)
*Constantly grabs toys away from kids (Sorry Jimmy, I want your toy, it's mine now)
*hates his feet being touched and having toenails clipped (becomes almost terrified)
I have this memory, of me running around the house trying to escape my mom, dad and my grandpa because they were trying to cut my toenails. my dad and grandpa literally had to hold me down. it was torture... tears where shed.
*seems to learn, then forget skills, like names of colors, words, etc. although this seems to be diminishing
*Does lots of spitting noises, like blowing raspberries and does not respond well to requests to stop


In this binder there's some Family Resource report, which reads

Date 10/17/96
Areas of strength:  Age 3.5

Thinking:  Seem to comprehend 3 step directions

Large/small muscles:  Can scoot quickly on small bike.  Likes to do somersaults.

Language/speech:  Back to saying "mama".  Trying to say more words in last few weeks.

Personal/social:  aware of other's emotions, offers toy.  Protective of his baby brother. (Heck yeah, me and Taylor goes way back, 2 months ago when he was born)

Self-help:  Is able to take down and pull up pants by himself.

Areas needing strengthening:

Coordination to put on socks, own shirt, jacket.  Speech to be understood.

Goals for Michael:

Learn his colors
Learn to pedal bike
Be able to verbally express himself
Work on acting out less (physically) when frustrated.
Put on own jacket

In the binder there's a page that says "Good Things About Michael"

Motor Skills:
*Likes using scissors and playdough
*Loves painting
*Enjoys helping in the kitchen with baking, cracking eggs
*Likes to do hand motions to songs

Verbal Ability: 
*Has recently begun asking why?
*Enjoys being read to
*Likes to sing

Behavior and Personality:
*Potty trained at 3.1 y/o
*Helpful around house
*Loving with younger brother
*Affectionate
*Seems very bright in spite of delays
*Good memory (I scored college level for visual memory, in some test I took when I was younger then 10, everything else I scored was below average)
*Enjoys playing with sibs and other friends
*Like his gymnastic class
*Usually smiling and laughing
*Can be very giving and unselfish

That's everything which is worth sharing from the binder

Later on, I'll make another blog post about "*Easily angered with himself and his *performance*"
Because two strong memories comes to mind and I figure  I'll share them
I just want to say, if you've gone through experiences where others can benefit from hearing your own struggles or accomplishments, share them, don't let them go to the wayside. We as humans can all teach one another. You don't have to stand in a room and be like "Yo, listen up" you don't even have to make it public, but sharing with friends, can help them, make them feel like they're not alone in they're challenges

I have asked my mom to write her experience and her  thoughts she had during those couple of early years with me.

"Michael was a sweet baby with blue eyes and curly blonde hair.  He was always very good-natured and affectionate.  It was around 18 months old that I started to have some concerns.  Words that he had been saying for a while disappeared from his vocabulary and were replaced by sounds that were very generalized.  The Dr. wasn’t concerned but I knew something wasn’t quite right.  Also, as he got a little older he fell behind in some fine and gross motor skills too.

Around 3 years of age his language had not improved.  He obviously wanted to communicate, and was frustrated when he wasn’t understood.  The Dr. thought too many people were speaking for him and he was unmotivated, but I knew that was wrong. We had him evaluated by a developmental pediatrician who suggested that he had some autistic like traits which she said could be caused by the speech delay and might be outgrown.  Eventually we got him into a private speech therapist where he was diagnosed with severe oral and verbal apraxia, and dysfluency (stuttering) as he got older and more verbal.

Michael saw a lot of specialists but no one was really sure exactly what diagnosis to give.  It was my research, including looking at other family members with similar issues, that led me to be sure the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome was right.  This wasn’t confirmed by a professional until Michael was an adult.
It’s always hard when you learn that your child has some type of disability or challenge.  I worried about his future; how much could we help him, what he would be able to do, and whether he would have a happy and fulfilling life. He needed a lot of home therapy and attention.  It was a struggle to balance his needs with his siblings that also needed my attention.  As a parent, you do the best you can with situations you feel totally unqualified and unprepared for and hope you’re the parent they need.

Michael still has challenges.  We all do.  He has the biggest, kindest, purest heart of anyone I know.  He is loyal and always looking for the best in people.  He works hard to be the best he can be, while being accepting of who he is right now.  There’s a lesson in that for all of us."


I would of loved to be able to give comfort to my mom during this hard part of her life, trying to figure out what I had, telling her that everything would be okay and that her son who overly gave her blown raspberries that didn't stop no matter how long or messy they got,
When she saw that part in the binder, she laughed about it and said I wouldn't stop for anything

Plot twist: What if blowing raspberries was my form of comforting her at that point of time (I doubt it, but wouldn't it of been a cute little story? ;p)

What my mom said "It’s always hard when you learn that your child has some type of disability or challenge." is true, and from talking to other people and my own personal belief.

God only gives you these people in your life, because he knows you're strong enough to handle it

We all have challenges, conquer them to become You

                 
                         Endure to the end, stay strong in the Gospel and you won't regret it