9 years ago, I gave birth to my first born son, Camden James Bowlsby! At 4 months old, we started noticing some interesting things with Camden like his stiff body posture (that was actually low muscle tone.)
At 6 months old we had him evaluated by Early Childhood Education Services through our school district. They qualified him for Early Intervention Services. For the next 5 years we had many therapists in our home on a weekly basis. Here, is pictured with Camden his Education Specialist, his Occupational Therapist, his Physical Therapist and his Speech Therapist!
Camden was born with Plagicephaly; a flattening of the skull. He wore a shaping helmet to reshape the skull to a rounder shape. Camden was always with his white dog-dog blankie and would not lay on you without it. He did not enjoy skin to skin contact.
Daddy and Camden with dog-dog.
By 2 years old, Camden was starting to walk and talk and I brought his twin siblings into the world!
Camden continued his therapies and started his fascination with trains!
He fell in love with the librarian Peter's electronic train at the Polar Express Night! Camden is in the white PJs on the right with his nose by the trains!
He was Thomas the Train for Halloween!
We played Train track building games too!
We ate, talked, played and slept trains!
Many boys have a love for trains in their preschool years, but Camden seemed even more so. Then we got electronic trains!
He would just lie there and watch the trains. Mommy loved the trains too, because I had twins to take care of and Camden would be so entertained if I helped make him a track.
Then as the years went by, he would make his own complex tracks!
All the while, we noticed other quirks popping up here and there such as playing by his friends, not with them. Camden tended to shut down in noisy places or find another way to dampen the volume.
He preferred things "his" way and was very picky about foods, textures, sights, sounds, and weather extremes. I thought this was in part from his fair skin. Camden also wore SMO braces because of his low muscle tone. These foot braces is what finally got him up and walking around 16 months old.
Camden was VERY hard to travel with. You can see beloved dog-dog in there by his face! When Camden was about 5 years old, I started to realize on a vacation, that his needs were vastly more than the younger twin siblings. I found that odd. We got him evaluated for Autism through the Early Intervention program, but the result was inconclusive.
Camden entered first grade and started Cub Scouts! They had a face painting ceremony which, of course, we knew Camden would not want of his face. We compromised and painted his hand. He wanted the paint off NOW. You can see the uncomfort in his face!
We also started Reading to the Dogs at our local library when Camden was in first grade. He developed some facial and neck ticks this year which have since gone away. Well, he always has some sort of energy releasing behavior, but not ticks anymore.
Camden still suffers from the weather elements. He is ALWAYS too hot, too cold, too windy, too something!
Becoming school age and developing his fine motor skills lead him to add a new hobby of building Legos to his narrow lists of interests! This boys could build far advanced for his age!
He has always got along better with girls, I think it is because they have more patience giving Camden enough time to respond. Even in 3rd grade, he prefers the girls.
Camden builds Legos at home all the time from 1-3rd grade.
He needed very little help to build these complex structures. He just read the instructions and actually understood them!
He also made complete set of his own design like this miniature golf course.
I n 3rd grade, his Legos interest was curbed by the ever growing interest in Minecraft. Daddy finally bought him the full game version for the PC and we gave Camden our old laptop. The rest was history!
If you are looking for Camden, you will find him like this...
or like this...
and now in 3rd grade like this making his own complete worlds in Minecraft, making his own computer programming loops on Scratch, etc.
6 months ago Grandma Jill and I took Camden up to OHSU to see the professionals at the Childrens' Research and Developmental Center for Children. (Notice the Minecraft shirt?)
After a 6 hour day, seeing many Drs, therapists, taking tests, we were told that Camden does have Autism and would receive a official diagnosis that day. I was so proud of Camden handled the long, tiring day. When the Doctors explained to him that he had Autism and that it mean his brain works differently, he smiled and said, "Yes it works faster!" :)
I was not surprised at all, but a little sad at the finality of it all. Camden is a very loving, sensitive, intelligent boy who has already shown me not to lower my expectations for what he can achieve in life. He is starting to have more social misunderstandings at school with his class mates, but I have faith that we can figure these road bumps and others to come together!
