Autistic Disorder

I never thought I'd ever have a reason to type those words on my blog, but alas, I do. We received a diagnosis for Little Bean a few days ago, and his scores are consistent with a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder--meaning, Autism. He was observed over two sessions by a clinical psychologist and she performed the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Module 3) on him. He showed deficits in social interaction, communication, and imaginative play, and she observed self-stimulatory behavior during her time with him like spinning and repetitive speech.

Although I fully expected a diagnosis of Aspergers or PDD-NOS, I had not entertained the thought that he would get a diagnosis of Autism. It was very hard for me to hear those words being said about my little boy. His therapist is a wonderful woman though, and she made sure to point out several times that the things she was saying about him in no way presented the whole picture of who Little Bean is, and I was grateful that she pointed that out. Also, as she began to explains some of the things he did during their time together, I realized that the diagnosis of Autism is right for him.

We are at a major crossroads at this point. His therapist had three basic recommendations for him--that he get an IEP if he does end up in school, that he get into 1:1 therapy for social skills training, and that he get into a social skills group therapy situation. Also, she recommends an Occupational Therapy evaluation to address his sensory needs. Most of this will be covered by our current insurance plan, all except the social skills group. However, that therapy alone is going to cost us about $10,000 dollars a year (yes you read that right), since it's not covered. He is too high functioning, unfortunately to get funding from our state.

Also, there are rumors floating around my husband's work that the insurance plan is going to change. At that point, I have no idea what he will be able to have covered, if anything. And to add to that, we are looking at relocating to OK--in which case, we would have to switch plans anyway. The move is something that is really important to us for a variety of reasons, so we are still pursuing that route despite this new diagnosis.

Another option would be to put Little Bean in public school, try to get some therapy services that way. There are multiple problems we have with that, one of which is that we just don't feel public school is the best place for our children.

So we have a lot of prayerful considerations to make at this time. Top it off with the fact that both the kids and I have colds this weekend.

On this Thanksgiving, despite the uncertain future we face with this new diagnosis and the insurance/job situation, we have MUCH to be thankful for--friends and family who love us and support us in so many ways, a happy and healthy home, and especially a God who knows my son through and through and holds him in the palms of his mighty hands.