Emotional Support Sisters

My oldest was recently diagnosed with autism. It has been a tough road, especially since we got the diagnosis weeks before our next child was born. Navigating what to do next was rather overwhelming, so I wanted to share my experience so far.

Since it was my oldest that was having difficult behaviors, I didn’t have any other kids to refer to as what was “normal.” Thankfully my mom was open enough to tell me that some of the behaviors and struggles my daughter was exhibiting were extreme. The biggest reason we decided to get her tested was her sensitive hearing. Sudden loud noises were very hard for her. She especially hated laughing and it was getting so bad that even a little chuckle from me or my husband would make her upset. You don’t realize how much you laugh until you have someone react negatively every single time you laugh. Family party’s were hard. Everyone would be having a great time laughing and playing, but she would get so upset! It was getting out of control and I felt so bad for her. I wondered what kind of world she is experiencing where laughing makes you upset? It was hard on us as parents too. So we talked to our pediatrician and he gave us a list of places for her to get evaluated. We didn’t want to go to an autism specific place because we didn’t think she had autism, just some sensory issues. It took a couple of months to get in with the psychologist, but what a relief it was when we did. Once we had the evaluation, we had to wait another week or so for the official psych evaluation to come through and then we got the results. Mild to moderate autism. We weren’t necessarily shocked, but it was a hard pill to swallow. I had a hard time because I didn’t want her to be labeled by autism her whole life. However, I am so grateful for the diagnosis so we could get her the help she needs. It was pretty overwhelming figuring out what to do next, especially because I was going to have my second baby at any time! But life doesn’t stop for one kid when you have another. Next we met with a behavioral health clinic and tried play therapy. After one session the therapist said that play therapy wasn’t really what she needed. We did one more session of play therapy and then we decided to do virtual visits as parents to talk with the therapist to bounce ideas off of her while we were on waitlists for other resources. We are now doing OT and will be starting up ABA therapy, but we can chat about that another time!

My daughter is a beautiful little human. While the future is unknown and scary at times, I’m hopeful that she will have a great life!

-Rae