Hi!


It sounds like you are on the right track as far as getting help and
diagnosis!

The questions you are asking yourself sound familiar to me...I'm
sure we have all asked that when learning there may be a problem. As
far as a good answer...well, I wish there was a map or directions
that said "do this and everything will be okay". There is no such
thing, it almost comes down to personal preference and what works
with your child.

We do ABA and some floortime at home with our daughter. Others are
strictly Floortime, etc. I would suggest borrowing some books from
the library and trying out a few to see what you and your child are
able to work with!

As far as what to start first, many people do it at the same time.
It is overwhelming to have changes that big, so I wouldn't suggest
it. Get used to one and then start the other. Most of us do
behavioral first and then move on to biomedical.

I was already pregnant with my 2nd when we decided we should see
what was wrong with Hayley. I didn't want to have 2 kids that
couldn't talk, I wound up with that anyway, but at least I knew why.
Having more also depends on you and your lifestyle. I know several
families with more than one child and the other child does not seem
to have any problems. While others have multiples with ASD.
Personally I believe my son has a speech delay, but he is nothing
like his sister...I still have high hopes that it is nothing more
than a delay. I can tell you that I have spent a large quantity of
time over the past 2 years worrying if he would be austistic as
well. I love them both and am glad I have both of them. My son
really forces Hayley to participate in life and not be so self
involved! I have read that the best thing you can do for a child
with ASD is to give them a sibling.

Okay, in closing, remember it is a marathon, not a sprint. Good luck
with your decisions and I hope we as a group can be helpful!

heather


--- In BCautism@yahoogroups.com, "star_mama2004" <star_mama2004@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi, I got the name of this website from Shelly Bagley when she
came
> to my house to get some information about my daughter.
>
> I am mom to a 2½ year old that we suspect has autism. We just
> recently started suspecting it because my husband has a cousin
whose
> daughter was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, and we started looking up
info
> on the internet. Much to our surprise, our daughter fit some of
the
> criteria. Mainly, our biggest tipoff was her failure to start
using
> sentences and phrases meaningfully, despite developing a large
> vocabulary of single words.
>
> It has hit us really hard because we never suspected she might be
> afflicted with a developmental delay.
>
> She is scheduled for an appointment with a pediatric neurologist
on
> Aug. 28th and is already in the Early On system and scheduled for
> another evaluation. We're on the waiting list at University of
> Michigan Autism Center.
>
> There is so much info about autism...from behavioral interventions
> to biomedical ones. What should be my first priorities?
>
> What about having another child if the first has ASD? This is
> another issue my husband and I are grappling with.
>
> Thanks!
>