This post is one of the most challenging for me to write. It is very difficult to put my arms around how I feel right now and even more so to find the right words to express it.
Today, my youngest son was diagnosed with Autism Disorder.
C is 19 months old, so the diagnosis is "provisional". This means that his "
label " may change (within the ASD umbrella) as he develops over the next year or so. But the diagnosing clinician, who has assessed around 1,000 kids during her career, left no room for doubt as to whether or not he is on the spectrum. Both the results of the ADOS and her clinical experience paint a very clear picture.
What is not so clear, and what is so difficult as a parent of a child with autism or any number of other developmental challenges is what C's prognosis looks like. I have spent a lot of time on this blog writing about Positive Outcomes, and I can't help but dwell on the mercurial nature of that subject on the day my son was diagnosed.
Of course, we knew this about C before he went to Children's Hospital today. We knew, but we didn't know, if you know what I mean. We have seen all kinds of indicators over the past 6-8 months. At the same time, we also saw things that would indicate he is not autistic. What we, as parents, lacked is the clinical experience and the lack of bias that a professional can provide. For this reason, we have been counting the days to August 15 so we could receive a confirmation or denial of what we had been observing.
I've got some more thinking to do before I write much more on this. Feel free to comment any way you'd like on this - I welcome your thoughts and insights at this time.
Today, my youngest son was diagnosed with Autism Disorder.
C is 19 months old, so the diagnosis is "provisional". This means that his " label " may change (within the ASD umbrella) as he develops over the next year or so. But the diagnosing clinician, who has assessed around 1,000 kids during her career, left no room for doubt as to whether or not he is on the spectrum. Both the results of the ADOS and her clinical experience paint a very clear picture.
What is not so clear, and what is so difficult as a parent of a child with autism or any number of other developmental challenges is what C's prognosis looks like. I have spent a lot of time on this blog writing about Positive Outcomes, and I can't help but dwell on the mercurial nature of that subject on the day my son was diagnosed.
Of course, we knew this about C before he went to Children's Hospital today. We knew, but we didn't know, if you know what I mean. We have seen all kinds of indicators over the past 6-8 months. At the same time, we also saw things that would indicate he is not autistic. What we, as parents, lacked is the clinical experience and the lack of bias that a professional can provide. For this reason, we have been counting the days to August 15 so we could receive a confirmation or denial of what we had been observing.
I've got some more thinking to do before I write much more on this. Feel free to comment any way you'd like on this - I welcome your thoughts and insights at this time.