Took G to the mall today. There was the man with his 2 kids. English was a second language to them. His son starting getting into G face. The man reprimanded him and apologized to me. G had ignored the whole incident stared past the kids like he wasn't there. The guy then said his son was autistic. I told him no problem G is also and I am working on his socialization skills.
(there was more like he was trying to get his son to engage G in conversation, not G strong suit so that didn't go over well).
Then he was telling me about his daughter who is also on the spectrum, she is 6 looks like she is 4 (he wanted to know how old G was, told him almost 4 who looks like he is 6). She is non verbal and getting very few services. He had not a clue that in NYS as long that there is a medical dx the child is medicaid eligible. He didn't know where to find resources for his daughter. He was relying on the school district and was being let down. He didn't know that if he disagreed with the IEP he didn't have to sign it, and he can fight for other things.
He and his wife have no support for the kids, it is just them. By the time he left I had given him a list of different resources to look into.
Over all I felt bad for this family, just because, I know that if I wasn't such a research person, I also wouldn't know half the things about autism that I do. It also made me realize that with a lot of places you get a dx and sent on your merry way. With the advice you can use our agency or not. But there isn't a ton of follow up given. Plus it depends on where you get the dx from.
Not only are the kids over looked but the family as a whole gets overlooked.
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