my son was just diagnosed with ASD?!? now what?

[I can eat 50 eggs]

Well, it's been a crazy 24 hours. Late friday afternnon the early childhood intervention people from our local school district told my wife my eldest son (4) has ASD. We didn't even know what that meant and had to come home and look it up. Needless to say, we are rather overwhelmed, and confused. Does anyone have any good resources they'd share with how to learn more about this issue? any advice? anything at all would be helpful.

 

[Thanks2JE55E5]

I myslef is AS undigonased though!
I refer teachers and other people who want to know mor to nas org uk its the UK National Autisic Socitey website its really good. Another one thats good is a forum called asd-forum org uk theres www at the begining of these and dots between the org and the uk. But I dont have enough posts to add websites!

Hope that helps

 

[Lahmi]

Well, it's been a crazy 24 hours. Late friday afternnon the early childhood intervention people from our local school district told my wife my eldest son (4) has ASD. We didn't even know what that meant and had to come home and look it up. Needless to say, we are rather overwhelmed, and confused. Does anyone have any good resources they'd share with how to learn more about this issue? any advice? anything at all would be helpful.

now what?..
Now you get really busy, that's what.
Find a DAN doctor if you can.
(DAN= defeat autism now)
have him checked for various allergies.
Gluten and Caisen especially.
probable issues with artificial food colors as well.

oh and:

NEVER GIVE UP. ever.

Different things help different folks.

check out the April 2007 issue of Discover mag, it has a good article on Autism.
and:
http://www.danasview.net/
and:
http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/index.php?ntid=120748&ntpid=1

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/21/lkl.01.html

that should get you started.

 

[sthatting]

Well, it's been a crazy 24 hours. Late friday afternnon the early childhood intervention people from our local school district told my wife my eldest son (4) has ASD. We didn't even know what that meant and had to come home and look it up. Needless to say, we are rather overwhelmed, and confused. Does anyone have any good resources they'd share with how to learn more about this issue? any advice? anything at all would be helpful.

My advice would to be patient with him. It's not all bad, either, if that's what you're thinking. If he got diagnosed as late as 4, I don't think it's a real extreme case.

When all else fails, a prayer as a family could help.

As far as plausible information; I've found wikipedia.org to be pretty helpful. I'm unsure on the complete accuracy of it, however.

 

[AlmightyOne]

Hi, I am diagnosed with Asperger's,

I would not recommend DAN. They have a reputation of valuing the appearance of normality above the welfare of autistic individuals.

Autism has become big business; so many organisations have a financial interest in the services they provide. The information these organisations give may be biased.

It is important to look at a wide range of information sources. I would particularly recommend reading the accounts of autistic individuals. A book that I have recently read and would recommend is: "Martian in the Playground" by Clare Sainsbury.

That said there is nothing wrong with good nutrition. I my self take a flax seed supplement(omega 3 fatty acids) and avoid processed foods. Good nutrition is good for everyone autistic or not.

Wikipedia is a good source, but I would recommend double checking information especially on subjects like the Autistic Spectrum. The article on this subject tend to shift and change a lot.

Also Wikipedia aims to be neutral and so may not always accurately reflect the weights of different sides of an argument. But generally it is a good source.

God Bless,

John