Autism – What to Do First
Someone has mentioned that your child might have Autism. What do you do now?
Well, if the comment came from someone that you trust, do not ignore it. If I could do it all over again, here’s exactly how I would proceed:
Lookup the Warning Signs
Don’t just take anyone’s word for it. Look up the common signs of Autism, and see if any of them make you feel uncomfortable. If you start thinking that several of the signs make you think of your child, then proceed to the next step. Please realize that “Autism” represents a wide spectrum of disorders (hence the term “Autism Spectrum”), so your child could show some of the signs, but not others.
- WebMD.com – Autism Symptoms
- WrongDiagnosis.com – 48 Symptoms of Autism
- AutismSpeaks.org – Learn the Signs
Just as an example, Colton’s pediatrician adamantly denied that he was Autistic, because he “hugs and kisses” his parents. He did hug and kiss his parents, but he also showed signs of many of the other symptoms: repetitive actions, social interaction with others, sensitivity to textures and noises, etc etc.
Visit your Child’s Pediatrician
Now that you’ve done a little research, take your child to his/her pediatrician and explain your concerns. Take a list of the symptoms with you, and explain the signs and symptoms that you are worried about. It’s either going to go one of two ways:
- The pediatrician will agree that more evaluations need to be done.
- The pediatrician will think you’re making a big deal out of nothing.
Either way, ask for a referral to a developmental pediatrician, and I wouldn’t take no for an answer. Seriously. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to have further evaluations done.
Visit a Developmental Pediatrician
Before you go to visit the Developmental Pediatrician, sit down and take as many notes on your child’s medical history as you can remember. Were there any complications during pregnancy? Has he ever been hospitalized? I’d just write down everything. The doctor is going to ask you for all of those details, and they aren’t easy to come up with when you’re on the spot.
Chances are, you will walk away from this appointment with a diagnoses. If your child is diagnosed with any form of Autism, I would request referrals for the following:
- Medical Tests (Blood and Urine Tests, Genetic Testing)
- Speech Therapy Evaluation
- Occupational Therapy Evaluation
- Physical Therapy Evaluation
- Nutrition/Diet Evaluation
If you walk away with contact information for the above, you are ahead of the game.
Evaluations / Medical Tests
Now is the hard part, waiting. Chances are that you won’t be able to get many of these appointments and evaluations scheduled for anytime soon. We had to wait 6+ months for some of the evaluations. But when your child finally is evaluated, and you’ve seen these specialists, chances are that you’re going to have a good idea of what kind of help your kid needs.
As I’ve said many times, I’m not an expert on any of this. I’m just a parent trying to help out, and hoping to guide those of you who are as lost as we were. We eventually got all of the tests and evaluations done, but we had to ASK for most of these things… no one told us. For some reason you’re going to find out that people don’t just hand you a plan, you have to do the research and work to try and figure out what kind of tests and evaluations you should have done. It doesn’t make much sense does it? In the end, it’s up to you to fight for your child.
Parents, if you’ve been through this, and have any insight or tidbits of knowledge to share, please do! Either contact me via email or comment here. Also, I have yet to find a great resource on the web that lays out this kind of information. If you know of one, please let me know.
When in Doubt, Get Evaluated
Sometimes parents just know when something is wrong with their child. Our “inner sense” kicks in, and we’re able to realize that something isn’t right when no one else is.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to apply to many of us who have children that are affected by the Autism Spectrum. My theory is that because our children were born this way (debatable, I know), their quirks are normal to our every day life. These are all things that I had said before the label of Autism came into our lives:
- “Sure my son is a little different, aren’t we all?”
- “Boys sometimes talk later than girls, that’s normal.”
- “He’s just shy, that’s why he sits in the corner at daycare.”
- “He loves his cars, he can just sit there and roll them back and forth all day.. he seems really interested in the spinning of the tires.”
- “It’s kind of weird that he’s so sensitive to the grass, I guess he just doesn’t want to get dirty.”
It wasn’t until someone put all of the signs together, and then explained to me that all of his “quirks” combined were enough for a strong diagnoses, that I finally realized that something was wrong. It rocked my world. My wife and I were in so much shock, that we literally cried for days. Having someone tell you that your child has a learning disability, and that he would struggle through his entire life, is not something any parent ever wants to hear.
After my son was diagnosed, a family member told me that they had a feeling that something was wrong with our son. She was too afraid to confront me about it, because she knew that she could have been wrong and was sure that we would likely become very defensive. I honestly don’t know how I would’ve reacted, but I’m sure that I would’ve been upset at the idea. I wish that she would’ve told me right away though. Her suggestion might have been enough for me to take our son to a specialist. Instead, we learned by mistake many months later.
Possible Link Between Autism and Pesticides
EDIT: After doing some additional research on this subject, it seems that the correlation between the pesticides and autism is pretty weak. If you’d like to read a great post by a skeptic, AutismDiva, click here. She gets into the fine details of the study, and even has a link to the paper itself.
When people ask me what I think is causing the sudden increase of Autism in our country, and I tell them that if I had to take a guess, Autism is increasing because of some kind of environmental factors that we’re exposing ourselves to. The cases are just so random and unbiased, and the numbers continue rising so much, that it’s hard for me to think that it could be anything else.
I just read this short article from NBC San Diego, stating the following:
Researchers for the California Department of Public Health say two pesticides used on cotton and some other crops may be linked to autism.
Apparently the researchers studied a group of women who lived near fields that were sprayed with pesticides, and their results were pretty scary. Obviously it’s not conclusive by any means, but hopefully it will help motivate further research.
NBC San Diego: “Study Finds Possible Link Between Pesticides, Autism”
Diagnosed with Autism, Now What?
As far as I can tell, every parent who has just heard the diagnoses of their child goes through the following stages: