r/Autism_Parenting • u/Dazzling_Simple2824 Parent/ 3yo ASD L3/ FL 🇺🇸 • Jan 15 '25

Early Diagnosis Diagnosis day for my almost 3 year old

Hey fellow parents. My son (turning 3 end of this month) was diagnosed today with ASD level 3. Even though I expected the diagnosis due to my own reading and insights from our Early steps provider, I still instantly burst into tears. However I am so thankful to have an answer and be able to move forward in the right direction to support my son as best we can.

I wanted to share the process of getting to diagnosis day for in case there might be another parent of a young one who is wondering what options there are in the US.

We live in Florida and enrolled my son in Early Steps. It is a bit of a process. I called their number and the service coordinator did a phone interview with me, then scheduled an in person evaluation at their center (3 month wait due to hurricane Milton on the day he was scheduled for his evaluation). Then a month wait to start Early intervention weekly at home.

The early intervention therapist administered the MCHAT to check my son for possible risk of autism, and based on his score she gave us next step options - we need to see a neurologist and then they will determine if ADOS is needed or if it is something else.

We did see the pediatric neurologist and she gave a script for ADOS evaluation.

The Early Steps office in our county does ADOS testing once a week and he was put on a waitlist to get evaluated. We are super thankful that he qualified to have the ADOS through Early Intervention because then it is covered by the State.

And that brings us to today when he had his ADOS evaluation.

Next steps recommended for us are ABA and later Speech therapy. I was advised to call our local ABA centers because they also have waiting lists.

I am sure that I haven't really processed it all yet but I thought that I would share our process for in case it can help someone here.

Thank you for reading.

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u/mangosorbet81 Jan 15 '25

You got this!

1

u/Dazzling_Simple2824 Parent/ 3yo ASD L3/ FL 🇺🇸 Jan 15 '25

Thank you

2

u/ProofRequirement9801 Jan 15 '25

I think that’s an emotional day for all of us - or at least me :). Thank you for sharing your experience to support others!  I wish you and your son the best - he’s lucky to have a parent who is so on top of getting him the supports that will help him thrive. 

1

u/Dazzling_Simple2824 Parent/ 3yo ASD L3/ FL 🇺🇸 Jan 15 '25

Thank you so much. So many emotions and thoughts are coming to me now.