Words we didn't want to hear, but words we knew were true. By the age of 2, Grant had spoken very few words. Many of our friends and family tried to encourage us with stories of all the 'late-talkers' they had known, but secretly I felt there was something more going on with Grant. He had been a relatively healthy child, but his life was full of 'quirks'. When a friend commented on this toe-walking being related to developmental delays we finally had the idea that we had to figure out what was going on.
We were living in Eastern Europe at the time and so our resources were limited, but we pursued the medical diagnosis we needed. There initially were discussions with doctors and therapists about diseases like muscular dystrophy, autism or mental retardation. We were frightful of what the tests might conclude but also knew those definitions didn't quite fit our little guy. Finally, with no clear answers, we were told we needed to have Grant evaluated in the United States.
In August of 2011 we returned to the United States. For the first time in his 2 1/2 years of life, we finally had a glimpse of what was going on with our little Grant. At the time, we were so glad to have an answer we didn't even begin to process what that would mean for our son and our family. We are still in the process of coming to that understanding. We are in a time of transition. We are in a time of learning. We are in a time of figuring things out. It's not always easy being in those places, but through it all it is our Faith that is our anchor.
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