This blog is just about my life and mostly revolves around my son, Jamie. This blog is a combination of everything, whether it may be a new recipe I tried, a good freebie I found, something funny Jamie said, or feelings I'm having about life in general. There's little rhyme or reason. I'll never win any blogging awards, but I enjoy writing about our lives and I mostly do it for my son. It's so easy to forget moments over the years. I've got all these little tidbits of our life in print and I hope that someday Jamie can enjoy them.

I called this blog Mother of Life, Mother of Loss because of my issues with pregnancy loss and the joy of finally bringing this wonderful person into the world. Truly, I feel the pains of loss, but you won't see too much of that here. I am blessed and I am, above all else, a mother of life.

After all the years of infertility and loss, Matthew and I were blessed with a surprise pregnancy. We were pregnant with twins, but unfortunately, Baby A could not stay with us. Baby B grew into a healthy and happy baby girl that we named Bella Marie. We are so blessed to have two beautiful children.


Wednesday, July 9, 2008

The Asperger Syndrome Checklist

Here's the other part of my homework. It's the Asperger Checklist. I thought I would fill it out on here. I've decided that my husband and I should each fill ours out separately. The pink answers are mine. The blue answer's are my husbands.

1. Does the individual present with social difficulties? Yes / Sometimes
2. Does the individual have issues with nonverbal behavior? Sometimes / Sometimes
3. Does the individual have eye-to-eye gaze difficulties? Sometimes / False
4. Does the individual have difficulty recognizing or using facial expression? I don't know / I don't know
5. Does the individual have difficulty with body posture? I don't know / Yes
6. Does the individual seem awkward when using (or never uses) gestures? Yes / Yes
7. Does the individual have difficulty "reading" social cues (the non-spoken hints)? Yes / Yes
8. Does the individual have difficulty developing appropriate peer relationships? No / Yes
9. Does the individual tend to interact primarily with adults or younger children? No / Yes
10. Does the individual have a difficult time interacting with similarly aged peers? Sometimes / I don't know
11. Does the individual have difficulty with mutual interests? Sometimes / Yes
12. Does the individual appear to be excessively self-centered? Sometimes / Yes
13. Does the individual appear to be relatively unconcerned about another person's interests? Sometimes /Yes
14. Does the individual have difficulty in reciprocal socialization? Sometimes / Yes
15. Does the individual have difficulty modulating his behavior to fit the social situation? Yes / Yes
16. Does the individual have difficulty reacting to other people's social issues? Yes /Yes
17. Does the individual have a restricted and narrow range of interests? Sometimes / Yes
18. Does the individual have interests that appear to be all-consuming? Sometimes / Yes
19. Does the individual have interests that appear to be more intense than that of his peers? Yes / Yes
20. Does the individual have difficulty in developing interests outside his preferred interest area? Sometimes / Yes
21. Does the individual tend to impose routines on himself and/or others? Sometimes / Yes
22. Does the individual appear to be more interested in parts of objects than the object itself? Sometimes / Yes
23. Does the individual have motor mannerisms not typically seen in age appropriate peers? Yes / Yes
24. Does the individual use his body or hands in such a way that he receives undue attention? Sometimes / Yes
25. Does the individual appear to be somewhat clumsy? Yes / Yes
26. Does the individual use oral language with the same proficiency as age-appropriate peers? False / False
27. Does the individual have relatively good command of grammar? I do not know / False
28. Does the individual have relatively good vocabulary skills? Yes / False
29. Does the individual have a communication style that is perceived as odd or out of place? Sometimes / Yes
30. Does the individual have superficial speech that lacks complexity (esp. outside interest area)? Yes / Yes
31. Does the individual appear to have normal or gifted intelligence? Yes / Yes

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