My name is Denise, and our son Jeff was diagnosed autistic in December 2007, 10 days before his 3rd birthday. He wasn't making gestures or sounds by 2 and a half yrs. It seemed odd since his 5yr old sister had done everything when it should have happened. His hearing was fine at birth, and we had him tested 2 more times because of his lack of response to loud noises, us calling his name, etc. Those 2x's also came back normal.
At his normal physical, I asked his pediatrician at the time why he wasn't talking, etc, and got the response that boys are suppose to be slower than girls when it came to this. I wasn't satisfied w/ this answer because it seemed like the Dr. didn't care/had no idea either. My sister referred me to her pediatrician who had moved from Childrens Hospital of Central California to his own practice, he was the former head of Pediatrics there for 10yrs. Our first appt. w/Dr. Miller and the ball was rolling. He was able to get us an appt. w/a specialist at EPU named Dr. Snyder. So 2 Dr's had already diagnosed him, and the CVRC(Central Valley Regional Center) met w/us to diagnose him the 3rd/final time.
This last year has been a whirl wind. Yes I get mad and wonder why?? What did I do wrong for this to happen? Dr.Snyder said it was normal for parents, esp. moms to put the blame on themselves the most, but this is something that can't be predicted, and we got lucky to get him diagnosed w/in 2mths. The places we had gotten into were supposed to have taken at least 2mths each to get into. but I'll never understand how this all fell into place.
It's not easy to have a child w/this obstacle to overcome. His sister has a hard time understanding the extra amount of attention he gets frm the therapists that work w/him. He's so busy for a 4yr old:Speech therapy 4hrs/5 days a week, and he also attends a county preschool w/other children like him for 4hrs each morning. I look at him and wonder what he's thinking, if I could see things from his point of view, even for a few minutes, what I wouldn't give to trade places and see how things are so difficult for him, so easy for us. His speech therapy has definitely helped w/his vocabulary. He knows how to sign the Brown Bear book, and is gaining new things everyday.
He looks so normal, but his tantrums can be a give away if he doesn't get his way, and stays mad for long periods of time, even over the smallest of things. I'm proud to be a mother of an autistic son, and not ashamed to say it. We need to find a way to make more people aware of what's happening to our kids. We don't even have a history of autism in our families, and this is not inherited either. I was watching a commercial the other day, and Gene Simmons from Kiss was advocating letting people know about autism, along w/other musicians who want to be heard. Jenny McCarthy, Holly Robinson-Peete, Toni Braxton, and Doug Flutie to name a few have been proud to admit their children are affected by this, just like any other family. I hope that people won't be quick to judge befoe they read what other families w/autistic children have to say. At least this would give some insight as to what we go through.