I still remember the pit in my stomach as I walked out of the doctor’s office with my son, Neil. When he was younger, his aggressive behavior, self-injury and sleeplessness were all dismissed as simply “part of the autism.” Instead of digging deeper for a cause, we were told to see a psychiatrist and get him medicated.
This dangerous lack of understanding came to a head when Neil, who is non-verbal, was in terrible pain, and was discharged from the hospital without a proper diagnosis. We made it to the parking lot but had to rush him back in, with tears of desperation. He was then admitted with a perforated appendix as the diagnosis. The providers were caring, but they were not prepared to assess or treat a child with autism or an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD). This lack