My name is Cassandra Rasmussen. I am from Concord, New Hampshire and I'm the mother of two children with autism. My daughter Larissa, age 5, is my oldest and the first of my children to be diagnosed with autism. When she was about a two years old my husband, Doug, and I had noticed that she wasnt really talking and seemed to have alot of tantrums. I was a little concerned after watching a t.v. program about autism because it seemed like all the red flags they mentioned were there. I contacted her pediatrician who agreed that she is delayed and recommended Larissa see a developmental professional within their office. At the appointment with her I went in thinking "Im not ready to hear this" Larissa failed her ages and stages assesment and I explained the tantrums and lack of eye contact and emotion. The lady asked me what my concerns were and I blurted out "autism". She nodded her head and refered me to a neirologist. He insisted the delay was temperary and she only needed a little speech therapy. I wasn't satisfied! I then took her to a team of specialist in my state and 4 hours later we heard the diagnosis, "Larissa has what we refer to as Classic Autism Spectrum Disorder." I felt my heart drop, as prepared as I was I couldnt believe it. She was a month away from turning three at this point and was recommended to the Concord NH Public school system. She started there in April 07 and is doing well. Although I do feel she needs more than she recieves I am in the process of pushing for more services. Throughout the process of getting Larissa diagnosed we found out that we were expecting another baby. I was really excited and had a great pregnancy even though I was under a lot of stress. We had our son Kaysten in October of 2006 and he was perfect. He seemed to be on schedule development wise and was doing well. Until around age two when I noticed again he really wasnt talking much and the words he did say werent making any sense. Already having Larissa I knew early intervention is key. My only concern was his speech he really seemed to be fine other than that. He was evaluated by a team of professionals and I was able to get him services for a greater than 33% delay in speech. He started working with an OT therapist who noticed he had a shake in his hands and some spaceyness and also he was a little over emotional. Based on history with Larissa I increasingly became concerned. I contacted his pediatrician and he recommended an eveluation with the developmental professional within there office. At his appointment he failed his ages and stages assesment and from there we got in contact with the same team of professionals that diagnosed Larissa. Kaysten went in in March 08 and after 4 hours we heard "Kaysten is strong in a lot of areas unfortunantly he does have sugnificant delay and we are diagnosing him with PDD-NOS, a form of autism." My heart broke. I didnt show much emotion and to this day I go with the flow but it by far was the hardest thing Ive ever had to deal with. It has been two months since Kaystens diagnosis and we are learning how to deal with it. Because he is under three still he gets early intervention services and is showing a lot of progress. Although this is a new experience with two young autistic children I think we are getting the hang of it. Larissa will be in kindergarden in September 09 and Kaysten starts preschool in October 09. I used to ask myself "Why us? Why our family? I did everything right I had prenatal care, I read the books, Why my children?" I dont ask that anymore, I now know that we were given these two beautiful and amazing children who may lack in some areas but they excel so much in others and although we face a lot of challanges now and in the future we are ready and willing to do all that we can to make our childrens lifes full and thriving. We now know that AUTISM IS OK!!!