As mentioned yesterday, our son missed a major developmental milestone--putting words together to make meaning and assigning words to objects. We honestly did not notice right away. It was when I picked him up from day care and his peers were saying, "Max's mommy," and pointing at me that I realized we were at least dealing with a speech/language delay. At that point, autism had not entered my thoughts. Sparing you our own story for now, I will say that bits and pieces came together. Our major awakening came via the video glossary we found on the Autism Speaks website that compare typical and atypical behaviors at certain developmental markers. There are also many lists of behaviors that give an initial idea of whether or not to pursue further data gathering. I avoid saying to "pursue a diagnosis," because, honestly, hearing , "Yes, I am seeing that he is on the spectrum," is similar to hitting a brick wall at 70 mph. It's not what you want to hear, and you want someone to say, "Will you just chill out? Your kid's going to be fine. You are over worrying." This site is extensive in discussing symptoms of ASD and the road to diagnosis. There are countless others as well. If you are really considering an evaluation, your local Easter Seals is also an excellent place to start. Do NOT rely on your pediatrician. Rely on your GUT as your child's parent. Our pediatrician has sinced apologized for missing the diagnosis. We, as his parents, pushed for a developmental pediatrician screening which led to the diagnosis. For our son with Asperger's, we were told that kids who are "that smart" just sometimes are that way (having debilitating panic attacks, claiming to hear voices) because they understand things above their biological level and don't know what to do with it. Our first son grew up in a school system and medical community that truly did not know to suggest Asperger's, and was in no way ready to assist a person with that disability. But that's a tidbit for a whole other day!
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