by Pat on Feb 1, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Filed in Christian Autism Stories | Parenting Autistic Children | Stories from Readers | Treatment for Autistic Children
God is so tremendous. I went on the Nancy Grace website to catch up with the Caylee Anthony case and another story on her page caught my eye. It said "Families fight for Rights" so I wanted to see the special report but instead I click on your link by mistake (there are no mistakes for God). I decided to read your story and it didn't take long for a knot to develop in my throat for I felt almost like I was reading my own story. The difference is that my son is not diagnosed yet. As a matter of fact he has an appointment this Tuesday for an evaluation.
Frankie is 3 years old; he's turning 4 this April. Since he was about 2 1/2 I began noticing something in the way he communicated to me that seem a bit similar to autistic children I have cared for in the past working at a daycare and at a Cerebral Palsy Center. When I mentioned it to his Pediatrician she immediately dismissed it saying give him time, boys take longer than girls, and you can't compare kids. One year later this answer still didn't satisfy me especially when his almost 2 year old sister was having conversations with me far better than he ever did. So I mentioned it again and told her to try to have a conversation with him. Then I got that "oh, I see what you mean". My biggest fear was that he would get to Kindergarten and the teachers would have no idea how to deal with him nor could they give him that individualize attention he needed.
From there she referred me to the best of the best E.N.T. for a hearing screening, CHKD Speech Therapist for a speech evaluation and a Developmental Pediatrician for a final evaluation. He passed the hearing test and the speech therapist said that he qualified for therapy and in her professional opinion basing on her 20 years experience Frankie could be Autistic but if he was, it would be on the mild end of the spectrum. So what happens? My insurance doesn't want to cover his speech therapy. They would only cover it if it was for restorative purposes; which means that he had the skills and lost them due to an accident. You can imagine how discouraged I became and like you I prayed like never before. I was ready to move to another state that would offer the services for free. Ready to turn my whole life around for him but at the same time was angry with God and questioned Him. Why would he make me move here and then make me move again totally disrupting our family life just when we were getting used to it like military families?]
Eventually I came across the right people who directed me to the public schools and they are handling it now. So you see, I am at the beginning of your story and I feel that God lead me to you to kind of pave the way, light my path and prepare me for what's to come. Thank you for sharing your story and your faith. It has touched me, strengthened me, given me hope and shown me that I am not alone! Please pray for me and my family and I will come back and update you on Frankie's progress. Be blessed...