Week One

Robert and Stacie Henderson are both Dr.’s that reside in Philadelphia, PA.  They work for the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and specialize in cancer treatment.  They have together a two-year-old daughter named Sarah, who is very rambunctious and playful.  Since Robert and Stacie both work a lot of hours due to having very demanding careers, they have hired a full time nanny named Kathy Gibson to care for Sarah while they are at work. 

Stacie has just recently found out that she is expecting and she and Robert are very excited to add a new addition to the family.   Stacie being a Dr. herself knows the importance of taking care of herself while she is pregnant.  She takes her prenatal vitamins, eats well, and does all the things her OBGYN recommends her to do over the course of her pregnancy.  All goes well for her and Robert all the way to the birth when she delivered Kyle Henderson into this world.  He was a very healthy baby and had average APGAR Scores that were taken right after birth.  

Once home from the hospital Stacie could not help but notice how much more fussy Kyle was than her first born, Sarah.  He seemed constantly uncomfortable and the only thing that seemed to help would be to swaddle him tightly in his blanket.  When Stacie and Robert go to Kyle’s first weekly check up she mentions to the Dr. about how fussy Kyle is.  The Dr. told them not to worry and that some babies are just more fussy than others.  At two months Kyle is gazing at his mother while she talks to him and interacts with him.  He will sometimes pay attention to her, but Stacie is realizing that it is hard to get him to pay attention to her while she is speaking to him.  Kyle later is able to move his head around to look at his surroundings.  He also begins to grasp on to things he particularly loves a blue rattle that Kathy had bought for him.  By the end of the year of him being brought home from the hospital he begins to crawl and then walk.  If Robert were sitting on the couch Kyle would crawl over grip the side of the couch and pull himself up to stand.  He is starting to acknowledge his parents more with smiles and will sometimes try to interact with them when they play with him.   It is especially hard for Stacie that her child seems to be so distant because she is a 4^th generation Ghanaian and based upon that she is very personable and really wants to interact with her child ("Ghanaian culture-quick facts, travel,”).  

At Kyle’s year check up Stacie tells the Dr. how Kyle seems uninterested when she, Robert, or Kathy try to play or interact with him.  She also informs the Dr. that Kyle has yet to speak any words, not even mama or Dada.  The Dr pulls out a check list and begins to ask Stacie a series of questions on what her child is doing.  A lot of the questions dealing with attention and whether or not he is pointing or trying to interact with his parents.  When Stacie said that her son was having difficulties in these areas the Dr. said that her son might be Autistic or delayed.   Stacie felt crushed when the Dr. said this and she immediately called Robert after the Appointment.  He to was very worried about their son.  The Dr. recommended for Kyle to see a psychologist to further assess him.  This is what they did and they did not get a lot of answers from the psychologist “Kyle is demonstrating signs of autism, but its so early that this could just be a delay” the psychologist told them.   They went on to get Kyle many different types of therapies such as Speech and occupational.  On Kyle’s second birthday his parents invited some kids from the neighborhood they lived in.  Kyle seemed happy for the party and liked all the gifts that he had received.  He however was uninterested with the children there and when they tried to talk to him he did not respond.  Even though Kyle is receiving speech therapy his vocabulary is very limited.  Sarah is playing with all the other children, Stacie notices it and wonders if Kyle will ever do that.  A year later Robert and Stacie decide to enroll Kyle in a special education pre-school.  When they go to drop him off he screams and kicks and yells NO NO NO when they try to leave the school.  Kyle does this for the first two months of his parents dropping him off to preschool.   Kyle insists on only having his pizza lunchables for his lunch at preschool as well.  If Stacie or Kathy packs anything different it results in a meltdown at lunchtime.   Stacie has to cut back her hours at work so she can sit in or watch Kyle’s therapies so she can learn from them to better help Kyle.  Kyle is about to start kindergarten and she is debating whether it is financially a good idea to keep Kathy as a Nanny if she is going to be home more now anyway, and both the children will be in school.  Robert and Stacie have also been looking into special schools for children with disabilities and are thinking about enrolling Kyle in one once he begins kindergarten soon.  This may mean they will have to move. 

Work cited

Ghanaian culture-quick facts, travel hints, & tips. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.globeaware.org/ghanaian-culturen

Decision Point:  Do Stacie and Robert put Kyle in a special school for children with Autism or do they put him in the public school system near their home? 

Questions

1)                    Do you think that Kyle as an infant exhibited Typical or Atypical behavior? Why?

2)                    The stress of having a child with Autism is immense, what types of services are offered to help them cope with this stress?

3)                    What are some of the main issues Kyle seems to be having socially?

4)                    What effects do you think Kyle’s Autism will have on his sister Sarah?