i think that may be one of the many things that are different for everyone. good luck.

As parents, we had our suspicions regarding autism. Our first speech therapist agreed that our son was most likely somewhere on the spectrum. The school district where we used to live tested my son and placed him in special ed under a 'mental retardation' diagnosis. That could not have been further from the truth, but they said it was necessary for him to gain access to special ed until further testing could be done. Thankfully we moved to another state. The official diagnosis came from a doctor at our children's hospital's autism center.

There was too many drs to count. Yes, I was very frustrated. I found I got a diagnosis from a speech pathologist of all people before I actually got a formal diagnosis from a doctor. She knew him the best and worked with him the best and then the school district let her go. I did everything I could to get them to change their minds. I read your story and found a lot of similarities for high sensory issues. Michael's were taken away with brushing him daily and getting him OT services. Hope this helps.

Never saw a doctor per se..oldest son was assessed through mental health and my youngest has never been given a clinical diagnosis but has an IEP in place.

evak77 makes some really good points. When my husband and I decided not to take our son, Liam, for any more evaluations by different doctors, we had to give up any help that we may have been able to get from our insurance company or the state. Without an official diagnosis of Autism, our insurance company will not pay for any speech or occupational therapy so we have to pay out of pocket for those services even though we have testing results that show he has deficiencies in those areas.