Autism, ADD/ADHD

I think they should do a lot of research on both conditions and then make their decisions. I hope the don't rule out medication completely, but I don't blame them for questioning doctors. It is tough when you don't have as much insurance as you need to cover everthing. I believe there are foundations set up to help families with autistic children. They should try to research that as well. Below is the website for the Dan Marino Foundation. I didn't look at the site closely, but it might be helpful. Living in Miami, we heard about Dan Marino all the time. One of his son's is autistic so, he and his wife have a foundation for different childrens chartities. I believe they have something that focuses on autism. There is also a good bit of information on the net about ADD. If you search my discussions, there are one or two discussions about ADD. There are a few people here in mylot who's children have ADD also. They might be a good resource for finding out some information. Good luck http://www.danmarinofoundation.org/

I work with children with autism, ADHD and FAS everday. There are lots of things that you can try that may or may not work with your grandson. Changing his diet to eliminate sugars is helpful and medication can do wonders. There are lots of programs and services available for these kids and their families. Contacting your doctor and asking for a list of services is a good idea. The main thing to remember is the diagnosis doesn't have anything to do with him as a person, just him as a learner. There a millions of very successful people with the same and worse diagnosis.

They have got to remember that early intervention is essential and will affect this child for the rest of his life. You don't tell us his age, but with a diagnosis of Autism they should be able to get help from the state for schooling and early intervention programs. The pediatrician should be able to help them. I work with Developmentally disabled adults that have ASD and do have some training so I am not saying this out of nowhere, I have seen the difference early intervention can make. Tell your friend that the guy who won the Nobel prixe in economics I think it was this year is autistic and said he could not have done it if he was not autistic.

I was in your daughters position last year (almost to the day) my son was 3 saying 80 words. He has problems with his hearing (long story) but he is having an operation soon to remove his tonsils. The doctor that diagnosed my son spend 10 min out of 210 (three sesions of an hour each and 1 sesion of half an hour) the rest she only spoke to us and she had the diagnose from the moment I spoke to her on the phone. Any way when she told us I dont know how I stayed alive to be honest as a disability worker and having worked with people with autism I was devastated to a point when my depresion went from feeling (on a scale from 1 to 10) about 3 to 153. I could not look at him without crying. Than I had this moments when I said to my self: what am I doing what is done is done my son needs me, he needs a strong mother that can lead and teach and help and fight for him. I needed to pull my self together and work on his positive things. So what if he watches tv 2 hours a day in those 2 hours he would learn 10 words (and belive me he does when his hearing is ok) he knows so much and uses what words he could say and I am proud of every single one that he sais. My son is my life he is the same little thing that came out of me he didnt change when I noticed he had a problem. When I looked at him as autistic I was seeng black and no hope when I chose to look at him as a boy that needs my help I noticed how he improved and with my help he keeps improving. I am told to go have him re assest but I told everyone that I want to wait till after the operation as when his ears are blocked he does not do well. At least I will have all that out of the problem and assest him properly. No one has ever told me to try medication if I knew that they helped some kids I would try them but I will make informed decision read all about them ask around. Good luck and please please please tell you daughter she is not alone tell her that it is ok to hurt but to stay strong for that little boy. There are I am sure lots of grups where she can go and talk to other parents but I would wait If I were her to talk to other parents as I made the mistake of talking about that with strangers the same day I was told and I felt like it was the end of the world (because of the stories).