what is it like?

What is it like to be told your child has an autism spectrum disorder?

I don't know what it is like for most people.  I only know what it was like for me.  I know that sitting there looking the school psychologist in the eyes suddenly I felt a little faint.  Maybe a bit light headed.  I was disconnecting from my emotions because I didn't know how to handle it.  Disconnecting was my way of dealing with it logically, pragmatically.  "Okay." Was pretty much all I said at first.  I was very calm, collected (probably in shock).  She assured me it was all going to be just fine and that he was very high functioning.  He (and we) were going to be just fine.  I'm sure I nodded in agreement.  "Of course, we just needed to know so we can help him."  She asked if I had suspected something like this.  After all I had brought him in to be evaluated.  Even if I had somewhere in the back of my mind suspected, I hadn't suspected.  I told her that I wasn't sure what was up, but we knew we wanted to find out so that we could help him as best we could.  I was very rational as I took the information I was given that day and said I would do everything that they recommended I do.  I thanked them, got my kids in the car and went home.

Just like one ASD child is totally different from another, I'm sure our experiences being told they have ASD vary greatly.  But I bet we all have one thing in common, it changed our lives.