Strangers knew my child was autisic before I did.

I remember the first time a stranger said my daughter acted just like her daughter who is autistic. She (the stranger) was waiting on us a local family restaurant in our town. She called her older daughter, who was bussing tables, over to see our curly headed cutie and was going on about how our girl and her younger daughter with autism had the same smile, the same serious look and other similar attributes. Looking back I can see that strangers knew my child was autistic before I did. Was it really that obvious she has autism?

This stranger assumed we had an autism diagnosis, but we were still looking for answers.

I was irritated. How dare she assume my child shared the same diagnosis as her child? I was embarrassed, tired after a long day out with the family, and she just kept talking about autism. I couldn’t wait to get out of the restaurant.

I’ve always known my child is different than other kids.

I’ve always known my daughter is different from others her age. I knew from the time she was a year old that she was not developing the same as her peers. We intervened early and she has been receiving several kinds of therapy for three years now, but the gap has not closed very much.

After our pediatrician referred us to a behavioral health practice, and we began to really study her behaviors, we knew she had some autistic behaviors. But her new doctor still wasn’t convinced she was autistic. Honestly, neither were we.

Next came autism testing.

So we decided to move forward with having her tested by a physcologist. He didn’t take long at all after his second visit with her to diagnose her with level 2 autism. I was sad for her and for us too if I’m being honest, but I was also relieved to have some insight into how her brain works and processes things and why she screams…alot. Her diagnosis also explains why she gets so aggravated and why she bangs her head on things out of frustration, so her behaviors are making more sense to us now.

Frustration = how many children with autism feel.

Frustration. That is the word the physcologist said sums up autism the best. He said kids feel very frustrated, on a regular basis. Then that got me to thinking, how would I feel if no one understood most of what I was communicating? I’d get upset and scream and hit things too!

So now we are on a journey to begin to figure out this new world of autism, and from what I can tell, this may very well be a life long study.

Do you have a similar experience? You are not alone.

Monica lives in North Carolina with her husband and 4 children. She is passionate about fostering, adoption, marriage and helping others feel beautiful. Check out some of her other blogs on these same topics!

Here are some other blogs you may enjoy!

Want to know how you can support my blog?

1. Visit my website and use one of my links to go to Amazon.com when shopping.
2. Share this blog with your friends and on social media.
3. Comment on the blogpost themselves with your feedback and encouragement!
4. Read other blogs

Keeping it real…as an affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases made through my site. Thank you for using the links for Amazon purchases and allowing me to help earn income for my family. The commission I earn is at no extra cost to you.