The Start

Welcome to Ren’s first blog! 

As a parent with a beautiful child with autism, I hope to share our experiences that may be helpful for other parents. Learning goes both ways, every stage is new to me as he grows, so do share any advice you have as well along the way! 

For parents who just started this journey, please know that you are not alone. It can be scary, full of worry and (expenses!), but believe that things will work out and help is always available. 

My story is one of the many out there, and as it began, I was incredibly lost. Not so much lost emotionally, just consumed with what I need to do? What he needs? Should I be doing this and that? I don’t know anyone with autism nor have I been exposed to autism? And why is this happening to us, is this for real? Was it me, did I eat too much mala during pregnancy? Was it the coffee? Or did I push myself too hard at work? I can tell you, the blaming on yourself doesn’t go away. Take your time to rationalise and focus on what will be the best for your child. 

Ren was in pre-school and about 2.5 years old when his teachers highlighted to us his meltdowns, social behaviour, being self directed and not joining group activities..etc. I like to cut to the chase and asked if they were trying to tell me he has some form of developmental issues. They suggested we visit a developmental paediatrician. I remember a lot of thoughts going through my mind, but I was very focused on finding help. 

Eventually, I found a paediatrician and made an appointment. On our first visit, the doctor mentioned a few observations immediately and flagged it to us. At this point I think before the visit I was half thinking that he was probably fine just delayed, but then it began to become quite real that this more than what I thought it was. As usual, I got to solutions mode and asked what we need to do and confirmed all the psychological tests, therapy assessments right after the session. P.S. they allocate you a certain time for the visit, and every 15 minutes over will cost +~$200 more. So just a consultation can easily hit 500, just talking to the doctor. 

So we did the assessments and psychological tests which took a couple of months for the results to be ready. Finally when it was ready, they sent us the results and we had another session with the doctor. It was quite technical and I was pretty lost, all I knew was that, we had to work on Ren. 

This first blog went on a little longer than I was planning to! I will be sharing more details about what classes we went/are going to, what it is meant to help with and also the cost that might be useful for parents beginning on this journey.