Hope For An Autistic Child

Autistic two-year old child expelled from nursery school! Sound extreme? We were totally unprepared for this. The teacher called us aside one day and asked that we remove the child from nursery school. She explained that he was disturbing the other members of the class and she also had complaints from the other parents. To us it meant that children with problems outside the normal range of behavior were not accepted.


Well, that was the last straw. A call was made to the pediatrician explaining what had happened and an appointment was scheduled with the doctor for an evaluation. The pediatrician had always been of the opinion that the child he had known since birth was within the guidelines of normal. The nursery school experience convinced him to take another look. Fortunately for us, the doctor was experienced with autism, as his daughter has aspergers syndrome. This time he spent an hour alone with the child and came to the conclusion that perhaps he might have aspergers syndrome. We were devastated. The doctor consoled us with the fact that he was high functioning. He followed up by giving us the name and phone number of a child psychologist who was experienced in determining between the different types of autism.


An appointment was made for the initial evaluation. The doctor explained that two sessions would be required; the first with the child and his caregivers, and the last one with the child alone. The cost of the evaluation at the time seemed very expensive, but looking back on it, it was the turning point in all our lives. If you are considering what to do for a child you suspect has autism, I highly recommend that you first turn to your pediatrician and then follow up with a child psychologist who is trained to recognize the specific symptoms of all of the aspects of autism.


The day of the first evaluation arrived. We feared the worst, and hoped for the best. A second visit was scheduled. At the conclusion of this session, she sat down and talked with us and told us that he did not have asperger syndrome, but instead was suffering from sensory integration dysfunction. She wisely recommended that we read a book, The Out of Sync Child. I confess that as I began reading the book, it was difficult to put it down until it was finished. It helped me recognize the symptoms of sensory integration dysfunction, but best of all, it taught me how to begin helping the child cope. More importantly, there was hope for improvement. The psychologist also recommended that we start immediate physical therapy at a children's center. We called and scheduled him for an evaluation. They verified his diagnosis and scheduled him for regular therapy treatments once a week to be adjusted as he progressed. Since the parents both worked, I went with him and was privileged to witness each visit and his response. I must admit that I was not a believer at first. I just couldn't connect physical hterapy and an improvement of his behavioral problems. Well, was I ever wrong! He began to improve with each visit and at the end of a year we were able to discontinue the treatments.


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Until Next Time,


Meredith