A Tough Week

i now what your going through.

My son is six yrs old and we thought that he may of had asperger's syndrome. He displayed lots of the symptoms. Anyways, we ended up finding out that he simply has a sensitivity to wheat.

I pray that your problem is just that as well.

Melissa,

Keep a level head, I know how scary it can be when you feel that something is wrong with your child. Having 3 kids, we have dealt with multiple scares of all sorts of problems, some unfounded, some were actual problems, but we dealt with them all. We used to live outside of Ft. Worth and I can tell you from personal experience that I would never again deal with Cooks Children Hospital in Ft. Worth. In my opinion, they are too big and see way too many people to give you the time and consideration that you deserve. Not to say that they don't have good doctors there, but I feel they are stretched too thin. I had good success with the doctors associated with Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas when dealing with what we thought were neurological issues, but instead turned out to be heart related, with our son. The doctors there spent as much time as we needed to have all our questions answered and never made us feel rushed or silly for our concerns and fears. I don't know what, if any, type of insurance you have, but they generally will accept all insurance. I would start first by going to Alex's regular doctor and expressing your concerns to him and see what he says. Also too, it is usually helpful to have a doctors referral to a specialist, it generally gets you in quicker than if you call to make the appointment yourself. Unfortunately, many times well meaning people will diagnose a "problem" in your child without any real basis for making that assumption. They don't mean any harm, but it sure is scary for you when you are suddenly confronted with something of that nature. Hope this helps a little.

I have a degree in ECE and worked at a site where we had children with a multiple of diagnosis, one of which was autism. Because the families were low income, they received much of the testing, evaluations, and treatment for free through the school district. Getting a doctor to find the correct diagnosis is often the hardest part, the treatment seemed easier after that. I had one client who did try the gluten free diet. She had to order 90% of the food online as it was not offered in our hometown. It was very expensive but so worth it to her. The thing is, you can't screw up, not once. Mom and Dad were faithful to the diet, only to discover the housekeeper gave him fudgesicles during the day so they had to constantly keep starting over, it was frustrating but they stuck with it. Both Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete are bringing much light on the topic of autism and I've seen some wonderful interviews by both women. See if the library has books on real life cases and not just medical jargan. Also, find a group in your area or join an online group. One of the problems my clients had was the feeling of isolation because people did not understand the condition and were quick to criticize both parent and child. Do keep talking and let us know how we can support you because this is a very trying time for your whole family. I do have one question, what makes the pastor of your church feel qualified to make that diagnosis for your son. He may have jumped the gun on that one because autism is hard to diagnosis even by professionals who work with it every day.

I agree with the other posters. I would set an appointment for the doctor and bring a list of questions with you to ask. I believe that this "diagnosis" is very premature. How old is your son? If your pediatrician feels a need to investigate further, then he/she could point you to a specialist or the services offered by the school system, if there are any. I believe that it is difficult to diagnose any young child with various problems, because children are so different in maturity levels. It is for this reason that most schools don't do much diagnosing during the kindergarten year (at least here) unless it is an extreme case (adhd, etc.). Please keep us updated and try not to worry too much until you have something more concrete than a hunch. :flowerforyou: