Ben and Tony Bear. Book 1. Ben meets Tony.

Book 5. Ben gets his diagnosis.

     Now Tony Bear knew that Ben was not like other children. Ben could not talk and he did not eat a lot. When Tony was out with ben he heard other children calling out to each other and talking and laughing. Ben did not say a word and he only laughed when he found something funny on his computer or when he was tickled.

     Mummy took Ben to see the Doctors several times. She spoke to the health visitor and any one who would listen.  A lot of the time it felt as if no one was listening but they were.  Finally Mummy managed to get the health visitor to come and see Ben eat.  The health visitor came and watched Ben eat and saw him at home.  The health visitor saw that Ben was refusing to eat.  She saw that he did not even notice that any one was in the room with him and he did not turn when called.  The Health Visitor went back and told the Doctors.  They called Mummy and in the end they sent Ben for some tests.  Tony Bear was a little worried.  He did not want anything to be wrong with his friend but he knew in his little fluffy heart  that something was wrong.

     Mummy and Ben went to see a special Doctor, a Pediatrician. A children doctor to you and me but one that dealt with certain problems. He examined Ben and watched him. He called to him and tried to get him to play with him. Ben did not respond a lot, he would not even look at the Doctor.  And all he was interested in doing was chewing on his cars that he had bought with him. 

     " I am going to send Ben for some special tests. They will all be in one day and in one place."  Said the Doctor.

    " How long will they take?" Asked Mummy.

     "Not long, about an hour to two hours." Said the Doctor.  Mummy looked at Ben.

     "Alright. " Said Mummy.  The Doctor arranged for the tests. Mummy did not know what was going to happen. She was worried in case Ben got upset, or had to have blood taken.

     " Don't worry." Said the Doctor.  "There is no blood taking and no harm will come to Ben."

     Several weeks past and Mummy heard nothing.  Then one morning a brown envelope arrived.  Ben's appointment was at the end of the week.   With the letter were some rules that Mummy had to stick to.  Mummy was not allowed to talk in the room unless spoken to.  And also Mummy was not to play or go near Ben in the room. Well Mummy could do that.

     The day of the appointment arrived. A lady came and called Mummy and Ben out of the waiting room.  The lady led them into a room with some toys on the floor, another lady sat in a chair near them with a big note pad on her lap.  Mummy was pointed to a chair in the corner.   The Ladies introduced themselves, they were both Doctors.  Mummy was reminded of the rules and at no time was she to speak unless spoken to.  Mummy understood.

     One of the Doctors sat on the floor with a tea set in front of her and tried for ten minutes to get Ben to play pretend tea parties.  Ben did not respond.  He stood in the corner with Tony looking at the letters on a sign on the wall.  The Doctor asked to see Tony and Ben let him slip from his hand but he did not look at the Doctor or make a noise.

      " What is the Bears name Mummy?

      "His name is Tony."

     " Ben would you like to come and have tea with Tony and me?"  Asked the Doctor.  Ben did not say a word, he walked over and took Tony from the Doctor and went and picked up a book.  Tony was happy that Ben had taken him from the Doctor. He was not interested in having tea either.

     Ben opened the book.  Ben took the book to the Doctor.  The Doctor started to read the story from the beginning.  Ben took the book from the Doctor then handed it back to her. He pointed to the publisher's logo.  The Doctor told him what it said.  Ben did this several times.  Then the other lady Doctor took some little cars out and started running them up and down making car noises.  Ben got upset.  He did not like noises being made for things.  He cried and held Tony bear over his ears.

     The lady stopped and got up off the floor.  Ben stopped crying, he went over to the cars  and lined them up. One next to the other and then he looked at them.  The Doctor took one away.  Ben reached out and took it back and placed it in the same place it had been in.  Then he picked it up again and put it in his mouth.

      "Does he do that often, line things up?" Asked the Doctor of Mummy.

     "Yes. " Said Mummy, " it's mainly cars but he does dvd's and cd's too and books."  The Doctor wrote it down in her big notepad.  Ben noticed the Doctor's watch hanging from her top.  Ben lifted it and looked at it. It was very shiny.  The Doctor unpinned it from her top and put it to Ben's ear.  At first he pushed it away.

     " Listen." Said the Doctor putting the watch near her own ear. Then she tried again. Ben let her put the watch near his ear.  He listened. The watch was ticking. Ben smiled and listened again and again.  Then he walked away.  He came back a few seconds later and grabbed the Doctors hand. Ben pulled her hand towards the wall.  The Doctor did not move.

     "What do you want Ben?" The Doctor asked, Ben pulled her again but did not speak a word. "What does he want Mummy?"

     "He wants you to follow him." The Doctor stood up again and followed Ben.  Ben took her to the notice board.  There were lots of letters and posters with logos on.  Ben pulled the Doctors arms down to him. 

     " What does he want now? "Asked the Doctor.

     " He wants you to pick him up." Said Mummy.  The Doctor bent down and picked up Ben and Tony Bear.  Ben pointed at the logo in the corner of the letter. The Doctor read it to him. Ben pointed to every one along the board, they were all the same.

     "Does he do that a lot too?" Asked the other lady.

     " Yes. " Said Mummy, " when ever he sees logos he wants to know what they say.  The Doctors asked several other questions to. They asked what ben was like near roads.  They asked if he knew what a stranger was. Hot and cold, was he aware of this.  What were his likes and dislikes.  Did he ever talk or make noises.  Mummy answered every question they asked.  Tony listened quietly.

     " Well that is the tests over." Said the Doctors after two hours.  " We will send our findings to the pediatrician and he will call you for an appointment."  The Doctors would say nothing more.  They had to look over their notes and Mummy could only wait.

     Mummy took Ben and Tony home.  Life went on for several weeks. Then another letter arrived.  It was an appointment for the pediatrician.  Mummy was going to find out what was wrong with Ben.

     Mummy and Ben went to see the pediatrician.  Mummy sat down while Ben dropped Tony on the floor and played at lining up the cars.The Doctor took a deep breath.  Mummy braced herself.

     " Ben has autism, he is high functioning which means he is very smart but he has a lot of sensory problems like touching, tasting and hearing among other things. Ben is not like other children, he probably never will be."  Mummy's heart dropped.  Mummy shook the Doctor's hand and said goodbye.

     Mummy cried for several days.  The little boy that she had dreamed of,  she was never going to have.  Her little boy was only partly there.  Tony met with the other toys.  He to was very sad for the little boy he had hoped to play with and have great adventures with was not to be.

    It's alright." Said Mompy putting his arm around Tony. " You and Ben will have other types of adventures.  You still love him and he still takes you everywhere, so he must love you very much. "  Tony wiped the tears from his eyes.  Mompy was right, the diagnosis did not change anything between them, it was just a name for what was wrong with Ben.  Tony was glad that he knew, and so  was Mummy.  At least now they could work towards making Ben's life better.  And Ben's life did get better.