www.autism-and-treatment.com
by Marcia Hinds – Megan and Ryan’s Mom
I was on Denise’s List this morning. One of the mom’s from this yahoo support group I belong to was looking for a psychiatrist to help her son. In her post she said the psychiatrist she had gone to said her 13 year old would end up in jail. Sometimes I think our psychiatrists sometimes have more issues than our kids. And here is my answer to that mom…
Please don’t listen to all you are told about autism by those “experts.” When Ryan was first diagnosed, we walked into the psychiatrist’s office ready to find answers. But our “autism expert” didn’t have any. The specialist we waited months to see, showed no compassion when she ripped away every dream we had for our child.
This “autism expert” said…there was no recovery from autism, no cure, and no hope.
The doctor went on to say, “The best we could hope for was that our son might end up running a computer in the basement of some company, where he wouldn’t have to deal with people.” And just like the psychiatrist said to you, our “expert” finished us off by adding that most of these children end up in institutions or jail.
Even though my son is now an aerospace engineer, getting there and overcoming his autism diagnosis took more than twenty years. Our autism years were filled with mistakes, guilt, wrong turns and frustration.
This doctor gave my son a life sentence to a special education classroom that would eventually lead to a group home. Whenever I asked other “autism experts” if anyone ever recovered, their silence was the answer I didn’t want to hear.
The solution to the autism crisis seems complicated, but in reality is simple. You just can’t believe all you’ve been told. There is hope if you know the truth about autism. The doctors who helped my son believe autism is a complex medical condition caused (in most part) by an immune system that is not working properly. Physicians who know how to treat autism medically understand that once the body works, the brain follows. Ryan only began to make significant progress after we abandoned the idea that autism was a developmental disorder.
Without any discussion, my husband and I knew we would never be going back to that shrink who diagnosed my son. Her pronouncements me angry. I was sure the psychiatrist was wrong. I prayed she was wrong. I didn’t want to accept Ryan had the A-word. I couldn’t understand how an autism diagnosis resulted from filling out billions of forms and a twenty-minute observation of Ryan, but somehow it did.
And I was determined to prove her wrong! I used my anger towards that “expert” many times in the years to come when I had nothing left to give Ryan, and he still needed more. Anger and outrage kept me going many times when Ryan’s autism left me unable to breathe. Anger worked when I was too exhausted to get up another day and fight. All I had to do during the desperate times was revisit that day in the psychiatrists office. I would get angry all over again and would continue my mission to prove her wrong. I was determined to show her that my son would be okay. I have. But, her inaction taught us an important lesson. Even though there were professionals to help us, we would be the ones ultimately responsible for the decisions affecting Ryan.
When Ryan was in middle school, my dream was that maybe someday he could hold a job at McDonalds and maybe live independently. But I wasn’t sure that was possible back then. I never imagined my quirky weird kid could accomplish all he has. And today he is leading a “typical” life. Most importantly he has friends and is happy. That is what I wanted most for him. Now Ryan does all the things the experts said could never happen.
Listen to “the experts,” then do what they say can’t be done.
NOTE FROM MARCIA HINDS – Megan and Ryan’s mom:
Ryan became an aerospace engineer, because he received proper medical treatment combined with behavioral, and educational interventions. To preview my book, “I Know You’re In There – winning our war against autism”go to Amazon or my website www.autism-and-treatment.com
Contact info for Marcia:
Phone: 805 796-8213 Email: For help finding a doctor marcia@autismandtreatment.com
There is more info to help on my website.
