Profmom
Member
Good morning.
My 12-year-old son was diagnosed with ASD a few weeks ago. The psych who did the eval said that before the change in diagnostic labels he would have given him the diagnosis of Asperger's.
Our son is the apple of our eye (such a loving and wise boy with gorgeous, wild red hair!), but life has been hard for him and our family as we have struggled with seriously challenging behaviors his whole life. He was diagnosed with ADHD at age 6, but we now see that this didn't explain all of his behaviors. The last few years have been extremely hard for him as he became very ill with what we learned just a couple of years ago is epilepsy. His seizures are still not under control, so we've now had two years of trying a growing list of medications. School is a form of torture for him. The teachers are almost worse for him than the kids. He has just come off his fourth suspension this year.
I didn't know much about Asperger's, but once I started learning about it a couple of months ago after the first part of his evaluation I couldn't believe how all of his quirks could be explained by one thing. It made such perfect sense! The ADHD diagnosis wasn't a surprise so that one was a relief, the epilepsy diagnosis wasn't a surprise since once he could fully describe what was happening I recognized it as being very similar to my own form of epilepsy, and now this diagnosis isn't a surprise (now that I know what ASD is!). It's actually had an immediate, positive effect in creating some kind of peace in our house as we have a better understanding of why he says and does the things he says and does. And, he had recently started to see how different he is from other people and he was feeling very alone in this world, so it has been good to have a way to help him see his own self and identity in a different way and to show him that he is not alone.
I am here because we are trying all avenues to get any help that we can for our son (my gosh, I've got a new full time job!), but a missing piece is that we haven't found support for ourselves (my husband and I) yet. We live in a rural area, and we don't know anybody else in our small town who is in the same situation as us. I'm sure they must be out there, but I don't know who they are. So, here I am, looking for a community.
I am so thankful to have found a place to connect with people who share some of the same stories. My husband and I feel lonely sometimes, virtually isolated from other people because of our son's behavior. We need a place too.
My 12-year-old son was diagnosed with ASD a few weeks ago. The psych who did the eval said that before the change in diagnostic labels he would have given him the diagnosis of Asperger's.
Our son is the apple of our eye (such a loving and wise boy with gorgeous, wild red hair!), but life has been hard for him and our family as we have struggled with seriously challenging behaviors his whole life. He was diagnosed with ADHD at age 6, but we now see that this didn't explain all of his behaviors. The last few years have been extremely hard for him as he became very ill with what we learned just a couple of years ago is epilepsy. His seizures are still not under control, so we've now had two years of trying a growing list of medications. School is a form of torture for him. The teachers are almost worse for him than the kids. He has just come off his fourth suspension this year.
I didn't know much about Asperger's, but once I started learning about it a couple of months ago after the first part of his evaluation I couldn't believe how all of his quirks could be explained by one thing. It made such perfect sense! The ADHD diagnosis wasn't a surprise so that one was a relief, the epilepsy diagnosis wasn't a surprise since once he could fully describe what was happening I recognized it as being very similar to my own form of epilepsy, and now this diagnosis isn't a surprise (now that I know what ASD is!). It's actually had an immediate, positive effect in creating some kind of peace in our house as we have a better understanding of why he says and does the things he says and does. And, he had recently started to see how different he is from other people and he was feeling very alone in this world, so it has been good to have a way to help him see his own self and identity in a different way and to show him that he is not alone.
I am here because we are trying all avenues to get any help that we can for our son (my gosh, I've got a new full time job!), but a missing piece is that we haven't found support for ourselves (my husband and I) yet. We live in a rural area, and we don't know anybody else in our small town who is in the same situation as us. I'm sure they must be out there, but I don't know who they are. So, here I am, looking for a community.
I am so thankful to have found a place to connect with people who share some of the same stories. My husband and I feel lonely sometimes, virtually isolated from other people because of our son's behavior. We need a place too.
