Need help finding local Autism Resouces for Testing. (MO)

I have an amazing (just turned 4 years old) son.
My son does have some issues primarily in speech... delayed.
He's been tested for a variety of things (i.e. hearing, visual, developmental)
Through-out all his testing nobody has really ever revealed a true diagnosis of any kind.
I do know that they have catergorized him as having "scattered skills".
He's above average in certain areas but delayed in speech and communication.
He really doesn't speak full sentences at most uses two or three words at a time to express his wants or thoughts.

Autism has always floated in conversations but never actually directed as a possible issue regarding my son.
I honestly believe my son has a form of Autism, not as severe as some of the cases I've seen, but I do feel he falls under this category.

I need to have this resolved and try to help my son before it becomes too late...

Does anyone by chance have and good resources of place that do Autism Screenings in Sedalia, MO
or the Kansas City, MO area. I have tried just about every number I can get ahold of but if they don't send me to a voice mail, put me on a waiting list or just plain don't have any information I'm really getting nowhere.


If there is any information that anyone may have I would truly appreciate it! Thank You.

[ddaniell]

Contact your pediatrician and ask him to refer you to a Pediatric Neurologist.  Official diagnoses come for MDs.  The school can suspect but the MD gives the diagnosis.  Another name for Autism is Prevasive Development Disorder.  They used this term for my son for years.  Some States require the diagnosis Autism to get the child State funds.  My son was changed to Autism when we moved to Vermont because he could not get help without it.  Check your area for a Pediatric Neurologist who specializes in Autism....some have more of an interest than others.  

Good Luck!

[888mom]

You really need to get him seen by a doctor.  Verbal apraxia can also create problems with speech.  So can a language processing disorder or an auditory processing disorder.  My sister had a form of that, not autism, and had to be in speech and language therapy through 5th grade.  She later got straight As in high school and college.  Therapy helped immensely.  She still has problems with spelling and remembering the right vocabulary words, but she's really smart and compensates in lots of ways and overcame a lot the older she got.

Well, good luck.  HOpefully your son is going through the school system (early childhood education) or getting speech therapy or some sort of help.  States are required to give you a free evaluation and offer these things to our children.  Your pediatrician's office should refer you to an appropriate doctor.  But you don't need a diagnosis from a doctor to start taking advantage of the school system, that is if you haven't already done so (sounds like you might have if you've had him go through all that testing).

Developmental pediatricians also diagnose autism as well as other disorders and language problems.  We saw one of those since A) he was highly recommended in our area and B) our insurance covered him whereas the pediatric neurologist who was highly recommended was not in our plan.  Finding that out is important.  What is covered.  What isn't.  We found out after the fact that the team of therapists the doctor had who did the eval had a deductible before they were covered.  Turned out that i had other medical expenses for me that year, that it didn't matter in the end because we way met our deductible that year.  We would have done the doctor and team of therapists anyways... but we would have budgeted in advance for it instead of getting a bill in the mail and being surprised.

[justamommyof2]

Have you contacted Judevine Center for Autism?  I work in the Columbia office, but there are many projects throughout Missouri that you can contact.  There is usually a waiting list, but once your son is assessed, you would recieve services in your home, school, community where ever the needs are.  You will need to have a case worker through the Dept of mental health and all services are free.  Feel free to contact me at ***@**** if you have any questions.  Good Luck!

[lsautism]

Cindy,

I am in Lee's Summit and I am the President of the Lee's Summit Autism Support Group.  http://www.lsautism.org.

You must be careful of which doctors you go to.  There are a lot of doctors, in Kansas City, that misdiagnose our kids.

The treasurer of my group has a son with apraxia.  We are pretty sure that he does not have autism.  He has all kinds of diagnosis.  Even the experts can't agree on him.

Feel free to contact me and I'll give you all of the information that I have.  Or check out my website.  It has a list of service providers.

Sherri