The Cost of Autism

I have sat through many conferences and seminars on autism. In one such event early this year, a woman was giving a testimony on how Auditory Integration Therapy (AIT) brought wonders to her son with autism.

She said, "it is a bit expensive, but I am willing to try anything, spend money on anything because if I don't, I will never know whether it is effective or not for my son. After all, if it means that he will get better, pera lang yan (it's just money)."

I sat there stunned but commiserating with her. I would do anything, give up anything, spend anything for Anton's recovery. Then as I was about to sign up for AIT, I stopped myself. I was not thinking clearly. I was swept by the tide of hope that this woman had brought to the room. I knew her personally from another place and I believed she was telling the truth. But I realized, "my son is 3, hers is 7. I will do AIT after I have exhausted (and failed in) all other traditional means."

I bought an autism journal, "A Day at a Time" from Fully Booked. In it I listed recent therapies and supplements Anton has used. I also used the journal help with toilet-training.



By listing down what it was we were currently doing, I was able to see where we were still lacking. I had speech therapy twice a week so I decided to increase frequency to three times a week. I felt that better communication skills would help Anton in other problem areas as well.

Upon the dev. ped.'s recommendation, he now has SPED (Special Education) tutorials once a week. This was important, she said, to ensure that Anton is coping and absorbing concepts taught in his regular preschool.

We continued occupational therapy (OT) sessions twice a week, focusing on behavior modification and sensory integration. I also actively scheduled trips to new places like restaurants and malls in order to desensitize him to new environments. As for me, I began recipe-testing of Gluten-Free, Casein-Free (GFCF) dishes.

All in all, our schedule looked like this:




An ASD mom I recently met asked me in a (sort of) demeaning tone, "isn't that too much? Won't he be stressed?" I said to myself, "I have until age 6 to make a dent. When he's 7 he can slow down; but not now when it is most critical and most effective.

Just today, I watched Anton while waiting at the therapy center. He went to the SPED room at 12 noon, then after an hour stepped out and went into the OT room. After OT at 2pm, he went to the Speech Therapy room. I watched him "swing" from teacher to teacher, looking for signs of stress in his face. I knew he was tired (and maybe hungry) but right before his 2pm "speech" session, he was in the hallway saying "sunflower, sunflower" while smiling. I knew then that he would make it 'til the end. And he did.

My husband always scoffs when I say, "pera lang yan." At P 14,000 a month on therapies, it is not small change we are spending to help Anton get better. But one look at him now and we can see how all the time and money invested in Anton has paid off. We are in a good place and making steady progress.

During a visit to the dev. ped. last week the doctor said that kids with ASD who are diagnosed early have specific milestones that they have to meet by age 5. In panic, I asked, "so is that the deadline, 5 years old?" The doctor looked at me, smiling, and said, "what are you talking about? Anton has already met the 5 year old milestones... he will be okay."

My heart leaped and tears filled my eyes. No matter what my husband or anyone says, pera lang yan.


Watch out, world!