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Why - According to Jennie

WHY? ;-) Gee, ask them WHY NOT? Unless your child is only a few months below his chronological age in all areas, there is not any reason for why, only why not, which I bet they could not really answer rationally.

WHY = faster acquisition of objectives means new objectives can be added. (OH NO< staff have to be released from class and attend more meetings!) I find that an unacceptable excuse for not having more objectives, so people do not have to write new IEP's.

WHY = Because he, age unknown, has a better chance of developing play skills sooner, and that gap that widens every six months has less chance of materializing into a chasm.

WHY = Because then you can divide up your priorities and teach some things at home without worrying as much he will not get it and be over burdened, and the school is supposed to be helping all preschoolers do what typical kids do.

WHY = Because the waiting list for group homes gets ever longer, and you should not be planning for a group home, but elementary school and beyond with hope.

by Marc

1. Scientific researcher
2. Education advocate and educator
3. Insurance specialist
4. Herbalist and dietitian
5. Doctor
6. Lawyer
7. Indian Chief/witch Doctor
8. Physicians assistant
9. Expert negotiator and arbitrator (IEP) nuff said
10. Fund raiser
11. Political lobbyist/activist
12. Speech and letter writer
13. Lectures "R" us
14. Internet explorer
15. Book reviewer
16. Biochemist
17. Play date party organizer/caterer and referee
18. Web site designer
19. Assistive technology and software reviewer and beta tester and inventor
20. Never ending explorer of ways to say "GOOD JOB!"
21. Crisis intervention specialist (Talking your spouse or other parents off the tower.)
22. Stamina of a Marathon runner. And world class speed.
23. The defensive prowess of Bruce Lee. Wax on/Wax off.
24. Clown (Big feet Big nose red hair the whole 9 yards.)
25. Santa impersonator
26. Disney movie cataloger/VCR Mechanic (Grill cheese in the VCR ect....)

There are two kinds of negatives that parents have to address: The overt ones are the simple ones. There are other more covert ones that are subtle messages that often come from the people who we love and trust or the professionals who are supposed to be helping us. There are no easy answers, but here are some things I find helpful.

There are three strategies that parents can use when people are being negative:

1. Educate: Tell people the truth. Let them know that they are not being helpful and more importantly let them know what would be more helpful.
2. Escape and avoidance: If you can't change peoples minds, often just avoiding them is perfectly healthy and, in some cases, easy to do. of course, there are some cases such as relatives where this is harder.
3. Fight: This should be a last resort. It takes too much energy, requires negativity, and is less likely successful than education or avoidance. However, sometimes there is little choice (e.g., your child's school is giving you a hard time and there are no good alternatives).

CK's Story

CK grew up an adorable child, hitting all of his milestones except for one big one: speech and communication. I include communication because just after his 2nd birthday and initial contact with Early Intervention, we taught CK to point. Anyone with knowledge of child development understands that pointing is a 1 year old skill - and a very, very important one.

At 2.3 years of age (6/98), Early Intervention evaluates CK with a Speech and Language Delay. The report reads:

We suspect autism/aspergers syndrome and want to know how to obtain a proper diagnosis.

I would highly suggest an expert in diagnosing Aspergers. A list of evaluators can be gained from: http://www.oregonparentsunited.org/providers/providers3.htm
http://www.oregonparentsunited.org/providers/providers2.htm

The professionals on this list will need to be appropriately screened by you to find out if they have expertise in the field of autism/aspergers.

The FEAT of Oregon Parent guide has the DSM 4 criteria for autism listed at:http://feator.org/pguide/24.htm

Our child is newly diagnosed, where do we start?

A good list of how to start is also available at: http://firstsigns.org/pages/parent_resources/columns_waltz.html

1. Try to take a course in basic autism and the grieving process from someone like Sharone Lee of Threshold. This will lead to research and determining an educational methodology (see below) via books, listserves, and networking with parents.
2. Research and consider simple vitamin therapies/supplements (B6, Magnesium, DMG)