487 SelfWork: Hope For Autism: A Conversation With Dr. Theresa Lyons

Autism is a diagnosis that’s feared by parents whose beloved child’s development seems off.

Dr. Theresa Lyons, a scientist and autism parent and expert, has lived this life. She and Dr. Margaret discuss what it was like, how she coped, and the professional and personal advice she has to offer.

 

Dr. Lyons own words on discovering the autism diagnosis...

“I knew something was wrong with my daughter. I just had this intuition. This knowing. That things just weren’t going right. My daughter was developing but there was just something not right. I had a nagging feeling and everyone kept telling me to ignore it and that everything’s fine but I ignored myself and that’s what I get really mad about.”

“We got the autism diagnosis and it was devastating. I was upset for my daughter. But I was really upset at myself because I didn’t listen to myself. We started going from doctor to doctor to try to see how she could get healthier but those doctors would just say, “Ooh that’s just autism.” And it was like we were back before the diagnosis when I said something was wrong and people told me not to worry.  I was determined not to make that mistake again!”

Parenting is hard enough when your kids don’t have this kind of struggle. Dr. Lyons let us know that she struggled to stay emotionally afloat when her daughter was having meltdowns – as any parent would,

Recent research on autism…

Dr. Lyons reports on a recent and well-validated study that shows that 37% of those diagnosed with autism actually “lose” their diagnosis, meaning they no longer demonstrate or struggle with the major criteria for the disorder. This is incredible and very hopeful news for parents and autistic children alike,, although the idea of “non-persistent autism” seems to have been known for quite a while.

But here are her words on her website “Navigating Autism”about the study.

Here’s a quote directly from the research article,

“Children with higher baseline adaptive functioning scores and girls were more likely to have non-persistent versus persistent autism.”

“While all the children in this sample received interventions and most received autism-specific interventions, the intensity of interventions in the 18 months after autism diagnosis was not associated with autism persistence. That is extremely important to understand.”

Please share this episode with those who would benefit from Dr. Lyons work. Her book, The Lyons Report, was first published in 2020 and includes a list of all the names and contact information of practitioners in the United States who have the appropriate training to treat children with autism – and want to do so. It’s an invaluable resource! And a revised edition is coming out soon!

My deep gratitude to Dr. Lyons!

By the way… 

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