Autism diagnosis removed | Autism PDD

I have some ideas and feelings that I would like to share and bring some encouragement to some of you. My son was diagnosed w/ autism at around 2 years of age. He had some of the tendencies that you would expect such as the toe-walking, no speech, slight tantrums, etc. I'm in the medical field and suspected that he had it, but when I came to the realization that he did have it, I broke down, along w/ my wife, and cried for some time. I knew it was going to be tough, but my wife kept telling me that she had a gut feeling that he isn't autistic. I kept thinking that she was in denial.

After he was diagnosed, my wife and I rigorously did everything in our power to have him progress, including speech therapt, O.T., and other activities as well. As he got older, he started to talk and was expressing himself more, but still had some of the tendencies. The school board tried to have us place him in there autistic classes, but my wife refused, insisting that he is not autistic and we ended up placing him in a private school. However, we did take there speech and O.T. recommendation and continued with it. He would attend speech 3 days a week and O.T. twice a week.

My son now just turned 5 years old. I cannot believe it's been only 3 years since he was diagnosed and how far he has come. He expresses himself very well, although he has some problems still, but the rest of his tendencies have diminished tremendously, and some have disappeared all together. His speech therapist felt that he no longer needs to attend, but we feel he's still not up to par yet, especially because we speak 2 languages at home. He finished pre-k at his school and was probably the most popular kid in his class and had many close friends.

Two months ago, my wife and I decided to have him retested again. I, again being somewhat negative, thought they would be pretty hard on him and would say the same things as before. After the testing and home evaluation, we were told that he no longer falls in the autism spectrum because he scored so high. The only problem they felt that he had was his speech and attention span, which I can deal with and will work with. I can't tell you how happy I was when I heard that.

My point to all this is to just to listen to your heart and go with it. It takes a lot of energy but is well worth it to help your child. I know it's hard to swallow when you first find out, but persistence is the key, in my opinion. Don't ever give up on your child or yourself.

I read an article like this in a parenting magazine as well. It made me really sad because I hoped and prayed for my son's dx to be a mistake for so long and it wasn't. But I am thankful for you sharing this and for the magazine because there is some lucky family who will have this happen also. It's kind of like watching someone be crowned Prom Queen

reading about such things, but I think it is VERY important that kids not be unnecessarily labeled.

I am so glad to hear that your son has done so well. This is the possible result of getting intense intervention early. HOwever, it's not an inevitable result. It's great that your son's response was so positive. Although most kids make enormous gains from interventions like ABA, VB, RDI and sensory integration therapy given in the preschool years, not all kids "recover." In fact, most don't. I am happy for your son's result. But I am saddened that so many parents end up feeling guilty because their own kids didn't "recover." It's the modern version of "Refrigerator Mother." This time it's the "Dummy, you-didn't-provide-enough-intervention- Mother" I KNOW you are not saying this. I know your post is to give parents hope. I'm sure, for many, it will. However, I want to say to all the parents whose kids DIDN'T "recover," you are the majority. Even so, getting your child lots of help will improve him or her. It will. It takes time. ALso, to those parents whose kids arrive at the kindergarten door passing as NT, keep a watchful eye, especially when the kids get past 3rd grade. Sometimes things deteriorate when demands get much greater. However, those early "diagnoses" can also have been inaccurate ones. Parents keep wanting an answer early, but the truth is that it's very difficult in most cases to get a correct and accurate autism diagnosis before the child reaches school age. SO many factors go into development prior to that that it's difficult to say for sure if delays are caused by autism or by any one of many other factors, including ADHD, learning disabilities or low IQ. Until there's an actual medical test for autism instead of simply a clinical way to dx, the accuracy of early dx will always be in question.

In any event, congratulations on your and your son's success!

With early intervention- the possibilities are endless!Congrats, I too feal that one day my son will be off the ASD spectrum. We are working soooo hard ith him and he has come so far.

Not to play devils advocate - but it is true that SOME of us who did EVERYTHING HUMANLY possible - and mor so - will NEVER have a child who recovers....and we SHOULD NOT BLAME OURSELVES!

The Bible (am I allowed to say that ?!?) says 'rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn' - so WE REJOICE WITH YOU AGCG!

We r in the same boat!!! Doctors (develop. ped. & ped. neurologists) ruled it out for my son, but the school district said he is and are offering us a ton of serices. He just turned 3 in May and my main concern for him is the Speech.He says around 30 words. He has no other sensory issues, is extremely social, etc... There are no other "symptoms" of autism and my gut tells me he is not. But if the lablel will get him the services he needs, then so be it. I do believe in early intervention. Along with the services provided by the district like 2 hours of speech, 2 hours of OT and 5 hours of ABA per week, I currently have him in private speech 2 hours a week, andn a social playgroup once a week. And I actually considering private ABA just in case the damn doctors are wrong...

Blessings,