Autism vs. Latetalker

Imagine you bought a sweater. It was the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. You wear it every day and everyone compliments you on it. Then one day, someone says they see a spot on it. You look and it isn't there. Then some others mention it. Again, you fail to see what they are talking about because you see the pattern in the sweater and it is the same as when you bought it. You are frustrated and now you don't look at the sweater the same way. In fact, you can't look at it without spotting potential flaws.

Now imagine the spot was never there.

Maybe this is a poor analogy but it is the only way I can think of explaining my emotions right now. Andrew doesn't have autism. That's what one of the top 10 experts in developmental disabilities in the nation told me on the phone. Now, she didn't assess him. She just took my information and his test scores and then asked questions that pegged him 100%. She knew his strengths and weaknesses and about his musicality and his fascinations without ever meeting him.  She knows this because she's met hundreds of children just like him.  Late Talkers.

Mary Camarata at Vanderbilt University is part of what is called the Late Talker's Group. They believe many autism cases are just kids developing at a different pace.  These kids often rebound and catch up to their peers overnight when they are ready.

Then she tells me we don't need to go to visit them in Nashville because, although she is pretty sure he was a Late Talker, his scores show he is coming out of it and will be getting himself up to speed.  She highly doubts autism of any kind and thinks our speech therapy and home therapies are clearly working. Our biggest issues are helping him overcome his frustration with speech and become better at using it with peers.  Her phone consult saved us $700 on the evaluation plus travel and lodging...she isn't in this for the money.  She and her husband care about these kids.

I hung up the phone and felt like 500 lbs had been lifted off of my back and for the first time in 18 months I could look at my son as a normal child. The diagnoses really changes the way you see your own kid and I think that is the most dangerous part of it all.

How can they function as a healthy child when we see them (and tell them) there is something wrong with them?  If only these early intervention people could see what they do to families....maybe they would label less and just help these kids get where they are going.

So, while I never stopped loving my sweater (more than life itself)...I can take more time to just enjoy it now...because there isn't any spot...it's perfect just as I always knew it was.

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