It's been a long time coming but Jason and I finally had our final appointment for Jackson. We have found out that Jackson does have Autism. The assessment was scaled on a 3 point scale 1 being mild and 3 being severe, Jackson scored a 1 on social interaction and behavior and then a 2 on language. Which the language category was not anything too surprising. What this means for us now...it was recommended that he start ABA therapy which is Applied Behavior Analysis therapy at 25+ hours a week, he will also need to continue to go to speech therapy.
Jason and I have already started looking into options as far as ABA therapy goes and we are thinking that center based therapy would be best for us. This means he would go to a center for a half a day and work one on one with an ABA therapist opposed to having one come to our home. However, as always there is a waiting list for most ABA therapy locations. So we are going to contact our insurance and see what they cover and who they work with and hopefully we can get on a waiting list soon. In the mean time Jason and I are going to attend a workshop on ABA therapy in March in hopes that we can start to incorporate some of the techniques into our home now and get a better understanding of ABA therapy and what it all entails. Of course I have already started doing my research online (I honestly started doing a little before diagnosis). Also, our doctor gave a list of 4 recommended books based on his assessment that may also help.
Jackson will have to be reassessed every few years because since he is so young his score may change on the scale and it is also a time for us to reevaluate his therapy and make changes if needed. Right now we are not sure what the future will look like for our little man but with each assessment we will be able to compare his progress and as the years go on we will have a better idea on what to expect. Right now we are going to take it one step at a time and hopefully do what is best for him.
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