you do what works for you and your child. it never hurts to look into new treatments ect . just don't run on a false hope that this that or the other will cure his autism. autism is not a disease that needs a cure/ it is not life threatening. you are doing everything you can to help him thrive and grow to be the person he was born to be.you just keep your chin up stay positive [it can be hard I know} every one second guesses themselves from time to time.

I think you should keep an open mind. We put all our eggs in the ABA basket for about 8 years. And he made gains. But it was slow and so many things were impeding his progress. So in desperation I looked at other things and along the way, I wasted a lot of time and money. But I also found a few more things that were really important and helped him a lot. I regret the wasted time but it is what it is. Make sure you only add one new thing at a time so you can properly evaluate its effectiveness. Pick things that are least invasive at first. Also pick treatments that have helped many people instead of just a few.

I think it's a journey- we are very accepting of our boy now and our only goal is his happiness. In the early goals we were certainly looking for the magic curing therapy. I even get asked if I've given up. You know what's right for your child and your family as a whole.

@A MyAutismTeam Member I enjoyed reading your response to daps. Once I began seeing behaviors in my grandson, it didn't take me long to "accept" that he had a problem, and I thought it was Autism. I believe in tackling challenges head on. What's been difficult is that I didn't know *how*, but I've done the best I could, and that's all any of us can do.

I love that you are for doing new things. I've already been thinking of that, but been hindered because I've had to loan my car to my son for quite a while, and the weather hasn't been cooperative. I want to take him to the grocery store, and let his see and feel the various kinds of produce (for real) since he's not interested in looking at them in pictures. My feeling is that it would be quite good for him to experience these things (at age 2). I may have to talk to the store manager and explain what I'm doing, and I have read somewhere that some stores will let children have a piece of fruit. Whoever I talk to may think I'm "nuts" for asking such a thing, but I'll swallow any pride and do anything to help my grandson.

Also, I want him to actually *see* and touch animals, and we're fortunate that there is a petting zoo near us and I'm friends with a farm family, when in the spring, I can take him to both these places. At this moment in time, I'm very excited about all the ideas I'm getting from the forum, and things my mind just chances on. Prayers for you and your daughter. :)

Mentioned Users

A MyAutis...

It is not wrong to accept your child's diagnosis, it took a while for me to truly accept. One thing I have never stopped doing is trying different things with my daughter. My daughter is 9 and was diagnosed at age 4. She did not speak until she was 5 and it was only one word things. We were in the car and she started talking saying the things she saw "tree, truck, car". It was one of the best days, I was so shocked and happy to hear her little voice, finally. Before she started to talk her communication was crying, screaming, biting, which turned into pointing at things that she wanted, and that turned into taking me to the things that she wanted. She is 9 now and her communication is not where a typical 9 year old's communication is, but she can communicate most things. We are working on sentences now, she is doing quite well.

I know that autism is not curable, but I know that it is treatable, I believe this is why I have tried and still continue to try many things. I just want her to be able to live as independently as possible.

You are not wrong in what you are doing, but I will say that trying new things, things as simple as going to a different grocery store or a restaurant and different parks have helped my daughter immensely. As others have said you do what is right for you and your child :)