Getting Max's Diagnosis: Part 1

  This weekend i received an email from a new friend who's been reading my blog.  She says all she's known about autism before reading this is what she sees in the news about the rising rates of diagnosis, and all the standard stuff, but it hasn't really been real to her.
  i really appreciated her words.  This is part of my purpose in writing, to let people know what it's like to live with the condition.

Diagnosis Rate: Then & Now

  When Max was tiny, i didn't know even as much as you all hear on the news.  Autism WASN'T news.  In the early 1990s, the diagnosis rate was 1 in 1,000 children*.  A couple months ago, the rate was now given at 1 in 88 kids.

Our Road to Diagnosis

  Our route to diagnosis included a pediatrician telling us "Of course he isn't - he looks you in the eye and he likes to hug you," and a hearing test.  And the very first paper we received explained why we shouldn't consider institutionalizing our child.

The Big Bang Boom
  In 1992 we had temporarily moved in with my dad while we were remodeling.  One day this cabinet broke - minor earthquake?  No one knows why - the room was empty at the time.

  But we all about jumped out of our skin when it happened.
  Except Max.  He kept watching TV in the next room like nothing had changed.

Max at 2

Hearing Tests

  The day we had his hearing tested, he didn't respond to a typical hearing test, so we had to schedule an "auditory brain stem" test, which involved putting him under.  It took awhile to get the results back, but we knew the same evening that his hearing was just fine.  Probably above average.
  That night we had alarm salesman to visit.  Max watched his movie without reacting to the alarms.
  But the minute the movie was over, he was right with us to see what was going on.
*This link contains excellent, detailed information about the condition, as well as the above-cited figures.
to be continued