My world has been ruptured when I learn about autism and I really afraid that my son may be autistic. During my son’s development, I notice that he is delayed both physical and behavior since he was not be able to walk on his own at 2 years old and not able to follow simple instruction, not responding to his name, limited eye contact and delayed speech. At first, I and husband tell ourselves that he may be catch up since he was born earlier than expected (premature baby). I probably says that we are on the denial stage.
And finally, I and my husband decided to bring him in the Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician and his diagnosis was “Global Development Delay rule out Autism”. This diagnosis broke my heart since based on the articles I read, there is no such cure for autism. Another worry is we have not enough money to support for his needs.
The Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician told me that it is too early to conclude if my son is autistic since his age is only 2 and 8 months that time. He advises my son to undergo both occupational therapy and speech therapy and go back to him to see if my son is improving. According to him, there are some child that are left behind and able to catch up without any support but of course nobody know what will happen to the future so it is good to give any support that is available to help my son reach his milestones as soon as possible.
A child with global development delay (GDD) may be described if he or she is not able to reached 2 or 3 milestones in all areas of development including motor skills, speech and language, cognitive skills, social and communication skills. A child needs to undergo therapy session such as occupation therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy and other methods. The developmental pediatrician will discuss to you’re the right support for your child and how to get this support.
Some children may not be able to catch up on their delays after a series of therapy session because there is underlying condition that does not yet diagnosed. Sometimes it takes years to get firm or formal diagnosis of the actual cause of the development delays.
I just hope that my son will be able to catch up with the expected development milestone within 6 months. I am so afraid and stress about his situation but I believe that God will never leave us and I will continue to trust our Lord.