Early intervention on the autism spectrum

When my first born was 2 years old, he started preschool at a reputable program. His cousin of similar age attended the year prior and therefore we decided our son would also attend. Our son was born with congenital ptosis of his right eyelid which caused the eyelid to droop down and interfere with his vision. We did notice it did have some effect on his delay in walking and he didn’t start walking until 18 months. We also noticed a delay in speech but figured he was just a late talker and things would work themselves out.

The first few days at the preschool seemed fine and the teacher and director were very kind and welcoming. After about a couple days though, they called my husband and I in for a meeting and addressed concerns regarding our son’s development and response to both directions given in the classroom and interaction with the other children. We were very confused. We didn’t see why there was such concern. He was only two years old. We thought children develop on different schedules and our child was just a little late.

We continued to bring our son for attendance and just ignored the concerns that were raised. We felt our son deserved to attend preschool just like the other children. But then again the director and teacher called us in for a meeting and were even more serious about their concerns and suggested we seek an assessment. I was so confused. Indirectly they were trying to kick us out of the program.

I thought about the meeting and felt offended and decided not to bring my child back to the program. We followed through with the recommendation they gave us to seek an evaluation through the government service. This was when we learned about therapies that were available for speech, physical, occupational, etc. A woman came out to the house and interviewed us and did an assessment of our son. We then began therapy in the home. The therapists were wonderful kind women that supported his development. All this time, the diagnosis of autism never crossed our mind and it was never mentioned. Since this was 17 years ago, we weren’t familiar with autism. There wasn’t much conversation around autism yet and even the pediatrician didn’t mention it.

When our son turned three, we learned he was eligible for the special needs preschool through the school district. They also offered door to door bussing and I was anxious about him riding the bus alone. The first day I actually got in my car after I placed him on the school bus and followed the bus for about 10 minutes as it drove around picking up the other children. After about ten minutes I felt foolish and invasive of the other children’s time boarding. I then drove back home.

This early intervention preschool turned out to be a godsend for our child. He enjoyed attending and was thriving. He was also continuing to receive the one on one therapies for speech, occupational and physical. He continued to attend the program until his fifth birthday and then he graduated into kindergarten. I was thrilled with the teachers and staff at the preschool. They were highly trained professionals with degrees in special education. I felt comforted that our son was being well cared for.

Feel free to share your own experiences with early intervention services and how you came to the decision to seek out such services. It’s wonderful that these programs are available to support our children at a young age.