What to do when your child gets a Diagnosis

When your child receives a diagnosis of Autism, Delayed Milestones, Sensory Processing Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder, Down Syndrome, or any other diagnosis. It is very easy to feel overwhelmed and not know what to do next. It is very easy to feel a mixture of emotions from confusion to frustration to sadness (and everywhere in between). While our initial reaction may be to go to Google and ask family/friends about what they know about the diagnosis. We need to be careful with this; while there are many great resources online, there is also an equal amount of misguided, misleading, and downright wrong information. We need to be careful to whose information and advice we listen to, and make sure that it is credible.

When your child receives a diagnosis, it is a good time to reach out to a therapist, and schedule a screening or evaluation. This way you can make a plan of what steps to take next to help your child. It is very important to remember with a Diagnosis is and what it is not. A diagnosis is simply information – it is not a predictor of whether or not your child will be happy and successful in life, and it is not a reflection of the child’s upbringing and parenting. A child with a diagnosis is like any other child; they want to play, laugh, smile, love, and be loved; a diagnosis does not take this away from them. Each child is special and unique regardless of a diagnosis, and each child continues to need Love and support from their family so they can continue to grow and learn about the world around them – a diagnosis does not change this.