We love you Italy, but back to Holland we go

     In the fall of 2014 after Melanie had turned 6, we decided to have her re-evaluated. After being told that she no longer had autism but simply ADHD, I knew something wasn't right. I spend hours doing research on what exactly is ADHD and what the signs were. In my search, I never found the signs Melanie showed as a toddler. Those signs kept leading me back to autism.  For the next evaluation, I presented the evaluation from 2010, 2012 and a form filled out by the pre-k teacher and kindergarten teacher. I wanted to make sure the psychologist had all the information available.
     A few weeks later, we received the diagnosis that I knew we would received. She received a diagnosis of high functioning autism. I honestly felt relieved because I knew that the diagnosis was now correct. We were given the choice to do evaluations every 2 years but we decided that it was no longer necessary. I know that Melanie will always be a little different from her peers and will have some struggles.  The good part is that the older she gets the easier it is to re-direct her and teach her about what "life" is about.