The beginning of our journey aka the diagnosis

If you were to look at my husband, me and our two beautiful little girls, you would think we were a completely normal family with two neuro-typical little girls with red hair and blue eyes.  However, our youngest little girl, Kit Cat has Autism Spectrum Disorder.  She was diagnosed four days before her second birthday on November 16, 2012 at Mercy Autism Services by developmental pediatrician and creator of PLAY Project, Dr. Richard Soloman.  This day was the worst day of our lives but also confirmation of what we had known deep in our hearts since our little girl celebrated her first birthday.

By the time Kit Cat was a year old it was clearly evident that something was not quite right with our little girl. She never responded to her name, never made eye contact and was content to play by herself and be in her own little world.  She had hit all of her developmental milestones early or on time until this point, rolling, sitting, crawling and walking, but the talking wasn't happening.  We thought maybe her speech was delayed because she had been so sick her first year of life with RSV, Reactive Airway Disease and GERD.  However, that wasn't the case.  Our old pediatrician did not pick up on the beginnings of Autism and did not seemed concerned about her socialization and communication skills. After many mishaps with our old pediatrician, we switched to a new pediatrician by the name of Dr. Colleen Olson. She was the first person, besides my husband to pick up on the possibility of Kit Cat having Autism. Dr. Olson had us do the MCHAT (Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers) and Ages & Stages Questionnaire. Kit Cat did not pass either of them, so Dr. Olson referred us to Help Me Grow and suggested that when we were ready that we should consult a developmental pediatrician for a possible Autism diagnosis.  I was in denial and did not want to see a developmental pediatrician but we did seek assistance for Kit Cat through Ohio's Help Me Grow and Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities Early Intervention Program.  The county evaluated Cathleen and determined that Kit Cat had delays in communication, social/emotional and adaptive/self help skills. We began private speech therapy and monthly home visits from our Early Intervention Specialist Brooke Gump.

It was through the continued encouragement of Dr. Olson, Brooke Gump and my husband/Kit Cat's father Andy that we made an appointment with Dr. Soloman to finally determine if our daughter had Autism.  After observing Kit Cat for two hours and asking and answering questions that Dr. Soloman made the diagnosis and said the words that I will never ever forget,  "Cathleen has Mild Autistic Disorder".  That was the end of my world and my heart broke.