New to Autism?

In response to "My son is being evaluated for an Autism Spectrum Disorder, now what?"

First, don't panic. The Elder's OT suggested Aspergers in January and I didn't start hard core researching until July after his official diagnosis. And even though I had strong suspicions the whole time, I didn't want to put the cart before the horse and get worked up about the "worst case scenario" until I was sure what we were dealing with. You never know what you might be missing out on in the rest of your life because of panic (which may or may not have been warranted). Our unit earned our family a new car in that 6 months of not over-worrying.

Once you have a diagnosis, Joey's Mom posted a great checklist of where to start...wish I had had this!

I want to reiterate her "Relax" statement...Your child is the same child. He's still the goofy guy that makes you laugh. He's still hurts, he still feels, he still likes trains (or whatever your case may be), he still needs and wants you. The bonus is that he is SPECIAL and gets privileges that other kids don't (which is sad for the other kids).

Don't feel like you have to rush. Since there is no cure, you have plenty of time to learn about everything. Yes I do believe in all that early intervention stuff, but any intervention at any point in time is better than no intervention at all. I learned my lesson on this: Rushing and panicking actually just make everything worse for everyone (I think I thought I had to "make up" time from not panicking the prior 6 months!). Instead, enjoy your child and enjoy your journey of learning together. Quality of Life - your child will not care that you started Speech a month or 2 later than you thought you should have.

Autism is not bad and it isn't evil. It is a fact. It's like saying your hair is brown. Or that you are White, Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage, etc. Your normal may need to be redefined, but you can't escape the color of your skin and you can't escape autism. We as the parents become more compassionate, more patient, and bolder. What's so bad about that?