The Evaluation Process - He is Autistic

As a parent, being told something "maybe" wrong with your son, was one of the hardest things we faced. The hardest, was knowing something was wrong and not being able to get the right diagnosis to get the supports, until now. Christian was seen in November and according to all the tests, he was at risk for Autism. Up until that point, we had always treated him like an infant and his world was pretty undisturbed. As we started treatment, he began to show the gammit of behaviors. His will had always been what mattered and we tried to keep our little guy happy. Once we changed, we saw a lot of sensory behaviors begin to develop as his form of coping. We used every resources at our disposal on our limited income to get help. I found that their was a program at Vanderbilt University who was doing a study that would evaluate for free and give us a savings bond to boot! So off we went with high expectations that they would understand our son and give us the help we needed. We were told that he was not anywhere on the spectrum and he was just developmentally delayed (. As if this were something to celebrate!) After I left that evaluation, I remember that Mike and I did not speak for about 30 minutes, until he asked me "Okay, so what do you think?" I told him in my heart that I did not believe the diagnosis was accurate and we should figure out our next step. You see, most parents would have ran with that diagnosis thinking "Whew, not my child!" and stopped there. Yet, it did not seem right for him. Our course was then to go back to the initial psychologist and have him re-tested. With the help of his treatment team's recommendation and Support Coordinator and his DI, we were able to accomplish this evaluation. He was seen in his pre-school around other kids and was able to interview the classroom teachers and us. Christian is a social child and this can throw off the evaluation process. We have intensively trained him on all areas that were problems for him and where he looked normal on some things, it was because he has learned rote, scripted conversations. He can say "Hi, What are you doing". But beyond that, the conversation stops. When he was seen, Christian was playing alone while the kids were all singing ring-around the rosey. He did not tune in until his teacher started talking about colors with another child. Christian is very focused on letters (he knows all of his alphabet and can identify letters easily). He knows all the primary colors and is working on more. He can count to twenty. He knows most of his shapes. Yet, if you ask him his name he could not tell you. If he is thirsty, he may cry and sob, and not say drink. Even though he has the words. Using his words in a social context is where Christian struggles. He loves people and loves to say Hi and Bye. Beyond that initial greeting, he is lost if they do not lead the way and even then most often veers off. He does follow more with adults who can talk to him.. yet this is mostly comprised of singing with him or labeling. He has several sensory issue and this seems to keep him busy. OT really helps with that issue for us. So now, we have the autistic diagnoses and I feel relieved. Sad and relieved. Sad because it is there but hopeful because he has made so many gains so far on his journey. Thank You GOD for allowing us to support such a wonderful beautiful little boy.