Do you want to see a difference in what can happen?
These two girls are the same age in this picture...
Both girls are non-verbal at this age..
The girl on the left, is the older sibling..
The girl on the right, is the younger sibling..
The girl on the left, has a Mom that is battling doctors and tells them that their daughter only has developmental delays...
The girl on the right, has already been diagnosed with Autism...
The girl on the left, has a Mom that won’t give up, takes out every loan possible to put her daughter through weekly Speech therapy, OT and PT privately.
The girl on the right, has Medicaid (and probably SSI) and can get all the therapies for free and ABA therapy...
The girl on the left, is battling feeding issues and allergies. Mom is extra burdened with doctors that haven’t a clue what is going on. They keep telling her to try everything she can to get protein in her and just deal with the daily stomach pains and throwing up... This is when Mom can pop out the extra funds to go to the GI doctors..
The girl on the right is eating away with no issues...
Both girls seem to have really bad ADHD. The girl on the left goes untreated because it is just common for kids to be rambunctious..
The girl on the right is probably getting medicine and told to do therapy..
The Mom on the left never gives up. She calls the school, gets a semi-placement. When the school doesn’t assign a place, the state department of education helps her sue her own school and finds her not only placement, but a speech therapist is assigned to her, 30 hours a week... Over top of the Mom spending 4 nights a week, in a private therapy office... Money going out faster than it is coming in.. Parents fight, both knowing that they are doing everything they can and they are seeing progress but it is so time consuming.. Mom spends 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times a day, between running to the therapy office and then dance studio (when PT stopped working, we switched to dance, which was not only cheaper but way better and helped with social skills)...
The girl on the right, went the a daycare facility, then back to a motor shop. The parents didn’t even seem the care to get extra help nor therapy for her. I don’t even know what her afternoons looked like but totally different than what the girl on the other side looked like...
As the years went on, the girl on the left potty trained at 6 years old, with lots of help of therapist and teachers...
The girl on the right, still isn’t potty trained...
Now, these girls are 1 year apart.
The girl on the left, is preparing to take her first SAT this year and looking at colleges. She is even enrolled into a step-up program for a major college, just for teenagers on the Autism Spectrum that are in college/ready track.. She may still have some apraxia issues with speech and talks like a college professor but her friends love her dearly and she has a great sense of humor. She may never be able to drive but she loves her parents, can express vocally her wants and needs and is just an awesome teenager. Her parents have fought in her corner and finally got her diagnosed at 11 years old with Autism and finally at 13, were able to start getting help with medical bills and found out that she has a medical allergy condition/disorder...
The girl on the right, is being used by her parents as a cash cow.. Still is non-verbal and will never live alone without a caregiver..
The difference? The girl on the left, is my oldest daughter... The girl on the right, is Abbie..
Please tell me, how A&P can flaunt the “we are Autism Parents, we know all and see all...” If they did, they would have fought harder, longer and done what needed to be done, so many years ago... Sadly, they missed out...
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