Anything but I'm sorry is usually good. The first person I told said I'm sorry like I told them she was dying. It broke me and made me feel worse than I already did.

Just be optimistic and talk to them how you normally do. Let them know autism is not the end of the world for them or their child. Be an ear and shoulder if they want to talk. Help them research the next steps (therapies, early intervention services, etc). Just be a friend and let them know you're there. Honestly, that and this group is what helped me.

Definitely early intervention or look into patient therapy, speaks therapy and possibly aba. Also check with insurance provider as they may have a program that can blink you to a child psychiatrist to help arrange services as well.

Thank you all for the warm welcome and helpful responses. Greatly appreciated!

Personally, I hate the line about how there are things you can't say to a person with . . . (insert some condition). People mean well but a lot of us are ignorant on a lot of subjects if it doesn't affect our lives. A diagnosis isn't a crystal ball into the future and with some early intervention varying amounts of progress can be made.

ASD is a spectrum so wide that geniuses and people with limited mental abilities are on it. My daughter is somewhere in the middle but closer to the lower end of the scale. When she was little, a low point was the poop smearing and failure with the potty training. Now she's still behind her peers but she surprised me with her ability to read and spell, for example. She still can't add single digit numbers consistently. Yesterday she blurted out something about the Turkish flag. I asked her what it looks like and she correctly described it as an elementary school kid in a special ed class. The point is they have strengths and weaknesses.

Welcome to Mat Family