Gosh, suddenly lots going on this thread! We have had a huge week here too.

Mamaspice- I'm so glad things are moving along for you. We're at that "cusp of getting an evaluation" stage too and it's hard not to get all toey and impatient. It feels like we're so close now.

Efjay- Wow. I don't know how you're doing it. I've been having some major meltdowns and not coping with looking after 2 children. Your little Rohan is still so little. I take my hat off to you! I don't really have a whole lot of information and help for you sorry. With regards to wait and see or start evaluations- I would err on the side of starting testing for Iain. It can't hurt. If he settles down once the dust settles from your move and new baby then great, if not then at least you will be on your way with the support. I wish so much I hadn't taken a wait and see approach for as long as I did with E.

As for Rohan, I've been wondering about how to best support my little F and get him the best start. I went on a GFCF diet for a week and was a complete mess. So I decided to go minimal gluten and dairy and ease into it instead. I just don't have the time to be making everything from scratch all the time so I need to stock the freezer up with meals first. And I need to wean off the gluten- cold turkey messes with your mind. We are also eliminating toxins from the home. We already use enviro cleaners etc but I gave E BPA sippy cups etc and this time we're going with klean kanteens and I'm turfing all the plastic in the kitchen. Going glass instead. I'll also start F on a GFCF diet for perhaps the first year and then decide (once we've learnt more from E) whether to start introducing them.

I'm going to a talk by Dr Bob Sears in a week and he will be talking about giving future children the best start (and the biomedical approach to autism). It's kinda tin-foil-hat stuff but if you're interested he has a book "The Autism Book" and there is similar information on the TACAnow website.

We've decided to take E to a DAN (defeat autism now) doctor. She is a natropath and should be able to help us answer questions about E's health. We want to test food intolerance & heavy metals and look into supplements for his poor diet. Then perhaps consider some gentle chelation methods if he has high levels of toxins. Chelation has some strong opposition so we're wary of that.

E had a hearing test today and passed easily. He is going to speech once a week and it's going really well. We have him on waiting list for OT. We have to get him assessed by the school system here and get him into a developmental preschool. Found out he needed all sorts of medical records for that so we had a 3 year old check at the pediatrician and he has noted all his delays. Hopefully he'll get his assessment soon. We're about 2 months out on the waiting list for an appointment for evaluation & diagnosis, but they've put us on the cancellation list so hoping to get in sooner.

Well done on the move Christy! Sounds like you did an awesome job. I hope M continues to settle in well!