Dual diagnosis

To those of you who know Joel only by brief association, this may come as a surprise. For those of you who know him well or work with him in church or other capacities, it will not surprise you.

Along with Down syndrome, Joel has autism.

We have suspected it for a long time. We had the school autism team test him at the end of this school year and they came back with the result that he is "moderately autistic". However, it did not change anything in his IEP. I don't completely understand that. But they had already chosen a different placement for him for next year, before the testing, so that's probably why.

Here is an article sent to me and many others in our local Down syndrome group. I found it immediately helpful and interesting. Click on the title: "Autism in children and adults with Down syndrome"

I wish I'd had that article before the testing was done. The people involved could find little evidence that this type of dual diagnosis is even common.

After all of the evidence we've seen in him and heard about his behavior in class... and reading this article, I now know in my heart that Joel probably does have autism. I'm sorry and relieved at the same time, these things are always like that. But it helps us --and hopefully others who work with him-- to understand him better.

I love him just as much! He is a joy to us. Very challenging and oh, so interesting! But most of all, he is our son.