Waiting a year

My son is 3 1/2 years old and he shows many signs of Autsim. He was tested by the school system in my area and I was told that he needed to be seen by a Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician but it will be a year before they would be able to see him. Is this the Norm?? Do parents have to wait a year in order to find out what is wrong with their child?

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Dear Jadensmom,
I understand your concern as a mother, and I am sure you want to find answers as soon as possible. I am not a specialist in child neurology or behavioral medicine but I will do my best to provide some help.

I can't speak for other physicians or medical institutions but unfortunately it sometimes takes a long time to get in to see a specialist due to the limitations of the schedule and the number of patients who want to get in. I am not sure what are your options given the other factors like insurance...etc. but I would suggest looking around in other medical facilities or institutions. another thing to do is to use the internet as a portal to gather more information and may be join online groups who have shared interest in the same issues.

You can start here at medhelp, there is a Child Behavioral Health Forum that is moderated by a specialist and is located at: http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/132

There is also a new Autism forum located at: http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/85 and is meant to focus on issues involving  Autism. Please note, this one is unmoderated

Good luck, I hope you find more answers soon.

[alchris]

there is a forum called autsimspeaks.org (I hope I remembered this correctly) but check this out.  And in my opionion you should not and hopefully will not wait a year.  I have never heard of this.  Please do what ever research you need to do to get your son tested, with autism the sooner the better because children make remarkable strides when this is caught early.  I hope you find the website I seen on TV and it helps you grealty.  Please dont wait a year.