Hi mommas with autistic babies can I have some info from you please? I’m just wondering how the evaluation process started for you and how old were your little ones? Any info is appreciated
It took forever with both of mine. I fought for years trying to convince their Ped’s that something was going on. Both my boys finally got their diagnosis from the behavioral center when they were 5 yrs old. They are now 13 and almost 11.
My child isn’t autistic however he did get evaluated. The first appointment was an intake, where she just asked me a bunch of questions about him. She didn’t even interact with him. The second was the actual evaluation where they have a series of little tests and scenarios set up. We got our results immediately after the test. He just turned 2.
~Brianna
My father in law was the head custodian at an elementary school and he spent a lot of time around the Special Ed department. He saw some issues with our (then) 2 year old son. He mentioned it to me, I was defensive but asked our pediatrician. He said not to worry, so I didn’t. My father in law found out about a free monthly screening program that our county did, so I took our son. I thought I would prove him wrong! We learned that our son had social/ emotional delays as well as speech and language delays. He measured more than a year behind! So, we qualified for Early Intervention and got started. He was with them until age 3. Then, Special Needs Preschool at age 3. He was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism at 3.5. He’s 15 now.
If you don’t know where to start, see if you have a Child Find office in your area. Early Intervention (if your child is under age 3) is another program to look for. If none of those, ask your pediatrician for a referral. Good luck!