Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist ================================================================
Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day.
I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism
and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.
I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).
Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.
Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.
Experience I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.
In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area
(AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).
Education/Credentials None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !
Question my son is 4 years old and is not speaking clearly- it is sometimes hard to understand him. he definitly understands me and follows instructions but he just does not speak the way a 4 year old should at this point. i got hime evaluated by school district and they think he just needs speech therapy from a private therapist. they said at 4 years old he can not qualify for special education services just for speech my privsate insurance won't cover it - they say it is the school's responsbility - what do i do
Answer Hi Pam,
sorry, this is a question I cannot answer, as I'm not familiar with neither the insurance system in the US nor with what services schools normally should provide to special ed kids.
Maybe go back to the people where your son got evaluated and explain your situation (that your insurance won't pay for your son's speech therapy) and ask *them* what you should do, or else ask someone else here on allexperts who is in the US (best someone who works in special ed or is a spreech and language therapist or else a parent who has been through this before).
Best wishes, and sorry again for not being able to help,
C.
