Welcome to the second episode of my brand new podcast! This episode is specifically designed for both parents and professionals in the autism world who want to turn things around for their children or clients, be less stressed and lead happier lives. This episode is all about autism signs to look out for.
We’ll talk about early detection and treatment of autism. Whether you’re a parent or the professional, you will likely be asked for advice by overwhelmed parents at some point when they see autism signs. You need to know how to respond.
Many are looking for a little hope and encouragement, along with practical guidance on the first few steps to take. In this episode I explain the different ways you can ease yourself or others out of denial about a child’s behavior.
Back in the late 1990’s when my son Lucas started showing signs of autism soon after his first birthday, I was completely oblivious. Even after my husband Charles, who is an emergency medicine physician, first mentioned the possibility of autism when Lucas was 21 months old I told him I never ever wanted to hear the word autism again. I remained in denial for over a year.
Back then the waitlist for an evaluation for autism was only a few weeks or maybe a few months maximum. Today all around the United States and in many other parts of the world too, the wait lists for an autism evaluation are usually several months long and sometimes even years. This is a huge problem because autism should be caught early and you should start ABA therapy as soon as possible. When an infant, toddler, or preschooler starts showing signs of autism, it’s critical parents take action.
The first of the three action steps is to know the milestones for every age. Sure, there’s going to be variation in development but it’s very important that you know when a child should roll over, when a child should start with one word utterances, when a child should point and when they should start putting meaningful short phrases together.
If you see one or more delays in your child, you need to move on to step two which is to make a sick visit with your child’s pediatrician or physician so they can help you really determine if your child is showing delays. If they are, they can also hopefully connect you with some services in your local area and most importantly get you on a wait list for a developmental pediatrician or some other physician who can diagnose autism.
The third step is to learn about ABA, which stands for Applied Behavior Analysis and is the most effective treatment for kids with autism and it’s really helpful for kids without autism who have some delays too. In my two decades of experience, the children who have the best outcome have at least one parent who gets out of denial quickly and learns to be the captain of the ship to try to teach the child needed skills as soon as symptoms appear.
To learn more, go to marybarbera.com/toddler-ws and sign up for a free online workshop where you can see me working with kids with and without autism and hear some of the success stories of the children I’ve worked with over the years. It’s time to stop waiting and worrying about autism and take action today with these autism action steps.
