The Misdiagnosis

The past month for me has been mind blowing.  As you might know, my son was "diagnosed" in kindergarten with PDD-NOS (a very mild form on the Autistic spectrum).  For years, we have tried to get him into Autism programs but they had a year waiting period.  I thought he had a gluten intolerance so looked into severely limiting his diet from milk and wheat products.  During this time, I would sporatically receive articles from friends in parenting mags about children that were misdiagnosed.  By the end of each article, I would be crying and jealous.  Great for those moms, but not for me.  I saw how out of sync my brother was with other children growing up, and he was never diagnosed with anything.  It was my greatest fear to bring a son into this world and give him "my geek genes."  To get to the point, his pediatrician recommended he be seen for his anxiety.  He was accepted into a program through CHOP and the University of Penn who wrote the book on a 12 step anxiety approach that is now being used as a standard.  What was mind blowing is that they are not convinced he ever had PDD-NOS.  They believe that it was his anxiety all along that made him act as if he had autistic tendencies.  The greatest of those anxieties, they believe, was separation from me.  The doctors have full confidence he will come out on top.  It's nice to think he doesn't have to have a label put on him anymore, but wondering what a quality of life he would have had if he had gotten this help years earlier.  It's nice to be on the other side of this now, to know what direction to go to move forward.  When all is said and done, my children will truly be my life's greatest accomplishment.  Do you know how many gray hairs I have after getting off the schuylkill expressway every time?