hello

I am a single mother of two children. Robert is 6 and a outgoing
child, and pretty normal. Mikayla will be 4 in july and she has been
diagnosed with autism. she was diagnosed when she was about 2yrs
old. we have done the early intervention therapies, speech, OT, and
DT. now she is in school at a ECE class half of the day. she has
improved so much in the last 2 yrs. she is counting, immetating
sounds, singing with her fav. shows and movies, showing affection,
making eye contact (though not a lot but to people she is familiar
with), she has been saying names of family members and people she
adores, and pretty much doing really well. i started to worry about
her when she was abut 15 months old when she wasnt walikng yet and
her doctor said to wait another 3 months that maybe she was a late
walker. then while waiting shse kinda stopped saying the words she
was already saying mama, dada, bubba, and baba. she seemed like she
has entered her own world. we thought of a controversal allergy to
milk called a a cerebral milk allergy. it is really hard to explain
the bottom line is she wasnt seeing or thinking as clearly as she
should. so we took her off dairy and she seemed to be brightening up
a bit. she did all her therapies and accomplished most of her
goals. we were still having trouble with speech and social, but her
comprensive skills were improving, still behind but improving
slowly. so we put her into this ece class. her class consists of
about 5 boys and 1 other girl. and 4 teachers. she has her own aid
b/c she still doesnt speak consistantly enough to communicate on her
own. she does use signs and gestures. her tandrums, i call them
meltdowns, have decreased a bit duriing the day. she will ahve good
days when she will have maybe 1 or 2 and thn there are bad days when
she will ahve one every 2 hours. i have had really no one but her
drs to talk to about this, i tried to talk to my friends but they
dont really grasped how hard it is for me. well know the summer is
coming and i am really scared on what will happen to her. i mean she
will be used to the schedule at the school. it is going to be hard
for her to work her way out of it and then have to work her way back
into it in the fall. i guess in need some suggestions on what to do
about the summer, maybe a day camp near by, or finding a ABA
therapist ro help or even going as far as hiring a special needs
nanny for her to help me maintain a schedule and help with other
therapies. im at a lost here and not sure what to do. i don't work
i go to school online at home, mainly because i cant find a childcare
provider that is equipped to take on an autistic child or if they are
they are full. so i will take any help from any one just please hear
this cry for help. and help me.
thank you
Danielle