Does my child have autism?

While autism is usually indentifiable beginning at 18 months, right now most children aren't diagnosed until age 3. Many children don't receive a diagnosis until they are school-aged. With the growing prevalance of autism, it is important to get our children getting help as soon as possible. Everyone deserves a headstart so I urge you, if you have concerns, don't be afraid to talk to your pediatrician and schedule an evaluation. What's the worse that can happen? What's the best?

So what exactly is autism anyway? Well, autism itself actually encompasses a wide "spectrum". The CDC defines the autistic specrtum as "a group of developmental disabilities defined by significant impairments in social interaction and communication and the presence of unusual behaviors and interests".

Currently, many professionals use something called the M-Chat to decide if a child needs further evaluation. Please note, the M-Chat is meant as a "guide", a group of questions set to assist professionals in deciding if a child needs further evaluation. It is NOT used to diagnose, so please do not use it that way. Your doctor may also have a copy of this screening. If you have concerns, please take the M-Chat and bring the results to your doctor so that you can discuss it further.

You can visit here to access the M-Chat questionaire . Please be sure to read the instructions carefully. Once you have taken the questionaire, please click here to see the scoring. Again, please follow the instructions carefully. A child fails the checklist when two or more critical items are "failed" or when any three items are "failed". The critical items are bolded on the score sheet. Please note not all children who fail the checklist will meet criteria for a diagnosis on the autism spectrum.

We've only just begun...

If you're a parent of a child with autism, you know that no matter how much we love our children, that doesn't mean that everything will always be easy. Unfortunately, love alone will not guide us through every situation, through every challenge, through every difficulty.

Let me begin by introducing you to my daughter, Lily. Lily is 2.5 years old and began receiving services for a receptive language delay at 16 months. She was finally diagnosed with PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) at 29 months old.

As a former aid of adults with autism and a special education major in college, I soon began to realize, not everyone had the tools or help that I had in preparing to meet this challenge. When Lily was first diagnosed, one of the first questions they asked us was "Do you take her out? Does she go to the grocery store? To restaurants?". "Of course she does!", I thought. Why wouldn't she. But soon after I realized that many parents avoid this situations because they can present such a challenge.

This blog was created as a way for me and other parents to share ideas of what works, how to overcome these difficulties and how to give our children the happiest lives possible. Which is really what it's all about - don't you think?