Early Childhood Intervention and Autism

La Patrona and I have 4 children. Both boys are on the autism spectrum. Our oldest, Boy#1, has Asperger’s Disorder which is typically a high-functioning case of autism. If you met him, you would think that he is very intelligent and a bit on the eccentric side. He has an extremely high IQ and very poor social skills. He needs some help maintaining his composure at school, but is mainly just like the other kids.

Our youngest boy, Boy#2, has been diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified, the dreaded PDD-NOS. He is four years old and does not speak in sentences. However, he will occasionally read a few pages out of one of his board books to us. He flaps his hands and often will not look you in the eyes. He has difficulty walking and doesn’t run. He’s a happy kid who is also very smart, but more locked away than his brother.

Boy#2 has received intensive therapy through the College Station Independent School District. CSISD has a autism-specific program at its College Hills Elementary program that took Boy#2 when he was 3 years old. They have been a blessing and made huge amounts of progress with him using specialized teaching procedures for kids with autism. I cannot speak highly enough of them.

Boy#2 also receives speech, occupational, and physical therapy from Brazos Valley Rehab. They do a good job with him and we are pleased with their programs as well. Especially their Hippo-therapy where the put the boy on a pony and ride him around an arena. He loves it and really looks forward to hippo-therapy days.

Early Childhood Intervention was the key to getting Boy#2 the treatment he needed. Our doctor was dragging his feet on diagnosing Boy#2 with anything, but we knew something weird was going on. The babysitter for our youngest daughter suggested we call ECI, an organization we had never heard of. We called and within a few weeks, they had an initial diagnosis and had started treating Boy#2’s symptoms. Without their help, it would have taken us longer to get Boy#2 treated and we would have lost valuable time. ECI also led us through the requirements needed to get Boy#2 into the pre-school autism program which has led to such wonderful results.

Boy#2 is not a normal kid by any stretch, but he’s getting there. Without ECI, we would never have been able to get him the help he needed at such an early age.

If anyone has any questions about autism treatment in College Station, please email me at devilyack at gmail dot com.