I Am Officially Impressed....

I contacted an autism specialist yesterday via email.

I have been thinking about how weird/crappy it is that they give families an autism diagnosis (an incredibly complex thing) and then just basically kick you out the door and expect you to pretty much figure it all out on your own after that. Aaron is a vastly different child than when he was originally diagnosed. We didn't know the severity of his speech problem at the time, we thought his autism severity level was a lot less than it actually is, and we knew nothing about autism in general. When the original doctor asked me "Do you have any questions?" all I could think to ask was, "What exactly is autism?" I was so relieved to finally have a diagnosis...an answer to this awful mystery...I couldn't think of anything else to ask.

My questions now would be wildly different... I know a lot about autism now, I know a lot about my child as it relates to autism now...but autism is rearing its ugly head more and more lately and pushing aside my sweet, funny baby boy...our lives are all getting more stressful. I want us all to be happy...especially Aaron.

I asked my husband recently what he thought about having Aaron reevaluated by an autism specialist. At the very least we would get an up to date diagnosis (the diagnosis won't change but the status or severity of some things will and that is important), some practical advice specific to Aaron...because every single person with autism is different so most advice from books/internet is so general it's not helpful...and I would not be a complete moron during all these appointments like I was the first time.
I do not want to talk to anyone (doctor) unless they know about autism more than just a fleeting class in medical school. I want an expert. Having to explain this to people over and over again gets so tedious and frankly it's impossible to explain, it makes me want to punch myself in the face.

We live in a very rural area in Wyoming. There are not any autism specialists in Wyoming. I couldn't even get Aaron diagnosed in Wyoming, I had to take him to Nebraska. My husband and I are originally from Denver and we have family and many friends there so I figured I would look there. I found the Rocky Mountain Autism Center. The doctor there is a published author, very well respected, and has been working exclusively with autism for 35 years. I emailed his office yesterday and asked if he would be willing to see us. I said I knew that we geographically couldn't take advantage of any of the therapies that they offer there but I wanted my son to be seen again now that he was a little older.

I assumed I would get an email back from an office assistant or someone similar advising me to get a doctor referral and then to fill out some paperwork and they would get back to me or something like that. That is not what happened at all.

This morning, only about 18 hours after I sent my original email, the doctor called me himself on the phone and talked to me for almost 45 minutes! He was one of the nicest people EVER!! He said he looks forward to opportunities where he can assist rural families like mine who don't have access to all the resources that a big city offers. He wants very much to meet Aaron and our family and do whatever he can to help us help Aaron.

As usual I have no high expectations, but I don't see how we wouldn't walk away from this without some useful information specific to Aaron and that is all I really wanted in the first place. Color me impressed....