Venting

I just decided to start this blog tonight as a way to vent.  My son Aleric was diagnosed with autism in January of this year, and we're all trying to learn as much as we can so we can help him.  It's been a struggle trying to understand him.  He has mild autism (PDD-NOS) so when I've tried talking to other autism moms, I get the feeling that since he is not classic and is verbal (although very delayed in his speech/language skills), we don't really fit in.  Nothing like feeling left out by other autistics!

He actually meets all of the criteria for classic autism, but he does so well in so many other areas that the school psychologist who did his testing didn't feel comfortable calling it autism; we went with PDD-NOS instead, which is just a milder form of autism, so why not just call it what it is??  My understanding is that when the DSM-V is released later this year, Rhett's, Asperger's, and PDD-NOS are all going to be grouped under autism anyway, without any differentiation.  I'm not sure how I feel about that; classification-wise, I suppose that makes it easier, but it certainly makes it more difficult to narrow down and address specific issues.  But what do I know?

I'm actually waiting on a diagnosis myself; in researching autism, I came across Asperger's, and it really seems to describe my entire life.  I spoke to several different professionals in the school district, and upon their recommendation, I went for evaluation.  The school district spec ed chairman unofficially diagnosed me with Asperger's, and referred me to a psychologist should I want something more definitive.  Did the testing, and was told results would take about a month to come back in.  Last Friday marked the end of week 3.  I'm really hoping to get something back soon.  It's really difficult to address an issue when you don't know what it is.

I wonder if that's why I seem to relate more to my son.  I seem to understand why he does things like he does, and I'm more patient with him than with his older sister.  And this was before his diagnosis.  It's like he makes sense to me, while she is the little social butterfly I feel sick just thinking about being.

I've been reading some other autism blogs from parents, and I've seen and read some horrifying things.  Apparently, we have been very lucky with Ricky's placement and treatment at school; I fear changing schools next year!  I pray for those parents and children, and I pray for me and mine.  Autism is difficult and confusing enough without schools, teachers, other kids, and ignorant people making it worse!

On the upside, my husband found this article on one of his tech blog pages.  Feel free to share it!  I think it is most interesting:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/auti-sim-lets-you-experience-the-horror-of-sensory-overload/