Harbl the cat... only a very different man... TLDR

[R&R Rancher]

FWIW Harbl my son is a high functioning Autistic. He just turned 18 last month. For him the key was early diagnosis and enrolment in what was called the ABA program through the ST. Amant center. These are Manitoba based programs but Alberta will have similar. They provided an in house tutor 7.5 hours a day 5 days a week until he went to school. We were then able to get him into the school age ABA program. The school hired an EA and let the ABA teach her how to work with him.

I remember when the program first started. He was tantruming over a dozen times a day. His speech was delayed and his frustration level over being unable to communicate beyond grunts and gestures was high. This was the root cause of the tantrums. As his language skills and coping skills increased his tantruming disappeared. That was a huge burden lifted off our shoulders. Just one of the first of many small victories.

BSD gave you great advice. Get out there and advocate for your children. Everything I’ve seen and read says that if you delay the critical help your child needs then you will miss the window where the help can do the most good. When my son was diagnosed he was two. Doctors told us there was nothing that could be done. We have a weekly play session for kids like him and a monthly get together for parents. They also said, oh by the way I hope you have a good support network because you are going to need it. Had we followed that advice we would have destroyed any potential future our son had. We had been told about the ABA by another family we knew that had an autistic child.

My son has a good chance of leading what most would call a normal life. It may take him a bit longer to acquire life skills than his peers, but he will get there. He still faces challenges, but don’t we all?