Saturday, April 4, 2009

Diagnosis of Autism; Now What To Do?

If you get a diagnosis of Autism, it is not the end of the world. I meet many parents who deny the diagnosis and loose precious time in getting their child the early intervention services need. Okay, there maybe those who think the diagnosis is wrong and that's perfectly okay to think, however it is not going to hurt your child to begin the recommended therapies.

First, I recommend you allow yourself to through all the emotions that come along with the diagnosis, a "grieving" process. While on this emotionally roller coaster research, research, research, earn your PhD in Google. Educate yourself on Autism, Autism treatments/therapies, The "DIET", Biomedical interventions, disability laws, and special education law. You must become your child's advocate. Only you will know what is best for your child!

Here are a few websites to get you started:
Autism Community Connections-Newly Diagnosed  this has a wealth of info and links
The Autism Society of America
Autism Research Institute
National Autism Association
Talk About Curing Autism
Autism Speaks
Dana's View
Autism One

When my first born was diagnosed my husband and I knew that there was something seriously wrong with him. He was 22 months old, he met all his developmental milestones on target, he was developing language he had about 10 single words before his first birthday, in hind site he did have some odd behaviors, and he did not have the best eye contact. Then somewhere between turning 1 and 18 months all of his language disappeared. His eye contact faded away, he became obsessed with opening and closing cabinet doors, spinning himself in circles w/o getting dizzy, bang his head against the wall or floor. He did not point nor gesture, just grunts and cries. He was a totally different child. He did not respond to his name. It wore me out, because I also had a newborn baby in the house while dealing with all these changes with my first. My sister-in-law who happens to be a speech therapist, encouraged told us to get him an early bird developmental screen as soon as possible. We did it, we never imagined in a million years how much our lives would change over the next year.

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