A Different Road

I work as a Service Coordinator for infants and toddlers with developmental delays within California’s Regional Center system. The types of delays we provide early intervention services for range from simply monitoring the development of preemies all the way up to providing support for children who will be bed ridden and on a ventilator for their entire lives. In my experience, of all the developmental delays we help with, autism is probably the most stigmatized. Many people see it as an end to human potential. We see it as taking a different journey through human experience.

I won’t lie, optimism isn’t always easy, especially when you are dealing with parents.The hardest part of providing early intervention autism services often happens before the interventions even start. You see, many parents bring their little ones to us due to concerns surrounding speech delays. While the parents or the pediatrician may just see that the child isn’t developing communication skills, the speech pathologists, infant development specialists, and service coordinators doing the initial needs assessments may see signs of autism in the kiddo. Based on these observations, it is our duty to relate our concerns to parents who are often expecting to hear that their child just needs speech therapy. Frankly, I would rather be punched in the gut while being simultaneously kicked in the groin than tell loving parents that their kiddo is showing some signs of autism. Unfortunately, that is exactly what my job and the job of the wonderful speech pathologists and infant development specialists doing the needs assessment entails. We get to bring up the, “A” word.

Thankfully, the early start autism intervention programs (ESAIP in Service Coordinatoreese) that work with these little ones do wonders in both addressing the identified delays and providing the family with strategies that will help their child overcome whatever their obstacles may be. A formal diagnosic assessment for autism is often provided (by a child psychologist) while the child is participating in these programs. Understandably, the formal autism assessment is terrifying for many parents, but we always try to reassure the parents that even if the child is found to have autism they are still their child. These wonderful children are just as capable of laughing, learning, having friends, and loving their mommys and daddys as any other kiddo.

I guess the big take away is that having autism is not the end of childhood and the promise of a, “normal life.” What having autism is, in short, is a path through childhood and life that looks a little different. I look at it as taking a more scenic and eclectic route to get to where everyone else is headed. The good news is that the more we learn about autism the better the interventions become. So, there is no reason to write a human being’s potential off based solely on a few words taken from the DSM V. Oh, and for fuck’s sake, vaccinate your kids! There is no legitimate, scientific evidence that links autism to vaccinations.