Do You Have a Child with Autism?

My 5 year old son has autism. We do ABA therapy and he has a good program at school. He was non verbal a year ago and is speaking more. Not necessarily communicating, but he is understanding. As for diet, like the other mom who posted, we haven't done the diet. I am looking into it though.

My son is Autistic. He does speach, occupational and physical therapy. We haven't tried any medications or diet changes yet. The doctor mentioned the gluten free diet, but almost all of the foods that he'll eat are pasta and bread based, so we can't really do that. Personally, I'm not sure that vaccinations caused it, but I wouldn't be surprised. He was just diagnosed in February, so we're pretty new to all of this. He currently has medical coverage thru his dad's employer.

My son was diagnosed just over a year and a half ago and he has just turned four. He has been in private ABA therapy since September and is doing fabulous!! We have had some help financially through charities for this but have had to put out some money from our own pockets for this therapy as we are still on the long waitlist for the government to cover this!! He is also recieving speech therapy, occupational therapy, and sensory therapy which are all covered (thankfully). He was nonverbal and now has way more words than I can count...We are now working on four word phrases along with clarity of speech. We are very proud of him! :) I actually believe that my son was born with this as we have had feeding difficulties since day one and other issues also. As for the diet, I am still investigating that as well as better vitamin supplements for him and allergy testing. If you have any suggestions or know of anywhere else I can look for help I would greatly apprieciate it momsunited. Thanks so much for allowing me to share my story! :+)

I have a son who is autistic. He was diagnosed at 3 and is now almost 10. He has been in behavioral therapy (ABA), speech therapy and Occupational Therapy. I think that all of hie therapies have been helpful to him. We as a family have also benefitted. Behavioral therapy taught us how to set up the house so that our son was more comfortable. We also learned how to respond and direct our son more effectively. OT has helped our son self regulate his sensory needs. It has helped him be more independent. He is not on any medications and we do not use special diets. Our focus is helping our son adjust to his environment while also encouraging his environment (i.e. the people in it) to understand and adjust to him as well.

Hi. I am so happy to have come across your discussion. I am a mother of an autistic child. He is turning 3y.o. this June. He was diagnosed with ASD when he was 2y.o. I enrolled him to OT last September 2008. So far, therapy has done him good. We have observed a lot of improvements regarding his behavior and interaction with others, except that up to now, he does not talk. Although he starts to speak in jargon. Our difficulty comes about when we bring him to new places and when we refuse to give him what he demands. As for his diet, I have switched him to ricemilk and mixed it with lactose free milk. As much as possible, we do not give him any food containing chocolates. Here in the Philippines, we pay everything out of our own pocket. The government does not give any help at all. Vaccinations could have caused this but there is no clear explanation to it yet. I am so curious about ABA. Only one person is trained in the country on this and her fee is so expensive. We couldn't afford it.