Was your child diagnosed with Autism? At what age? What type of doctor did you see? Thanks,
Things have changed recently. My son (now 14) was diagnosed just before he turned 3 by a team of developmental specialists at KU Med. Center in Kansas City.
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So I typed a whole response and they delete that thread! GRRRR
Yes, six, child psychiatrist and neurologist.
I said more before but now I don't want to type!
I can say that my son's psychiatrist is one of the best in the country, he WILL NOT diagnose before age six because there are too many misdiagnoses when doing that. From three till six we treated the symptoms.
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I want to add, now that I am over the retyping, that they had a range of things that could be an issue when he was first seen at three. When you look at my oldest who is ADHD like the rest of us, and my younger son who is PDD, there was little difference between the two of them before age three. It would have really sucked if a spectrum diagnosis went in to Andy's permanent record when he only had ADHD and that is why they waited.
My son was diagnosed at Kennedy Krieger Institute (sP) at 25 months. with autism and disruptive behavior disorder. He was seen by a speech pathologist and a psychiatrist.
We had to push and push our pediatrician who said for almost a year that nothing was wrong with him. Finally he ave us a referal but out of hesitation. In hindsight, I would have waited because now he has a label. He is exactly 3.5 and still does not answer questions with a yes or a no. He will repeat what I asked him and I assume it means yes. I dunno. He is finally pointing and even peeing in the potty now.
Now I am seeing him as IMO like a 2 year old (maybe 18 months) as far as communication goes.
((((((HUGS))))))))))
My granddaughter is autistic and was diagonsed through Headstart. But you can contact your Ped. For a wealth of info go to:
The Easter Seals Society also helps and has lots of info.
My son was diagnosed at about 2 years old(right before or after my apologies it's been a few years)by a developmental pediatrician. Prior to that all the other docs and so-called specialists misdiagnosed his condition as solely sensory processing disorder.
My middle daughter has Classic Autism. She was first diagnosed at about 4 1/2 years old officially (I think... it was just after her 1st year of preschool) by a child psychiatrist. At first we thought it was Asperger's Disorder but to stay on the safe side kept it general as "PDD-NOS with the likelihood of Asperger's Disorder." Her diagnosis was backed up by a pediatric neurologist.
About three years ago we changed neurologists to one whose declared specialty is ASD, then ADHD/ADD and other Behavioral Disorders and Sensory Integration Disorders (all of which she has too) and reconfirmed an Autism diagnosis but "firmed it up" as Classic Autism. She's 9 1/2 now and will be 10 around Thanksgiving.
We couldn't get in to see a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician, but for us it turned out really well.
