| When I met my neighbor Carl one day he was | | | | was autistic. Abnormal behavior like repetitive acts |
| pretty worried about his two year old daughter | | | | could be symptoms of autism. So what should |
| Marie. He said that she did not behave like a | | | | Carl do? |
| normal kid and wondered if she was autistic. | | | | I told him he must get professional help. Even if |
| I told him to look up the autism symptoms in the | | | | Marie was autistic, it is not the end of the world. |
| Internet and compare them with Marie's behavior. | | | | But only a professional like a psychologist, |
| The next day he was even more concerned. He | | | | occupational therapist or speech pathologist can |
| told me that he did read about autism in the | | | | make the proper diagnosis and start treatment if |
| Internet and now he is even more convinced that | | | | necessary. |
| Marie has a problem. | | | | The best and cheapest option is to visit the next |
| I asked him what his daughter is doing that | | | | public elementary school and request an |
| makes him believe that. He said that Marie did | | | | evaluation. It is free of charge because they are |
| speak about 70 words but had some kind of | | | | required to do this evaluation by law. |
| speech delay. She also had a behavior problem. | | | | This evaluation is fun for your kid and nothing |
| She was throwing around toys like mad, switches | | | | harmful. The therapist will play with your kid for |
| the light on and off all time and also closes and | | | | several hours and find out if it reacts normal or |
| opens the doors again and again. | | | | not. Carl got this evaluation for Marie and was |
| Beside that she liked to be alone instead of | | | | quite relieved to hear that Marie is not really |
| playing with her brother. The lack of social | | | | autistic but more a visual girl that expresses |
| interacting was worrying Carl. | | | | herself by throwing things because she does not |
| Autism symptoms are like that but there are | | | | know yet how to express herself verbally. |
| many others and this does not mean that Marie | | | | |