I’ve written a lot on this blog about our journey through the special needs world. Specifically Autism. Some of you may remember a post a while back where I detailed our struggle to once again find the right diagnosis. I deleted that post for several reasons. The main reason was I was simply not ready to deal with all that came along with it. (hate mail). Well, it was a long road of could it be this? He meets these criteria. He fits this , but it’s probably this etc. This went on for a few month. Finally I had a Psychiatrist say what she thought was going on with him. She stated that she really didn’t feel qualified to treat him, and they were no longer going to be carrying our insurance. This was some time ago. I talked with his Ped about it, and she agreed with the Psych. Probably FAE (Fetal alcohol Effects) After seeing a few people and talking with doctors etc. we made the leap to this DX.
I had written in a past post that it was hard to truly embrace this DX. For starters I would be giving up a huge support system with Autism. The next thing is that there is such a negative stigma with FASD. I tossed this around for many months, and sought out other support groups and read books, and prayed. Eventually I made peace with the inevitable. During this time I took a break from Therapies, and Medication, and really focused on relearning things. Ultimately the specific DX is not what really matters in this case, but getting the correct helps and supports for my son. And most of the time that is best done with the right DX.
So here I sit after many, many, many posts about my son’s Autism saying that he doesn’t have Autism, but something entirely different, yet enough like it that I was able to totally relate to the Autism world. I am thankful though to have a clearer answer as it does get very frustrating to hear over and over that there’s something there, but we don’t know what, and we can’t help you. We are glad for the missing link, and sad about what the missing link was, but over all we hope to continue to be able to better support him through his challenges. That is after all the most important thing. And for those of you reading this thinking, “I thought we knew this months ago”, we did I’m just now getting around to writing this post. 
Here are a few facts about FASD that you may not be aware of.
1 comment:
Enjoyed reading your blog. It is hard to deal with the diagnosis. I myself have gone through many emotions dealing with our diagnosis. I did like reading the part where they can grow up to lead good lives. I need to hold on to that. Karen Shoemaker
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