The Waiting Game

The Waiting Game is a cruel and unusual game any parent must play while wading through our addled medical system for a diagnosis of ASD.

The goal of the game is simple: Get to the end of the game still alive, whilst retaining as much money and sanity as possible.

What most parents don't seem to realise is there are proactive things you can be doing while playing the waiting game. Usually there are large gaps in between making the phone call for an appointment and the appointment itself. There are things you can actually do in this 'dead time'.

The main goal for children under school age going through the diagnosis stage is Early Intervention, research your options in your state. Most programs take children as young as 2.8 years old. Most programs also require things you most likely don't have yet; diagnosis letter, Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score, Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (colloquially Wippsi) or Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) depending on how old your child is, Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale (VABS) but don't let that put you off. Waiting queues are long and there's a high probability you will have at least some of these by the time your child's name is at the top of the list. Yes that's right, fudge it a little, twist the truth. It also gives you an added advantage of knowing what tests to ask your psychologist for. The psychologist will pick from a standard subset to perform, that's fine, but if you already know you need a CARS score for a service you're on the waiting list for, you can make sure that it's done. Don't assume it's automatically included in the list of assessments he or she will do.

To find Intervention Services there are multiple places you can start looking. Books, Websites, Maternal and Child Health Nurses even give the Autism specific services in your state eg. Autism Victoria, Autism Queensland etc.

While you may have your 'first preference' as to which program you would like your child to attend, you should never put 'all of your eggs in one basket'. I recommend you put your child on a minimum of 3 waiting lists, ultimately, it doesn't matter if they're on the waiting list for 10!! Even if you start a less preferable program, and 3 weeks later your first preference becomes available, you can always switch, any program is better than nothing at all. I know we were on one waiting list for 10 months, and we only came off it after a completely different service came through with a spot. Use your time wisely. Before long your child will be knocking on the door of Primary School, where they'll need all the help they can get.