12770320, This is one of the biggest reasons that awareness is important...
Posted by soulfunk, Thu Apr-02-15 10:03 AM
>They were very hesitant to have him diagnosed and the father
>was somewhat in denial I believe,
Early intervention is EXTREMELY important in terms of the development of kids on the spectrum later in life. My son had red flags pointed out right around 15 months, and started therapy at 18 months which was well before his official diagnosis at 3 (in which they do THOROUGH testing of behavior, social skills, speech, and a brain scan.) Because of all of that early intervention, and the quality of speech therapy, occupational therapy and behavioral assistance, he's at the point now in which even new teachers and therapists that he has are surprised when told that he is on the spectrum. He is VERY verbal and social, excels in school academically, and really doesn't display the stereotypical traits of Autism that you would normally think of.
All that being said, it's still clear that he is on the spectrum - his biggest struggles are with sensory overload and self regulation. Also he doesn't understand the nuances of certain social situations that he encounters, which is tough because he is so outgoing and social.
The problem is that so many parents are in denial when red flags are pointed out, and they don't follow through on getting a diagnosis or recommended early intervention. So they don't really find out that their child is on the spectrum until first grade when that teacher is blunt with them. At that point therapy can still help, but by then their kids are way behind the curve. For my son he was really ahead of his peers academically in kindergarten and much of first grade because while school was new for most of them, he had been in classrooms since he was 18 months old. And is was important for him to be used to that routine because we knew he would struggle in other areas, and have to be pulled out of some of the academic curriculum for his speech and occupational therapy.
We really gotta work on awareness and getting rid of the stigma that is there so that when parents hear about "red flags" they don't run away from the situation.
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