Chus wrote:
formerlyknownas wrote:
RFDC wrote:
I have a nephew who was diagnosed at 3 years old. My sisternlaw and her husband have been in denial about it for 5 years. They refuse to get him help. He is 8 but developmentally is still 3. They claim to be homeschooling him but that basically means he does some games and puzzles on the ipad. They will finally admit he has autism but the only thing they do for him is take him to surfers for autism events around Florida each month. It is super sad and is IMO a form of child abuse.
What a shame--especially since they can get him a lot of free help, and, if they have good insurance, they could have a therapist in their home 2-5 times a week.
I can understand that it is hard to face, but it's terrifying to think about these kids as adults, alone and unable to fend for themselves. It sure as hell seems like a form of child abuse.
How do you not do everything possible for your kids?
Both of my kids went through Early Intervention. For my first son, it was $30 per month for three, one hour, in home sessions (speech therapy, occupational therapy, and developmental therapy) each week. It was $40 per month for my younger son. The fee was based on household income. Once the children reach the age of three, they are done with the program, and go through the school district for any future therapy. My younger son went to a school where he could work with the same type of therapists as EI. He is starting kindergarten in the fall, but he is going to a different school (definitely not autistic according to a know-it-all loser) than my older boy, where he will be in a class of no more than nine kids, with one teacher and three assistants. He is going to get a lot of one on one time, which is going to help.
Where was Dr. IMU years ago to tell me that we wasted our money.
To knock yourself out once is hilarious, but twice in the same thread is just too good to be true.
Same here. Early Intervention at 19 months, ABA therapy at home, speech therapy at the hospital and local university, feeding therapy, OT, an assistant in school, etc.
My oldest is a teen and is much less affected than my youngest--she's interested in a social life--but anxiety is difficult for her to manage and she doesn't always get why people do and say the things they do and say, in spite of years of practice. It's frustrating. However, it seems that parenting teens is universally difficult.
But the therapy does help. She was barely able to attend pre-school when she was four and five. So all of this does pay off. What's more, one of my nieces couldn't really even talk until she was about five, and she's in grad school at UC-Berkeley right now (and not in a science field, but a humanities field). That's a best-case scenario, of course, but progress is progress.
Addressing it early is key. Even if it doesn't seem like there is progress, it makes more of an impact than you might realize.
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