I would gladly donate every penny of the gas money I’ve spent driving my son from one diagnostic center to another if I could find a single, one-stop shop for autism screening! My dream is to have all of the tests and questionnaires completed in a single trip – preferably riding up an escalator or a moving sidewalk. Can you imagine it? I could hold my son’s hand while we shared ice cream cones or s’mores (it’s a dream, remember?). As we passed each diagnostic station– neurology, speech/language, sleep, nutrition, gastroenterology, ENT, fine motor, gross motor, etc –different specialists would take x-rays by digital camera and saliva samples by offering a cherry lollipop. We’d then smile and move serenely from one specialist to the next, until we came to the end of the ride, where a cheerful uber-doctor would tell us in plain language what specifically we needed to do to help our child realize his potential.
The dream isn’t far off.
Thanks to government grants, comprehensive development centers with specialties in autism spectrum disorders are springing up around the country. And, after three months on a waiting list, we were ready to give our local autism center, located at our town’s most-respected children’s hospital, a try. We were particularly looking for an updated medical perspective. Here’s a description of our experience: (more…)
