How did your journey begin?
We were lucky. Trys was just two years old when she was diagnosed with ASD. Around her second birthday we noticed that her language was a bit behind. We were living in the USA at the time and it was normal to have annual health checks for kids. Actually, they were more frequent up to age 2, then continued annually. As we approached the two year check up, one of Trys’s nursery teachers, who I later found out had an autistic son, gently mentioned to me that Trys’s language appears to be a bit delayed. She encouraged us to bring this up to her doctor at the next check up. Shortly after, while we were at said check up, we brought the speech delay to the doctor. He asked us how many words Trys used consistently. The answer to that was a solid 10, but the norm for 2 year old is between 100 to 200. This revelation got us an appointment to the Speech Pathology department at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. The wait time was about 1.5 months.
We did not worry much about it until I met a random mom at a soft play establishment. We chatted while our kids played and I mentioned to her Trys’s speech delay. It turned out that she worked with autistic kids and told me that Trys was showing some signs of autism. She suggested that when we attend the speech pathology appointment, I should bring this up to the doctor.
That was the first time the big A-word was dropped at my feet. I honestly did not know much about autism at the time, aside from it usually rearing its head around age 2. I thought I did, though, and Trys did not fit into what I thought I knew. I admit I was taken aback when this stranger said ‘autism’. I took a minute to process her words. Yep, definitely didn’t fit but the seed was planted. I spent the days leading up to the speech pathology appointment I read about signs and symptoms of autism. There was no way that my cuddly, happy, little Trys fit into what I was reading. When the appointment finally came, I had to know for sure so I told the doctor about the suspicions regarding autism. The doctor performing the assessment switched from focusing on speech, to assessing for autism.
We walked out of that office showing 6 out of 10 flags for autism and referral to the Seattle Autism Centre for a full diagnosis. A couple of months later Trys had a formal diagnosis and that was our beginning.