Kelly,
Thank you so much for your wonderful response. You have obviously been through (and continue to go through) a great deal. My hope is that other parents will be able to learn and benefit from your experiences. It sounds like you are a terrific parent and are doing everything you can for your son. And I am so sorry to hear about your infertility problems. If having another child is important to you, don't give up. There is always hope.
Again, thank you for your insight and wisdom.
With much care and appreciation,
Michele
I emailed you my response. I think it's great that you are looking into ways to help parents.
I think anyone who tries to make a parent of a newly dx childs life easier is wonderful. That said, I will try to help out.
When my son was first dx, I already figured out that he was autistic before the official dx. I was still devastated, but at the time I thought things would progress quickly and my ds would be ok. Was I mistaken, only after alot of research combined with a year of dealing with asd, did I get the real picture. I've actually started mourning my sons dx again. Mostly b/c he is not high functioning like I thought he would be.
The process for us felt like forever, we started EI last Sept., got our formal dx 6 weeks later and started wraparound 6 weeks after that. I know that is not along time compared to some wait times for others, but time is of the essence for our kids.
My EI people helped guide me alot, and local autism support groups helped guide me thru the unknown. i now try to help others going thru this process.
My son really needs OT, and that is a big help to us. Especially meeting his sensory issues. Who knew that bouncing on a ball, or brushing therapy would do such good for my son. Wraparound is working. We do ABA/ Discrete trial/Floortime with him. He is slow to learn, but he retains things once he gets it.
There is alot of info out there, unfortunately it is time consuming to go thru it all, especially if you have multiple children (we don't) so I have a little more time to go thru the info I find. Just be careful, there are people who would like to take advantage of our desperation, so you need to research b/f you try somethings out there.
The impact of raising my son is very overwhelming most days. I worry about his future, what happens when we are gone. How to buy all the things that will help him. Is the therapy working, is it enough? Constant guilt. Am I doing enough to help him, somedays you feel guilty b/c you are spending time doing laundry or just watching tv. I think this is the most overwhelming thing I deal with.
My marriage is good, but it is hard sometimes. My husband works out of town alot, so I am on my own alot. I also deal with all the research and finding out what my son needs. My dh only knows whats going on thru me. He doesn't have to deal with the 24/7 of autism. Sometimes it bothers me and he doesn't always understand my sadness and my feeling of being overwhelmed.
No other kids. Unfortunately I lost 2 since my sons birth, and now I appear to be infertile. I am afraid to have more, afraid to have another with asd.
My son was dx younger than alot, 26 mos. But I wish I knew the signs early anyway. And I know alot of parents who get a late dx would have also had the info early so they could have got a dx sooner.
I hope this helps, Kelly
Hi everyone -
I'm not sure if this is an appropriate post, but I'm looking for some assistance. My name is Michele Steever, and I am working on a dissertation research project to complete my Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the
My dissertation project is developing and then testing a website for parents who recently had a child diagnosed with autism. I hope to provide information and assistance in the areas of: understanding autism, treatments,
As you have all been in the position of recently learning your child was autistic or on the PDD spectrum, I was hoping you may have some wisdom or advice for other parents that I can post on site site (anonymously, of course - I will not use any identifying information in the website).
Specifically, I am looking for wisdom or stories about:
- how did you react when your child was first diagnosed? was this a long process? who helped you most along the way?
- what treatment(s) have you found helpful? in the mass of information, how should a parent proceed?
- how does raising an autistic child impact you? your marriage or relationships? your other children?
- anything else you wish you had learned earlier
Thank you so much in advance for your assistance with this. With this project, I hope to both assist families through this difficult time, and to learn more about the impact that internet interventions can have in the world of autism.
Feel free to post to this thread or to contact me directly at pasquak75@aol.com
Thank you again. Sincerely,
Michele