When Adrian was about 15 months old we took him in for his normal checkup and made mention to the doctor that Adrian wasn’t saying any words yet. Nor was he waving, pointing, or any other communicative gestures. She made note of it and gave us a few tips on encouraging him to talk. At this point we weren’t at all concerned, he was still young enough that it wasn’t too alarming and we figured he’s a boy and they’re sometimes later at doing these things. We often joked that he was the strong and silent type.

At 18 months when he took him in for his checkup he still had no vocabulary and we were becoming a little concerned at that point but figured maybe he needed some speech therapy. Autism wasn’t anywhere in my mind, it just wasn’t heard of as much then. I didn’t know what it was at all. At this check up the doctor asked if he was doing any of “this” as she flapped her hands. Wow! How did she know? We had no idea that it was kind of a “red flag” for autism to do those kind of repetitive self stimulating behaviors. At that point we scheduled to have him evaluated by the Area Education Agency (AEA)

This was right around Christmas of 2005, Adrian was about 20 months old at this point. After observing us for a couple of hours and asking us hundreds (seriously, hundreds) of questions about Adrian’s communication, behavior, diet, my pregnancy, health concerns (hearing, etc), and family history asked by a speech pathologist, nutritionist, special ed teacher, child psychologist, and occupational therapist (it was a crowded living room!) They reviewed their findings and discussed everything with each other and we met up shortly thereafter with the news of an “educational diagnosis” of autism. We began therapy with a speech pathologist and special ed teacher in our home.

On April 19, 2006 we took Adrian to Iowa State University Hospitals and Clinics and got Adrian formally diagnosed by a developmental pediatrician. Adrian’s official diagnosis is classic autism and mild mental retardation.

My advice:

if you think your child has autism: get them evaluated ASAP, don’t stand in denial. You are stealing valuable years away from your child. Early intervention is incredibly important.

if your child has been recently diagnosed: now I’m only a few years into this right now but I will say the first year was very very difficult for Glen and I. I spent some time being depressed and coming to our new reality. It does get better, lean on your spouse if you can and find support anywhere you can get it.

if your child has been diagnosed for a while: well maybe you can give me advice

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