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More than Words, I will look into ordering that book, thanks for the suggestion, definitely need to start somewhere. I feel like we're not doing anything here at home even though she is doing some therapy. Thanks Jenni!
Mandy
Amber. she is in an early intervention program all ready, the therapy situation is just lack of resources at this point, so she is working with the infant teacher and I am hoping she can work with this teacher who also has a son who has autism, she seemed to do well with my daughter, so I'll see if I can get her in on board...just lots of phone calls.....
Mandy
Thanks for the birthday wishes and the welcome Holly. I really appreciate it. My hubby took me out to dinner. I was just going to going to order food and bring it home but I thought,"no, we're going to go out as a family." I am always bound and determined to go out with my daughter because I always take the attitude,"I can handle this." If she has an outburst, I'll be able to take care of it.....well she had an outburst, not a real bad and it was towards the end of our dinner and I just got irritated, not at my daughter, but at the other people in the restaurant, who also had their kids in the restaurant and acting like their kids never acted up and were looking at me like,"Geez get your kid under control." So, I got my daughter to calm down and sat her back down in her high chair and like I said it was at the end of the meal, so my hubby asked me,"Do you want dessert?" I just shook my head no and I was just heartbroken because it should be so simple to just sit down and have a meal out and not be so anxious and stressed out, but everytime I get so determined that I'm going to be able to get through it. Anyways, I better get going. Thanks again everyone!
Mandy
Thanks for the welcome Karrie!
Mandy
Michelle thanks for the great tips, I am still learning my way around this site.
Mandy
Kellie you were not sounding unsuppportive at all. I have been in many aspects one step ahead in other area of her treatment and have been to several meetings to set up therapy to find out where to go and have been making many phone calls, so I have no problem going outside the program to look for help just because our insurance doesn't cover it. As far as her therapy goes the office of education is where the resources are suppose to be at this time, she did have therapy this last week with a teacher who ia also a mother to to a son with autism. At this point I just want her in therapy. My child at 2 is unable to talk, she jabbers but is unable to talk, she communicates with us with signs that no one else would understand but we understand them since we are around her 24/7. she has complete meltdowns, at times they are because she is unable to communicate with us, at times they are for no reason at all, little or no eye contact with us. Goals for her are to be able to communicate with us, so that everyone understand, so when she goes into a new enviroment anyone can understand her not just us, she be able to interact with others better, better eye contact, they want to prepare her for preschool this next year and if that doesn't happen then age four may be better for her for preschool, so the therapy is for social and behavioral skills, but also speech the problem I am having is consistency right now. But I completely understand you when your talking about our role in all of this because I feel like I am always on the phone and calling to see about therapy services for her. Don't worry about offending me because this is all new to me so any advice is helpful.
Mandy
Welcome and Happy Birthday!
I am pretty new to this, but this board is great and full of support and information.
Wanted to extend my own warm welcome to the board! I found it a couple mths ago and I love it...can't live w/out it. I have a 4 yr old nt dd and a 26mth old ds who will be evaluated for asd in Sept. I'm sorry for your situation w/ the therapy issues. As said above, I would try to look for a birth to three early intervention program. I got speech therapy through them before I ever tried for an evaluation process w/ our Child Care Center that dx's children. Best of luck to you.
Amber
See if your EI has any books or resources at their facility that you could check out just to get started w/ ST. There is a great book that I have checked out from our CARD (Center for Autism and Related Disabilities) center called More Than Words by Fern Sussman. It specifically helps parents promote communication and social skills in children w/ Autism Spectrum Disorders. It breaks everything down into the most elementary form so that us parents can understand the different methods and tricks to promote communication and social skills. You can order it from Amazon for like -. Maybe you can get your EI center to order it for their library.
(HUGS)...Welcome to the group. I have a 3yr old dd who was daignosed w/ Autism. She got involved w/ EI when she was 2 and a half yrs.
Hi Mandy Welcome to the board! And Happy Birthday Today!
You can find alot of info on GF/CF diet in the Autism Diets forum - specifically the GFCF thread. I hope it helps you there is alot of info there. If you check the newbies thread at the top of the page For Newbies to our Forums its a great source of links and info to get you started and feel free to post questions.... The board is AWESOME and so supportive... someone is bound to be able to get you pointed in the right direction. We all know what its like to start out and feel completely overhelmed too. Hang in there! Karrie, Hi, My daughter is in an early intervention program known as Kern Regional and they are in charge of looking for resources for me, the problem I have is we live in an area that doesn't have a lot of resources and it was recommended she be in speech therapy and that was in November and so the program that was suppose to work with her was suppose to work in her daycare well the lady that was suppose to come in work with my daughter was really rude to my day care provider and made it pretty much impossible to work with her, so the plan was to find a speech therapist through our county's office of education well by the time they went to do that she went on maternity leave and had no back up, so they finally find one and she work with her for 2 weeks and then finds another job somewhere else so for 2 weeks she doesn't have therapy and so they bring in an infant teacher who has a back ground with autistic children and so she work with her for two weeks and then goes on vacation for 2 weeks, so we just haven't had consistent therapy,so this next week we're suppose to be in full swing with only 2 hours a week to start with but she's suppose to have 6 hours a week by November, so we'll see, it's just been frustrating. Mandy Renee, could you send me some info on this G/F C/F diet, I am really interested or tell me where to look. I am really interested so any info would truly help, if you could e-mail it to me I would truly appreciate it .zonata@myway.com. Mandy Thanks for the welcome Melanie, I am glad I found this site. Mandy Welcome to the site. I just found it about a week ago and I don't know how I got by without it! My so is 10 and HFA (high functioning austism) and it's been a long road. It's great that you're here among intelligent, knowledgeable and sensitive people. I'm sure you are reeling right now--this is a safe place to do it. We'll see eachother along the way. pat Hi New to this site Very happy to have stumbled onto it. I am from New York City. My son is 7 years old. Newyork, Hi and welcome!! I have a 3 year old son with autism. I hope you like it here. I have gotten much support from everyone here. Karrie Welcome to the board! It is great that your daughter was diagnosed so young. I have a 4 year old girl diagnosed with autistic disorder (I think that is classic autism). She flew through all her well baby checks and when I had questions about autism, I was put on an 12 month long waiting list at the local Children's Hospital. I suspected problems at 2 1/2 and waited until a diagnosis at over age 3 in order to start services. BIG MISTAKE. Second BIG mistake...although it is a big pain in the rear, try a gluten free/casein free diet as soon as possible if you are even thinking about it. Try it for 3 months and if it helps great! if not, no hassle..you tried. It is much easier to control your child's diet and environment when they are 2 than when they are almost 5. My daughter likes school lunch, there are school parties...you get the drift. Vitamin therapy might even be more effective in little ones. It is hard not to be shell shocked, but trust me...it doesn't go away. Your daughter will get better! My daughter is much better now then 2 years ago, but she still has many problems. I wish that I had started GF/CF diet sooner, I wish that I had started ABA sooner (And that I had sued the pants off the school district in Kansas). So read up, be brave and act NOW for your girl! Good luck, Renee I'm so amazed at all the parents who have diagnosed children so young. You guys are really on the ball and I'm very impressed. Mandy, this site has been great - I just found it this weekend!! Melanie Hi my name is Mandy and I am going to be 30 (on Tuesday) and I have a 2 yr old daughter who was just diagnosed with autism. At this time I am completely overwhemed with......well, with everything. I live in an area where therapy is not available as quickly as I would like it and I do have her working with a infant teacher who is working with her on her behavioral and social skills. I guess I have so much to learn but am not sure where to go to get that knowledge, so any advice at this point would be nice.....so either e-mail me at zonata@myway.com or I'll just look for anyone's post. Thanks, Mandy Hi Mandy and Welcome!! Is your daughter in the State funded birth to 3 program or what is known as early intervention. Some places it is called EDIS. If not I would look into getting her in this program because they provide therapies and such that she will need and then when she turns 3 they help her transition to the public schools for special ed pre-school. Or is she in this program and it has a waiting list for therapy? If that is the case I would check what ever insurance company you have and see if they provide anything for children in the spectrum as far as therapies go. Hope to hear from you more and Welcome!! Karrie
It struck me from reading your response to Karrie that you mentioned
that the county educator's office was supposed to find a replacement
for the speech therapist. I know you said that next week the therapy
should start full swing ... but I'd like to suggest something and I
don't want to sound like I'm not being supportive (be/c, believe me, I
AM!! we're all in the same boat!!) BUT the biggest thing I've found
with this awful diagnosis is that it's completely up to we parents (and
in many cases, it appears, we MOMS) to take the reins of our children's
therapies. It's fabulous that you got your child evaluated so early --
now it's imperative that you get her as much therapy as can be
provided. You didn't mention what your child's deficits are, but many
with autism need occupational therapy in addition to speech therapy.
Many on the spectrum have sensory issues and problems with fine motor
skills and self-help skills; these are issues that OT will address.
Where I live, the early intervention provided by the state is barely
worth the effort. My son is getting the MOST out of the therapies that
we pay for ourselves (unfortunately, they're not covered by our
insurance).
I know you said that an 'infant teacher' is helping her with her
behavioral and social issues, but it's important for you to know
exactly what the teacher is doing with your child, how much one-to-one
therapy she's providing, and what you can do at home to reinforce what
the teacher is teaching.
I know how overwhelming this all is ... I had NO IDEA who to contact,
what services were even available to my son, much less how to obtain
them. (That all with dealing with the devastating blow that my
child is on the spectrum.) UNfortunately, this is a learning
process and it seems no one has all the information to help guide
you. That's why this forum is so great!! Everyone seems to
know things that will help you put the puzzle together.
Additionally, one of the best things you can do is try to find a
support group in your area so that people who have already 'been there'
can give you advice and input. I've found a local online autism
forum to be invaluable in regards to information of how to obtain
services in my area.
Best of luck, and glad you found us!!
Kellie
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