Today I’m joined by Danyelle Ferguson, author of the new resource book, (dis)Abilities and the Gospel, for parents and teachers who have students with a variety of cognitive disorders. I asked Danyelle to share some information with us today. The things she shares will be incredibly useful for both homeschool and public school parents.
Danyelle, when did you first realize your son should be tested for autism – how old was he, what were the tell-tale signs, etc.?
Actually, we thought our son just had speech delay. Looking back now, we had a rather typical experience. From birth, our son always tested early in all of his childhood developments. He started walking and talking at seven months old. He laughed, played with our friends’ kids. All the normal things you expect from a baby. Then somewhere between 12-18 months, he gradually stopped talking. We talked to our doctor about it, but he said that just happened sometimes and to wait until he was two years old. We took him back when he turned two – at which time he didn’t speak at all. The doctor said to wait another six months and we said no way. So he referred us to the local early intervention center.
Great way to advocate for your child! What happened then?
The center sent out someone to evaluate our son for speech delay. A few days later they called to ask if they could come back for another visit with one of their specialists. This time after the observation, the specialist asked us if we had ever heard of autism. Neither my husband nor I knew anything about it. Little did we know that question would lead to a life-changing journey for our whole family. We made an appointment for our son to be evaluated at our local Children’s Hospital. He was diagnosed with PDD-NOS. All of his results came back in the severe range, except for his motor skills, which were incredibly advanced.
So we as parents should be aware of the typical development stages in our children and notice if they seem to be taking a long time in some of these key areas, or, as in this case, if they stop performing a skill they used to accomplish with ease. Then we should advocate for our children if we feel they haven’t been evaluated as thoroughly as they should. This is great information, Danyelle. I appreciate it a lot.
We will continue our conversation with Danyelle tomorrow. In the meantime, check out these articles.
Could Autism Be More Common Than We Thought?
AutismClassroom App Has Information about Autism
Five-Minute Screen Can Detect Signs of Autism