You’ve received an Autism diagnosis, now what?
You have been seeing the signs, or someone has pointed them out to you.
Your child is delayed in meeting common milestones. He has little to no words, isn’t regularly responding to his name, maybe he avoids eye contact, doesn’t play with toys appropriately, doesn’t like certain textures or sounds, doesn’t follow directions, has some repetitive behaviors like opening or closing doors, spinning, flapping, noise making… Does any or all of this sound familiar?
You decide it's time to check to see if the delay can be attributed to him being a male (in the case it is a boy) or maybe the delay was because the home is bilingual, or was it ear infections?
The doctor tests your child and gives you a diagnosis: ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders).
You hold your own at the doctor’s office or maybe you don’t. I was in complete shock. I don’t remember how I managed to get to my car alone with my son. Despite seeing some of the signs, I remained hopeful that he was simply delayed. I was in denial.
Go ahead mama and papa, feel all the feels. Take a day or a week to fall apart if you need to. You will likely go through all the typical grieving phases; denial was the longest for me. But then you shake it off because you do not have a choice, and you start with one google search after another, one question after the other. You start to find resources, communities and slowly, very slowly you discover that IT GETS BETTER.
I am going to share a piece of advice that I wish I had lived by since day one, in the hope that you do not waste precious time like I did.
BELIEVE that your child CAN. Do not rob him of the opportunity to succeed because a diagnosis may have placed doubt in your mind. Read this again.
In this post, I will share the early interventions I believed helped me and my son. Please keep in mind that each child may need a different approach or services.
If you are in the US, I suggest finding your local regional center. We live in California and feel very supported. The regional center can provide so much support and guidance, as well as funding several services such as speech & occupational therapy, behavior therapy such as ABA or floortime, social classes, respite hours etc.
To us speech therapy was crucial, as well as behavior therapy. ABA did not work for us, we chose floortime which is a more flexible play base approach. Regardless of what type of therapy you choose, you must follow the plan and be consistent with the approach. Remember, you are the key, not the therapist, nor the teacher or doctor. If you aren't consistent, the progress will be much slower.
There are also excellent financial support programs such as IHSS that help alleviate the burden of all the extra expenses. You can also get reimbursement for social activities such as martial arts, swimming etc.
Lastly, listen to your gut. Your child is unique, and you know your child best. You got this.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or reach out under contact.
I am here for you,
Gisele Lima
