Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 6/10/2011

Question
My daughter has just turned 3 and she is on the ASD scale.  But it will be awhile yet before we can get in to a specialist and start therapy. Naturally, as a mom, I'm worried about her and what this means for our family and I don't want to wait until things get worse before I start helping her.  Also, we are expecting a new baby in a few weeks and I know this adjustment will be extra hard for my daughter.  I need some help!  She is by no means 'classic'.  For example, eye contact is not a problem, nor is physical touch, or aggression, and she will engage in conversation (on her terms) with good language skills.  A lot of our issues are behavioral in nature (routines, selective hearing, repetitive behavior, inability to distinguish emotion).
I could really use some tools in helping her adjust and process (especially to a new baby and how that will change the dynamics in our home) and helping me and my husband adjust as parents.  But everything seems to be geared towards the more severe cases and I can't find much on how to transition kids who are on the mild end.  We will likely not be able to get her in to a specialist before the baby comes and I am afraid of how this transition will affect her - because she is very mild.  I admit to being afraid that this transition will make things worse.  I want to help her as much as I can prepare for this.  Can you recommend some tools for all of us??

Answer
Hi Sarah

Usually, this allexperts question answering service is limited to direct questions that we can answer in a letter. But your request is very open-ended and requires a lot of special individualized attention. There would be no way for me to help you in just this format.

But that said, I can help you via a phone consultation. During that consult, I would get specific information regarding your daughter and the problems that you are encountering with transitions. Then I could set up specific recommendations for you to follow that would help her with the issues you are presenting. If that is something you would like to do, please email me at info@valerieherskowitz.com and we can set something up.

Otherwise, you can send in via this service, specific questions, and I would be happy to answer them.

Hope to hear back from you.