We just got the diagnosis... now what⁉️

🌬 The first thing you need to do once you've received the diagnosis is BREATHE. Everyone has different experiences leading up to this moment and throughout their journey. People will respond and process the information differently. All feelings and emotions you experience are completely valid. When you first get the diagnosis is ok to cry, ok to be scared, ok to be angry, ok to grieve ... no one can tell you not to have those feelings. They're yours to feel. You have that right! You could celebrate it if you want. Some people do.

🔹️This is a post from our community about what location offer the most Services: [https://m.facebook.com/groups/403585854124106/permalink/785603252589029/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/403585854124106/posts/785603252589029/?__cft__[0]=AZX1l9IeIB3ritk8i5yFIA-XpmivcvC131bkYiIHDS6fp7bK_y74Ks8AjurdOt5LhsFg-J3ie4EEpfl1rcTcX9y8n9h_ns3ma04_-oLLECyWOoJ4eh1-9KLWV1G3Le2g6xBDgoR6nrJ9GHZw22HzyD8w&__tn__=-UK-R)

🔹️ This is a post from our community providing some Advice to those who have just received there diagnosis or began suspecting Autism: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/403585854124106/permalink/788016825681005/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/403585854124106/posts/788016825681005/?__cft__[0]=AZX1l9IeIB3ritk8i5yFIA-XpmivcvC131bkYiIHDS6fp7bK_y74Ks8AjurdOt5LhsFg-J3ie4EEpfl1rcTcX9y8n9h_ns3ma04_-oLLECyWOoJ4eh1-9KLWV1G3Le2g6xBDgoR6nrJ9GHZw22HzyD8w&__tn__=-UK-R)

🤝 We are here to offer you a virtual support system and to help educate. We accept everyone here, not just parents and caregivers. Please feel free to invite whomever you want to join us here on your journey through, after or even before diagnosis. We invite them to learn as well and get support from others. We have a lot of grandparents, foster parents, aunts, and uncles already here in the group. We do also have a sister group that you are welcome to join. It is geared more towards older children and teens but is available to anyone.

🔹️ Children & Teens with Autism, our sister group: [https://www.facebook.com/groups/3177517862481750](https://www.facebook.com/groups/3177517862481750/?__cft__[0]=AZX1l9IeIB3ritk8i5yFIA-XpmivcvC131bkYiIHDS6fp7bK_y74Ks8AjurdOt5LhsFg-J3ie4EEpfl1rcTcX9y8n9h_ns3ma04_-oLLECyWOoJ4eh1-9KLWV1G3Le2g6xBDgoR6nrJ9GHZw22HzyD8w&__tn__=-UK-R)

🗝 There is no cure for Autism. There is therapy and there is YOU. You will need to try guide your child. Not every child will grow up and have a family of their own. Some never speak or become self-sufficient. Some will require 24/7 care. This is definitely not the case for everyone, but it is a part of life for many. A lot of children do improve with therapy, patience, love, and guidance. Nobody can foresee the future, only time holds the answers. Here is a summary of different therapies that may be available to your child.

Please review our Therapy Featured Post for additional information on each of them

🔸️ Speech Therapy (ST) - addresses challenges with language and communication

🔸️ Occupational Therapy (OT) - helps people work on cognitive, physical, social, and motor skills 🔸️ Physical Therapy (PT) - can help acquire new motor skills, develop better coordination, and more stable posture, develop motor imitation skills

🔸️ Feeding Therapy - can expand the diet of an autistic child and help to change negative behaviors related to eating and feeding

🔸️ Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) – can improve skills like: Communication and language abilities, Social skills, Self-care, and hygiene routines, Play and leisure skills, Motor abilities

🔹️Give yourself and your family some time to process the information and begin to plan. Remember the diagnosis has not changed your child. They are the same today as they were yesterday! With the diagnosis you should have received a recommendation for therapy.

Begin looking into what your insurance coverage looks like for the services.

Start researching and contacting companies that offer the services you would like your child to receive. If your child is under the age of 3, they may be eligible for Early Intervention services. If they are nearly 3 or over, they may be eligible for Special Education services through the school system. Therapy is typically offered with both Early Intervention and Special Education.

Please review our Therapy Featured Post for additional information on each of them (link to be provided below).

Please do find a link to our Resources post below to get an idea of some various resources that you may be eligible for. Don't forget to check out your local resources. Your County Health Department should have information on their website as to what's locally available. Also, check with your local Developmental Disability Officer (link available in the Resource post).

🔹️ Here’s a link to some tool kits including a 100 day checklist: [https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-speaks-tool-kits](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.autismspeaks.org%2Fautism-speaks-tool-kits%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1w66yhQBSkdyOguuOiVcNxvwIeyTYL__B-OrC5KpJx80sfMO_YMmlyQc8&h=AT20cfI8_yxCypVVDTTHVpoBc2r1yqgTxZQ3c4E0cSLpLalaDiPMrCxHjiPy9pipNko9s1F1XvkaOn9mc_HShIYqJmZWSyEoTmH1sZpY_2ZAhEs_6XxchgZJbDyaq1t1_2ms&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT0V7N5nOa2PffuWaHsgutf40dK0KL_MB14QbRkK8XzbPPlyYFu2n2d8nIDqhOqwNE-IpzHogR3q-9CNx5Gnd6A9MBThvyxxfwvIxZdY4WTPy_EdLNmWaIaWyO07s0jWMNnUonmptduBIGzasU7-FnSqaMw0fYhjw-IvJCQ)

📢 One final thing for us receiving the new diagnosis… read this!

WELCOME TO HOLLAND by Emily Perl Kingsley I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...... When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

🌐 Link Section:

Here are some links to resources

🔹️Here’s a link to some tool kits including a 100 day checklist: [https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-speaks-tool-kits](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.autismspeaks.org%2Fautism-speaks-tool-kits%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3Xb7XuT6tt87u-52m2iEVMGBUV3KKC3UStfZ9rLsajg6ED1gi3E9W81_0&h=AT20cfI8_yxCypVVDTTHVpoBc2r1yqgTxZQ3c4E0cSLpLalaDiPMrCxHjiPy9pipNko9s1F1XvkaOn9mc_HShIYqJmZWSyEoTmH1sZpY_2ZAhEs_6XxchgZJbDyaq1t1_2ms&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT0V7N5nOa2PffuWaHsgutf40dK0KL_MB14QbRkK8XzbPPlyYFu2n2d8nIDqhOqwNE-IpzHogR3q-9CNx5Gnd6A9MBThvyxxfwvIxZdY4WTPy_EdLNmWaIaWyO07s0jWMNnUonmptduBIGzasU7-FnSqaMw0fYhjw-IvJCQ)