Hi!
I wanted to share with you my own experiences. My daughter was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, but I did not know of this untill she got to preschool because the pediatrician told me she would be o.k., but I felt that she could be speaking more. Well, with the pediatrician telling me she was probably o.k. and that she would outgrow it and that she would eventually talk more, I decided that since she was a doctor, that she would know what she was talking about. Well, I was wrong! Pediatricians don't catch on to what neuropsychologists are trained to look for. It wasn't till her year in Kindergarten that a school psychologist decided to evaluate her and they determined that she was on the Autism spectrum. That's when I was in denial and decided to get a second opinion. Noone wants to admitt that something like that could happen to their child. I made an appointment with Texas Children's hospital (which by the way, there is a waiting list to see a neuropsychologist). It was within three visits that they evaluated her and determined she was on the Autism spectrum and that her formal diagnosis was PDD-NOS. Since then, I've done all I can to help my daughter and there is hope. My daughter did not speak very much when she was two and my son who does not have a developmental delay, spoke well at two. But, as a first time mom, I did not know what to look for with my daughter. I regret not knowing sooner because if I had known I would have placed her in speech therapy and had her placed in an ECI program (Early Childhood Intervention program) at her school, which some schools accept at the age of three, but I believe Texas children's has a program for 2-5 year olds. I say that because it took so much time for the evaluations and the school decided it was best to hold her back one year so that she would be comfortable in first grade. I accepted, although I did not want to, but it helped out. Speech therapy has helped out a lot but so has the GFCF diet (Gluten Free Casein Free diet)which, i wish I would have started sooner, but started last May 2007. The gastroenterologist at TCH was skeptical about the diet, I had to see her about that too. She thought it would not work, but she was also wrong. It has been working, thank God! My daughter speaks a lot more now and she can be a chatter box. I do still have to correct her speech from time to time, but the diet and the speech therapy have helped out tremendously. There is no cure for Autism, but there is support out there. I google many topics and especially read topics from phycisians whose kids have autism as well. Maybe theses links will help:
Info about Autism try these three:
http://www.tacanow.com/medical/how-to-start-biomed.pdf
http://www.autismspeaks.org/
http://www.kylestreehouse.org/index.cfm
For Natural Chelation try this one, I'm leaning toward this one, but have yet to try it, but I will be discussing it with the doctor on our next visit:
http://web.mac.com/medicalveritas/iWeb/Sanctuary%20Cancer...
For info recipes that are gluten free and Casein free and ingredients to avoid try these two:
http://www.gfutah.org/gfcfrecipes/index.htm
http://www.gfcfdiet.com/
Please feel free to ask me any questions if there is anything I may be able to help with, I will be very happy to help! God Bless
