Carie Tenzel’s son, Chaz Tenzel-Walser, is 15 years old. When he was diagnosed with autism, the doctor told her that he would never graduate from high school and would “most likely need special care for the rest of his life,” the April 5th TimesDaily.com (Alabama) reports. Now Chaz is doing this:
He’s attended mainstream classes since kindergarten, plays trumpet in the Dale County High School Marching Band and is on track toward an advanced high school honors diploma.
One thing that stood out in the TimesDaily.com’s article about Chaz and his mother is that he was delayed in reaching some of his gross motor milestones as a baby. He did not crawl until he was 10 months old, and then crawled backward.
My son Charlie was also late to reach his gross motor milestones as a baby. He rolled over once at the age of four months and then never again until he was nine months old; I realize, in retrospect, that his big head and long, lanky limbs must have made a lot to coordinate. He sat up on his own when he was in his seventh month. He did not crawl but, at eleven months, started scooting around on his derrière with his left leg extended and his right leg tucked in close to his body (as it had been when Charlie was just born). Charlie walked at sixteen months and stood on his own around the same time (and still preferred to cling to the wall or furniture or our hands).
Charlie did learn to ride a bike without training wheels when he was six (thanks in no small part to Jim’s efforts) but must have been around seven when he started to put out his hands to catch himself as he fell. Hopping and skipping came at the age of eight: Again, Charlie is top-heavy with a big head and his legs and arms just keep growing, and his sense of balance has developed slowly. Charlie was nine when he was able to catch a ball.
Some parents have told me that their children also had such delays, while others have said that their child did not. Indeed, some parents whose children met all their gross and fine motor milestones then had other delays in social and communicative skills.
Even though it has often taken longer for Charlie to acquire many gross motor skills, once he gets them, he gets them. And he’s quite the walker now.