Disbelievers

I don’t know how many parents of children on the spectrum have people in their families, friends or workplace where people question your child’s autism diagnosis.  I have had several people question Kit Cat’s diagnosis.  I call them the “disbelievers”.  The disbelievers say some of the following: 

1.      Your daughter doesn’t look autistic.

2.      She is very social and makes a lot of noise so there is no way she is on the spectrum.

3.      I think you are making this up so you can have an excuse to not be at work.

4.      You can’t diagnose autism in a child until they are at least five.

5.      You don’t need to be taking her to therapy all of the time.

6.      Kit Cat will be just fine, if you leave her alone and not force therapy on her.

Here are my responses to some of these statements from the disbelievers. 

1.      Autistic children don’t have a certain look, they look like you and me.

2.      The intensive intervention has helped her to become more social and she is a noisemaker when she stims.  Not all children with autism are nonverbal.

3.      I prefer to be at work, making money.  All of the time I take off is UNPAID and it has destroyed our savings and we have thousands of dollars in therapy bills.  If I was using this as an excuse I wouldn’t be racking up medical bills and would be out having fun, such as shopping, dining and going on vacations.

4.      Children are getting diagnosed younger and younger.  Developmental pediatiricians can use MCHAT, ADOS and other observation/screening tools to diagnose in younger children as the majority of children start showing signs of autism by 12-15 months of age.

5.      If I don’t take her to therapy, she will not be able to communicate with us and will sink further into her own world.  The therapy is giving her a fighting chance to become a productive citizen in this world and the ultimate goal with all of the therapy is for Kit Cat to be happy with her life.

6.      We don’t have a choice about therapy as her autism will not just magically disappear overnight.  All of her therapies are play based so she is having fun being herself while learning how to socialize and communicate.