Hi there,
My son was recently diagnosed as severely autistic at the age of 18months. After initially thinking he had a problem with his hearing and undergoing extensive appointments and testing with audiologists, we were referred to a specialist for developmental delay who started the appointment by saying she wouldn’t be able to make any form of diagnosis on the day and after around 30 minutes with her she said she had to go back on her initial statement as it was very obvious he was on the autistic spectrum. When I asked where she would place him on the spectrum she informed us that in her entire career she had only ever diagnosed one other child as young as him and that he would need significant support throughout his life in order to be able to make any progress.
To say it was a shock to the system is a complete understatement, we have two older children so knew that there was a delay in his development but were completely unprepared for the diagnosis we received.
I just feel like a deer in the headlights, I have no idea where to turn next, all of my friends with other children have had no experience with autism directly and neither have my family, I feel like I have no support network surrounding my son and his needs. Even simple things like we have been strongly advised to get him into a nursery ASAP but told he will need a one to one support worker to be with him at all times (he is completely none verbal and shows no response to sound therefore has no communication skills and no perception of danger etc.) but I have no idea where to start with finding a nursery that will cater for his needs.. and no idea if that has to be funded by us or not? We are definitely not in a position to be able to financially afford that..
Sorry to ramble on so much in a first post 
hoping for some kind words of advice
x
