Waiting on the Diagnose (the absolutely worst part).

While we witnessed that Rasmus lost his language and most of his social skills, I began an intensive self study on the Internet and I quickly realized that Rasmus had infantile autism.

My wife and I arranged an examination at our doctor. The doctor concluded that there was nothing wrong with Rasmus.

We were now in a unusual situation. We, Rasmus's parents, knew that Rasmus had infantile autism, but we found it difficult to convince the public authorities about it.

Normally, it is the parents who denies the situation, but here the problem was opposite.

I now spent all my time, plus half of the nights to obtain information about autism and the all known treatments and I quickly realized that early intensive and targeted efforts were crucial for reaching Rasmus's development potential.

This knowledge stressed me to a unprecedented level since the weeks, yes, even the months passed on and I could not progress the case.

When we finally had convinced the public professionals in the fact that Rasmus had to be examinated, so came the next shock. There was 6 months waiting time on an examination. This we could not under any circumstances be waiting on.

Our situation was pretty bad. Rasmus would not sleep at night, it was difficult to cope with my job, when my average sleep was 2 to 4 hours a day. We were looking for tools, including a ball duvet which might help Rasmus to sleep, but we could not get any help before there was a diagnosis on Rasmus. We went through a very tough time. I spent all my free time to sit in front of my PC to write e-mails to various public agencies and at the same time to acquire knowledge of various autism treatment methods, while my wife was fighting to keep the children and the house in a decent condition. After I was putting maximum pressure on the authorities, they shortened the waiting time on the examination to 2 ½ months.

The examination went as expected. Rasmus had infantile autism, just as we had predicted. The Child psychological department showed great professionalism and arranged that the examination should consist of a parent interview at the hospital and a home visit where they could observe Rasmus. This setup meant that Rasmus not, in any way, were exposed to stress during the examination.