2yo son just dx w/ASD - Questions

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I am new to the group. My 2 year-old son was diagnosed with ASD last

week. My wife and I have spent the past week finding out anything we

can which has left us with a whole lot of questions. I plan on asking

all of those questions (and more) as time passes, but for now I would

love any responses I could get to the following:

(1) Do we need to get a second opinion? We are curious because the

assessment we got (by a developmental pediatrician) was only a 1.5

hours right before and during my son's nap time, after he just got out

of his mother's morning out program (which is 3 hours) in a small room

with 5 adults, a bunch of toys and my son. The assessment consisted

of questions of us while my son played and was given various tests.

Some things I have found online indicate that the assessment needs to

be done in more than one session and in more than one setting. As a

caveat to this question, let me say that my wife and I, based on our

research of ASD over the past week, see A LOT of issues that make us

think the diagnosis is most likely correct. Chief among them are (a)

lack of language (the only words we have gotten him to say are cup and

ball but only when we hold the object up and can get him to respond

(i.e., he never says the words unprompted), ( an inability to follow

directions (e.g., if we ask him to pick up a ball he either looks at

us like he has no clue what we asked or like he has no clue that we

just asked anything at all), and © a decrease in his interaction

with other kids (at his BD party on Saturday he ran around in his own

little world completely ignoring everyone.)

(2) So far, I have found 2 programs in our area, ABA and RDI. I am

also starting to look into DIR (Floortime.) Can anyone give me their

opinion based on an experience with any of them. Also, any help on

how these are (or are not) covered by insurance.

Thanks,

Mike Randolph