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[Guest guest]

Hi, my name is and I just joined and thought I would introduce

myself. I will try to do a brief summary of how we found out our

daughter has autism. My daughter, Grace, just turned 4 yrs old and

was dx with autism (pdd-nos) and anxiety at 3 1/2 yrs old. I also

have another pumpkin, Kate, she is 17 months old and seems to be

developing fine. I had to look back on videos and journals, etc. to

think about when I noticed a difference in Grace. From 12-18 months

she would not respond to her name being called but really she didn't

respond before that but would turn when I made sounds, etc. So I

first thought all her ear infections were causing hearing loss.

After 18 months she started waking up in the middle of the night

having screaming fits. Her speech was developing on target until

around 18 months/2 yrs old. At 2 yrs old I knew something was wrong

(that's when I just found out I was pg with pumpkin # 2. She has

always had seperation anxiety, extreme fearfulness, but it got 10x

worse all of the sudden just before 2 yrs old. All development

seemed to stall and then slowly progress, then stall, then when her

sister was born, everything crashed. She was 2 1/2 yrs old. Just

got her second flu shot btw. Well, she would scream and scream,

could not communicate her basic needs, was scared to leave the

house. That's when she started to develop certain obsessions and

rigid routines....like she would only leave the house if she had her

stuffed animals or some item in the house. So I thought it was

anxiety to the extreme. Also, she was terrified of other children.

Then at her 3 yr dr appt I directly asked her pedi if it was autism

and had a list of concerns but I still wasn't sure but it had crossed

my mine. He said no, just quirky and adjusting to sister. At 3 1/2

yrs I demanded at least a speech therapy evl and that is when i

realized how she had autism and realized how serious this was and

found a dr that would help us. It is extremely difficult to find

support and also to talk to other moms who have girls who have autism

and I'm am relieved to have found this group.

Also, I would like to share more about my daughter Grace. She just

turned 4 yrs old and she loves stuffed animals and her favorite thing

to do it take care of them all day (feed, bathe, etc.) This has

helped her challenges so much. For instance, she can't stand baths

but if she can take a stuffed animal then she can tolerate it and

even enjoy it. Also, we seriously would not be able to leave the

house if it weren't for her stuffed animals. She likes to sing and

dance and makes me laugh all the time. She has a lot of challenges,

though, which I'm sure I will be sharing and asking advice a lot.

Thanks for reading!