My Boy Is Autistic!!!
My son is wonderful, loving, kind, and joyful. He is also angry, aggressive, rude, and sometimes mean. I’ve known since he hit a year old that he was “different/more difficult” than other children and toddlers but didn’t know enough about autism to consider it.
At his 3 year annual, his extreme defiance and refusal to allow his pediatrician to do ANYTHING helped her see the necessity in a referral to play therapy. We did that for about a year—his play therapist brought up some possible signs of autism but I was adverse to pursuing a diagnosis. At that time, I felt like I would be giving my son a label at such a young age that may not be appropriate and would follow him his whole life. And what if the diagnosis was wrong? What if it was just me parenting him in a way that didn’t “click”?
This past March, we did kindergarten screening. He will be attending a private school and they screen all children for kindergarten readiness skills. In the one hour screening, my son hit one teacher and spit at two. The school had a meeting with us to discuss behavioral concerns and pursue evaluations for both ASD and ADHD. We got on a waiting list, but are still on that specific list.
After hearing this from the school, I realized that having two professionals raise the same concern should make me pay attention. So I chatted some with a friend who is also marriage and family therapist, and after interacting with my son for just a couple of hours, she also saw value in pursuing an autism evaluation.
The school reached back out and upon hearing we are still on the first waiting list suggested a different facility for assessment. That assessment was this morning. We have a meeting to discuss results Tuesday but the short answer is—Yes. My child has autism.
I feel strangely relieved. My child really HAS been different than other children his age this whole time. It is not that I am an ineffective parent but rather that parenting strategies for NT children don’t work for his ND brain. (Also, we’ve tried one hundred different strategies).
I’m also thrilled that this means we will be able to get my son the support he needs in order to thrive at school, and the facility will help my husband and I as parents to learn effective strategies for him. Yay!