What is Austim?

For those who are not familiar with Autism, here's the Wikipedia definition



Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old.[2] Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood.[3] It is one of three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs), the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (commonly abbreviated as PDD-NOS), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or Asperger syndrome are not met.[4]

Autism has a strong genetic basis, although the genetics of autism are complex and it is unclear whether ASD is explained more by rare mutations, or by rare combinations of common genetic variants.[5] In rare cases, autism is strongly associated with agents that cause birth defects.[6] Controversies surround other proposed environmental causes, such as heavy metals, pesticides or childhood vaccines;[7] the vaccine hypotheses are biologically implausible and lack convincing scientific evidence.[8] The prevalence of autism is about 1–2 per 1,000 people worldwide, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report 11 per 1,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with ASD as of 2008.[7][9][10] The number of people diagnosed with autism has increased dramatically since the 1980s, partly due to changes in diagnostic practice; the question of whether actual prevalence has increased is unresolved.[11]

Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life.[12] The signs usually develop gradually, but some autistic children first develop more normally and then regress.[13] Early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help autistic children gain self-care, social, and communication skills.[12] Although there is no known cure,[12] there have been reported cases of children who recovered.[14] Not many children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, though some become successful.[15] An autistic culture has developed, with some individuals seeking a cure and others believing autism should be accepted as a difference and not treated as a disorder.[16]

You can read more about it on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

The Day of the Evaluation

Today we went into Dr. Harris's office to do the evaluation for Tomas.  This is a day we have been wondering about for months, if not years, and it is finally here.  I have to admit we are nervous about the tests, and how Tomas will react to being in a room with complete stranger for what we understand willl be at least 2 hours.

After we arrived to the office, we were guided to the conference room, where eventually we were met by Trea and Dr. Harris.  After a few minutes of small talk, they took Tomas to the evaluation room, and gave Emily and me several forms we were supposed to fill out independently of each other.  This makes sense to us, since often parents have different ideas of what is going on with their child, and a complete view from both sides will help the evaluators build a better profile.  We were pleasenty surprised, after finishing our questinnaires, that we agreed on MOST of the issues that were in them.

After we were done, we spent a few minutes talking with Dr. Harris.  He explained what we could expect with the results, and prepared us for what was to come.  I gotta say that both Emily and I were pleased with the meeting. We are at peace with whatever results we got (a week from today), and really had already made up our minds that unless the results were negative, which was highly unlikely, we were going to move to Texas in the near future to give Tomas the best opportunity for a good life.

Blue Bell & San Antonio

It all started on a Sunday

Our journey really started today, Jan 01, 2012. Trea, a good friend of my brother-in-law Chris, agreed to meet us to do an un-official and informal evaluation of Tomas.  For the longest time we had been struggling with the notion that he might have Ausistm, but in Panam we always had been told that "No, he definitely does not have autism."

Anyway, we spend almost two hours with Trea, talking about Tomas and sharing our experiences with him, as he observed him play, do puzzles and interact with us.  In a nutshell, he said what we always suspected, but never had accepted:  "Tomas, to the untrained eye, seems to be a normal boy.  He is a social, happy boy. But he is severely delayed in his communication skills and maturity.  He is probably mildly autistic, but I recommend a formal diagnosis."