Now What? Part 3

Where do we go from here and what was the best route for us to take.  Depending on where your kid falls on the autism spectrum will depend upon where you might start.  For some, speech and occupational therapy is a definitive need, but for others it may be more behavioral and social skills. For our son we did not have to discuss what the greater needs were, because he needed it all.  He had a severe speech delay, and handwriting along with some other fine and gross motor skills needed a lot of work.  Behavior and social skills was also put into the mix, but we worked that in a little later.  We did not want to start with it all at once and be overwhelmed with trying to manage all the various therapies, but more importantly we did not want to overload Zach and have the therapies become counter-productive.   

There are many resources available, besides the yellow pages, to find therapist.  Autism Speaks and Autism Society of America have resource information on their websites to assist families with finding services to assist children and adults. You can also do independent research on the internet through one of the various search engines.  One of the best resources out there is word of mouth.  Do not be shy with asking another parent raising a child with autism about where they take their kid for therapy.    

Once you have a list of therapists in your area I would start making some calls and ask a few questions.  The first question you want to ask is if they have any openings, because a lot of therapist have a full client list and do not have any room to add new clients.  You can always be added to their waiting list, but you could be on the list for a while.  The next question you want to ask is if they have any experience working with children who have autism.  All speech and occupational therapists receive the same training and require the same educational background for licensing.  However, it would be advantageous to find one that has experience working with clients on the autism spectrum as they will have some understanding of the various behaviors and characteristics of this unique clientele.

We started with just a speech therapist and then moved to another organization where Zach could get both services; speech and occupational therapy.  We then moved to a subsequent organization due to better available hours for scheduling and we have been with them now for at least five years.  Zach’s progress in the past five years has been like night and day.  He is developing new words and phrases daily, and his clarity of speech has vastly improved.  Not to mention his handwriting that started with big letters that were barely legible has been refined and he is now writing within the lines on the sheet of paper.  Further, his fine and gross motor skills have competed with his other development improvements.  It does not hit me regarding how much he has improved until friends come over and recognize the difference in his speech, and they are capable of understanding what he is saying.  Zach still has a long way to go, but we are so pleased with the progress he has made it makes us anxious to find out where he might be with his development during the next five years.

Stay tuned for “Now What?” Part 4