Saturday, January 29, 2011

Autism.

So, I asked Joseph's foster mom if anyone had ever thrown around the word autism concerning Joseph.

After a brief pause she said that she had and they had looked into in and no one wanted to diagnose him with it because so many of his delays could be linked to him being so premature.

This is a whole can of worms that we were not prepared for and don't know what to do with.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Pray.

Deb said...

We have new friends who have a son that is autistic. We talked about it and she said no one would diagnose him when he was young. She had to keep pushing and his doctor finally admitted he could be when he was 4 years old.
You'll have to push very hard to get the diagnosis when he's this young from what she said, regardless of his background.

Praying for you

StarfishMom said...

Wow. Why weren't you told?!?! This kills me. I would ask foster mom to make a pediatric neurologist appointment and YOU go with them. Also you want to be at his next well baby. It very well may be from him being so premature but I'd do my own homework to be on the safe side. I know God will elad your heands and your hearts if you trust Him. his will, my friend. Get on your knees!!!

StarfishMom said...

Also, they most likely WILL NOT diagnose a foster child in fear of him being labled and therefore hard to place. :( Much to think about!

Missional Family said...

Agree with StarfishMom...most foster children will not be officially diagnosed in the fear it makes them harder to place. Apparently 'they' don't get that finding out later by surprise doesn't make it any easier for the adoptive family.

Be in prayer. Even if he is autistic, are you willing to walk that path with him? If he might be, but might not be, is it worth the risk to your family?

Only you and your family know.

Goofy Girl has not been diagnosed FASD...but I have done enough research to fully believe she is. We work our life as if she is and do our best to help her succeed. As she grows, she'll need to learn to cope with her abilities in ways to make her successful.

Keep praying. We'll all be praying too!

La Mama Loca

Created For His Glory said...

I could come spend a few hours with you and just observe him and give you my (ex-professional) opinion? Klaire was labeled autistic as well before she came to us (she's not, but... has many likelinesses (is that a word?)).
Email me if you want me to :)
Kim

Kylee said...

I've been reading all of your posts the past couple of days. The one about Sabrina, the one about Tin, and now this one about your sweet Joseph. I almost have a lack of words right now...after reading here the past couple of days. Everything I want to say seems so superficial.

That being said, I am adding you to my prayer list. Praying for you and with you as you look at one this new bit of information means for your family.

Unknown said...

if anyone can do this, you can...

does that help? :)

Unknown said...

Oh sweet friend, praying for wisdom and discernment for you now.

Felicia said...

You would definately need that diagnosis to get early interventions. Wow, that is a lot to take on. Do you have the proper services where you live? ABA therapists and such.

Carol said...

Yesterday I commented on this post in a lengthy posting. Some unknown computer someplace in computer world ate that post. I will attempt to remember all of what I shared at that time and I hope you will find the information helpful.

I live in Michigan and we at our house use on a routine basis the services of "Early on".* Early On evaluates kids from birth to 3 yrs old. They not only evaluate, but provide other services and resources such as speech therapy, PT and OT services as well as special ed teachers and other referals as needed. When a child is nearing ageing out of their system, they will recommend opprpriate follow up services. All of those services are provided free of charge and in your home. When necesary they will also provide age appropriate "classroom" setting education. Here is a link to their online site.

As Momma Foster knows, we have a child who joined our family directly from the hospital who is almost three now and has been diagnosed with autism. We used Early On services from the time that he was an infant. We continued having him routinely evaluated even though no signs of any delays were presenting themselves. At his 18 month evaluation he was still on target. After that he began to loose vocabulary and then other steps backwards began to present themselves. It has been very helpful to the professionals to have been evaluating him since birth.

These are services that can be requsted by a foster family. Our local DHS routinely requests evaluation of children entering foster care. With that knowledge, the thought that DHS is trying to cover up any problems would not appear to be true. Having said that, I have no question that coverups may take place in this very broken broken system.

I would surely hope that no pediatrician would coverup issues that may exist and a foster parent can always take a child to the doctor with any concerns that they might have. Our pediatritian has been very helpful and supportive and a great resource for help.

These services are not only available for kids in foster care, but are available to every child with no financial qualifing or referals needed.

*for states other than Michigan just google "Early Intervention" and find services available in your area as I believe these services are available in all states. In our state Early On is administered under our county school system called in our state--RESA.

Carol said...

I just realized that I said that I was including a link to Michigan's Early On and then didn't include that link. Here it is http://www.1800earlyon.org/online_referral.php