My DS is almost 7. He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was 5 1/2. His therapists would say that even within the realm of Aspergers, he is high-functioning. He is academically at the top of his class, completely mainstreamed with no IEP, has some friends and gets invited on playdates. Most people don't see any difference between him and the rest of his classmates.
But...when you know what you are looking for, the ASD is totally apparent. He has a limited range of emotions, his eye contact isn't normal, he doesn't have appropriately reciprocal conversations. He has weekly private OT, a weekly private social skills group, and we do RDI some. He was GFCF for about a year and a half. We've done a handful of others things (more biomed, hippotherapy, etc.). We have spent $20,000 out of pocket in the last year on therapy.
All of this is a long-winded introduction to my question: how much do you think you sacrifice in terms of time, money, and other things to remediate the ASD symptoms in a kiddo who starts out like this? Sometimes I think we should be doing everything we can -- pulling him from school, doing a full-time RDI-ish program in the hopes of moving him that small, but huge distance from here to neurotypical. Then sometimes I think that when people talk about their kids being recovered, they actually means their once non-verbal, in-their-own-world kids now look like mine -- which mind you is great -- it's just still spectrum-y. When I am in this space I think my job is just to support and encourage him while accepting that he will always be autistic.
I think he is doing well, probably better than he would have been without all the therapy, but it is truly incremental progress. I wonder if I throw everything into it for a year or two would it be faster or more significant? Is that what I should be doing? Is it even appropriate to try to make him more neurotypical?
I am obviously incredibly grateful that this is the problem I am faced with. But it really is something I struggle with -- balancing working on stuff and accepting; figuring out how much I give up in terms of my career, my attention to my other kids, my time in the hopes of some uncertain progress with a kid who is already pretty blessed.
Any thoughts?
But...when you know what you are looking for, the ASD is totally apparent. He has a limited range of emotions, his eye contact isn't normal, he doesn't have appropriately reciprocal conversations. He has weekly private OT, a weekly private social skills group, and we do RDI some. He was GFCF for about a year and a half. We've done a handful of others things (more biomed, hippotherapy, etc.). We have spent $20,000 out of pocket in the last year on therapy.
All of this is a long-winded introduction to my question: how much do you think you sacrifice in terms of time, money, and other things to remediate the ASD symptoms in a kiddo who starts out like this? Sometimes I think we should be doing everything we can -- pulling him from school, doing a full-time RDI-ish program in the hopes of moving him that small, but huge distance from here to neurotypical. Then sometimes I think that when people talk about their kids being recovered, they actually means their once non-verbal, in-their-own-world kids now look like mine -- which mind you is great -- it's just still spectrum-y. When I am in this space I think my job is just to support and encourage him while accepting that he will always be autistic.
I think he is doing well, probably better than he would have been without all the therapy, but it is truly incremental progress. I wonder if I throw everything into it for a year or two would it be faster or more significant? Is that what I should be doing? Is it even appropriate to try to make him more neurotypical?
I am obviously incredibly grateful that this is the problem I am faced with. But it really is something I struggle with -- balancing working on stuff and accepting; figuring out how much I give up in terms of my career, my attention to my other kids, my time in the hopes of some uncertain progress with a kid who is already pretty blessed.
Any thoughts?
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