questions for parents of autistic children

[twojo21]

my brother was diagnosed when he was 2 1/2. my parents noticed differences in him when he was 2 & brought him to the doctor. he was then diagnosed with autism. the service isnt great here, my parents are still waiting back on assistance now that hes 18, but us personally as a family have done everything we can to help him develop further.

 

[wide awake]

My son was diagnosed at 3 yr, 5 months...he is now 15 yrs old. DS was very sharp...I can remember taking him to a doctor appt at approx 15 months and the doctor remarking on how precocious he was...and it wasn't echolalia. Charles hit all his milestones early, particularly the social ones...then at around 18 months he stopped talking one day. We still had occasional good days, and he'd been far ahead so even though he wasn't progressing he was still at the right spot at his 2 yr check-up. I sensed something was wrong, and the summer he was 3 I took him in...DH is AF and we were being transferred to Iceland...the doctors said DS was fine, not to worry. Five months later we had a diagnostic team from England check DS out, got two diagnoses that day...PDD-NOS and ASD...same thing, different terms from different professionals. The AF sent us back to California, I became involved w/ a strong parent's group and Charles had an ABA program w/ oversight from the Lovaas team within 6 months of diagnoses. After a short time the regional center began paying for the program, and our school district has always paid for whatever I asked for. Right now we're doing biomed stuff...out of pocket...this seems to give the best results ever. Yesterday's Thanksgiving was the best he has had since he was three yrs old...he always sat at the table, had beautiful manners...but yesterday he was into it !!! Had nothing but 2 yogurts for breakfast, than didn't eat till dinner at 4:30...happy and waiting in the living room when our guests arrived...willing to try new foods. Then this morning he wanted to listen to Christmas carols in the family room...the season has kicked in.

 

[Nik's Mom]

It was a long, bumpy road to get a diagnosis for our 6 year old ds. We were suspicious beginning at 2 years old. He seemed to lose a lot of his vocabulary, didn't show interest in toys, didn't socialize with people, etc. We kept taking him to his pediatrician, and they'd make excuses (he's just a little slow at speech, he is behind because my dh is bilingual , etc). We even went to a speech therapist who said nothing is wrong. When ds was 4, I took him to get evaluated by our local school district. They could not confirm autism, but said he definitely was developmentally delayed and had a significant speech delay. He started a special day class with speech therapy at 4 years old. Then we finally found a great pediatric neurologist who confirmed that ds was hf autistic at age 6. So now ds is also getting ocupational therapy. He's improving now that we are getting him the services that he needs. Hugs to all of you who are going through this. It's so hard at times. I'm so glad I have such a suportive group here on the DIS!

 

[Mishetta]

And I felt so alone in the world! My DS age 4 was dx'd as developmentally delayed & cognitively impaired & also suffered from delayed auditory processing disorder at 2 y/o. At his 12 mo check up I told his Pediatrician that he wasn't saying any words...not even "Mama" or "NO." Ped said "oh, that's because he's got an older brother & you already know what he wants before he has time to ask for it & your family is bilingual....blah, blah, blah. Well at his 18 month check up, same story but when we went for the 2 y/o check up the doctor was quick to hand me a referral to our local school district for testing.

He's been in the school programs offering SLP. OT & PT but we're still struggling. Now he gets really destructive in school & he's been suspended twice. So through a wonderful angel that stopped at my garage sale a couple months ago, I found out about this other program thru the county I live in & as of today I received word that my DS will get SLP & OT at home FOR FREE! He will also have psychiatric services all paid for by my own tax dollars!

As of recent, my DS was dx'd with Asperger's & ADHD. He's in his 2nd year of the Early Childhood Developmental Delay program (ECDD) & he may still qualifiy for an additional year in that & then possibly Begindergarten & then Kindergarten....but only time will tell!

My oldest is 10 & he is ADHD & now is suffering from retrieval problems. He can't remember information. At school, when the teacher asks a question, he'll raise his hand to give the answer but when she calls on him, he forgets it & can't answer but at home he knows the work inside out! He's also showing expressive speech problems. Oh...I'm just so tired! Unless you're living through it yourself, you can't imagine what our lives are like!

God Bless us all!