Emily Simpson has been open about her son Luke’s medical issues on The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 19, but now she’s describing more about just how “very complicated” his diagnosis is for their family to navigate, as they add another medical issue to the list.
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“He has anxiety and ADHD and OCD…and he has dyslexia, and he needs all these things,” she confessed, ticking all the conditions off on her fingers in Episode 13.
Emily, who is mother to 12-year-old Annabelle, as well as 10-year-old twins Luke and Keller, previously shared in the Season 19 premiere that Luke was undergoing testing for autism spectrum disorder. But as Emily and her husband Shane Simpson spoke in the Oct. 2 episode, they admitted while still don’t have a clear answer on that, they did learn something new about Luke.
“She said basically like, ‘Maybe he is, but that’s not the issue. The learning disability is what’s so detrimental right now,’” Emily said.
Emily confessed to Shane that it “hurt [her] heart” to find out that Luke has had “so much trouble in school because he had a learning disability [they] didn’t know about.”
She explained how her son’s struggles were making her “question” her parenting.
“Like, are these things I should have noticed before? Were there all these red flags? Did I bring him [to the doctor] too late? He’s highly intelligent in certain areas, but he’s in the fourth grade and I didn’t know he couldn’t read? I mean, how sad is that?” Emily admitted.
Emily Simpson shares update on son Luke’s ARFID diagnosis
As pizza arrived at the Simpson home in the Oct. 2 episode, it became clear that Luke would be unwilling to eat it.
“You know, nothing’s really changed in Luke’s diet. He doesn’t like to try new foods. We try to encourage him to. He won’t,” Emily confessed.
Shane offered to prepare Luke’s “usual” dinner for him, which Emily revealed is still white rice. “But it has to be from Trader Joe’s. It can’t be white rice from anywhere else,” Emily added in her confessional.
RELATED: Emily Simpson Opens Up To A Producer About Her Son Luke’s Health: “Constantly Have That Guilt”
Emily first shared Luke was diagnosed with ARFID, which stands for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, in the Season 19 premiere.
“The nutritionist was explaining to me that he doesn’t understand that he feels hungry. Food, in general, disgusts him,” she told Shane then, who added, “We offer it to him, but we don’t force him.”
But Emily and Shane haven’t given up on getting Luke to join the family for pizza night. On Sept. 24 Emily shared an update on her Instagram stories, telling viewers, “This is what ARFID looks like.” She posted two pictures of Luke with slices of pizza, and wrote, “He will only eat the very plain part of pizza crust so he spends a lot of time picking small pieces of crust off the pizza and only eating pieces with zero sauce or cheese on them.”
Emily Simpson reveals Shane changed his parenting style with Luke
While Emily felt it was “nice to walk away and have a roadmap of where to start and what to do” after Luke met with a doctor, she also pointed out in the Oct. 2 episode that she felt a big change Shane made was also helping.
“You being so much more engaged with him and being more affectionate—just more warm with him—has made a big difference,” she told her husband.
Earlier in Season 19, Emily and Shane have clashed on how to parent Luke.
“Shane’s perspective was if his behavior is like this, why would I reward him?” Emily explained in her confessional. “But, after therapy, Shane really completely changed his parenting style. And that’s really allieviated a lot of stress in our life.”
Shane added his change was “not physical, as much as it was validating and praising [Luke] and making him feel good.”
RELATED: Emily Simpson Opens UP About Working With Shane On Their Legal Podcast (EXCLUSIVE)
Back in Episode 2, the parents fought over what to do about Luke.
“I think my approach is a little bit more, try to make it like it’s normal for Luke, and it’s nothing that stands out or makes him lesser than or feel inferior,” Shane explained in a confessional. “But Emily just wants to flip a switch and fix it. And I know it doesn’t work that way.”
Separately, Emily told a producer, “Shane is a good man and he’s a good dad. But I have a son that’s in crisis, and it’s like we’re not even on the same page. And I just … feel alone in that.”
Don’t miss Emily’s back-to-school update on how her son Luke is doing today.
