Thursday, July 7, 2011

Woods Family Update

The following is an email we sent out Tuesday evening.


Dear Family and Friends,

Most of you know that we’ve had concerns that Carter has autism. His pediatricians, both in Idaho and Oregon, expressed similar concerns and recommended that he be evaluated. Today we had Carter evaluated by several therapists and doctors at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and it was determined that Carter has autism. While we weren’t surprised to have this confirmed, it is still a difficult thing to hear.

The doctors were encouraged by some of the skills that Carter has and gave us a lot of hope for his future development. Among these are his fine motor skills like feeding himself with utensils and holding pencils and crayons. It was also encouraging to hear that he is not dealing with many of the things that go along with autism like stomach issues, anger and violence, sleep disorders and seizures.

There are many opportunities available for Carter and us to take advantage of to help him in his speech/ language and social development. We will begin making contacts and setting up appointments in the near future. We will also have some follow up with the professionals at Doernbecher in the next few weeks and months.

We are sending this e-mail so that we can get the news to everyone without having to explain it a million times. ; ) However, we are not resistant or offended if you want to talk about it or have questions. We are not trying to keep this a secret and we are not afraid or ashamed to talk about it. This will be a learning process for all of us. We trust the doctors and therapists and feel that we are in the right place to get Carter the best help possible.

Above everything, we covet your prayers for our family as we begin this new chapter in our lives.

With love,

Eric and Janell

Jackson, Carter and David

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