The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

However, I’m not here to tell you my story as a professional educator. No, today I want to tell you my story as the mother of an autistic boy who has struggled to overcome the obstacles that Hispanic autistic children face to get an education.

I have two sons: Cesar, who is 14, and Eric, 5. Two years ago, Eric was diagnosed as autistic. When Eric was born, we didn’t notice any differences with other babies. He had his regular check-ups and the doctors didn’t notice anything unusual. We noticed Eric didn’t speak, but we didn’t pay too much attention because our older son started speaking very late too, at about 4.

We lived in Texas for many years, and then we moved to Florida. That’s when we got the first call. Eric was 2 and a half years old, and during a regular doctor's visit, the doctor noticed that Eric didn’t speak. He referred us to different specialists for his evaluation. He had audiology and neurology tests. The neurologist diagnosed him with a mild autistic condition. A speech therapist agreed.

Eric was diagnosed as suffering just a 2-month speech delay by the Lee County School District Early Steps Program. At age 3, Eric started full-day school classes. However, our insurance didn’t want to cover treatment for his condition. We were told we’ll have to wait for medical results to ask for changes in Eric's diagnosis.

Obviously, this whole situation changed our lives as a family. As the mother of an autistic child, I wanted to know more about this condition. I had worked as an early child educator, but I decided to start working with autistic children. Maybe I could help other kids and Eric as well.

After 2 years in Florida, we moved back to Texas, and I believe the contact with family, cousins and friends his age was beneficial for Eric. He developed social skills and was able to show and receive love. This may sound strange, but for me it was important because Eric wasn’t able to give me a true hug until he was 4.

When we returned to Texas, I had to struggle to enroll him in a special education class. The school district imposed many requirements to admit Eric. At home we speak Spanish only, as do millions of Hispanic immigrants in the United States. But Eric is a U.S. citizen, and we understand English is the language of this country, his country. So, we started teaching him short commands and sentences in English because that was the language he learned at school and from TV.

For my family this was shocking, but as a mother and as an educator, I had to do what’s right for my son.

In Florida, Eric had started his education and therapy in English, so we didn’t want to switch to Spanish and add to his confusion. But when we moved back to Texas and tried to enroll Eric in school, I was told Eric had to attend a Spanish-only class because he is Hispanic.

In Florida, the school district didn’t impose anything on us. We just told them we wanted Eric to be taught in in English, and that was it. No more questions asked. But in Texas, I had to knock on many doors and talk to a lot of people in the school district to convince them that I wanted Eric to be enrolled in English classes. And yet, the school officials weren’t very convinced. That was the first obstacle we had to overcome.

The second struggle came with a wrong diagnosis by the school district. According to Eric’s evaluation , he was diagnosed with speech delay, and my husband and I were looking for the definitive diagnosis so that he could receive appropriate treatment. We knew Eric’s speech delay was a consequence of the disability and we asked the school district for an evaluation. The school district’s result was that Eric was mentally retarded.

Of course, I totally disagreed with that result and I had to sign my disagreement in the ARD (Admission, Review, & Dismissal committee). This is the name of the committee responsible for making the educational decisions for a student. The parents, or adult students, are members of the ARD committee.

We had two previous diagnoses from a therapist and a pediatric neurology doctor in Florida that said Eric was autistic. Besides, I work with autistic kids all the time, and according to my experience, I knew Eric was autistic.

There were errors in filling out the paperwork and questionnaires during Eric’s evaluation at the school district.

So, I requested a new evaluation, and after a year of MR diagnostics, they called a special ARD meeting and agreed to do another evaluation. One month later, the school district called me and said, “Ms. Garcia, you were right. Your son has moderate autism.” The school district agreed to change Eric’s curriculum to focus on autism therapy.

My eyes watered from happiness. I know we lost one whole precious year of therapy and development that could have helped Eric. Even worse, I had to fight tooth and nail so that my son received the right diagnosis against the “official” opinions. I was able to get the right diagnosis because I’m bilingual, I have a bachelor’s degree, I’m a professional teacher and I work with autistic children.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about so many Hispanic families with autistic children who have to go through this process to get their sons and daughters the right education… and can’t do so because they don’t know what to do.

How many misdiagnosed autistic children are not getting the right therapy? How can they ever develop and overcome their disabilities?

In this journey you have to keep yourself upbeat, be positive, have faith, and most importantly, know your child and your family. Use all the resources you have and provide everything you can to help your child develop.

My husband and I started studying books, researched the Internet and attended conferences on autism, anything that could teach us how to help Eric develop his skills and knowledge. We realized most of this valuable information is published in English only.

As I said before, I'm bilingual and professional. However, I can't stop thinking about those Hispanic parents of autistic children, who lack the English skills to have access to all of this information. More needs to be done.

That's why I proposed to start doing my part for my community. I suggested creating a special education class at my church to teach religion and spirituality not only to autistic children, but to include any boy and girl with special needs.

Also, I'm planning a tutoring class for Hispanic families to inform parents about all the available information I had to dig out after years of research. And I want to do this all in both languages, English and Spanish. It will take time and a huge effort, but I think it is well worth it.

Why am I doing this if I only have one autistic son? Because I want autistic and special children to have the best opportunities to develop their skills. It sounds as a huge task. And it is --  well over my capacity.

But I want to do my part, as small as it may be, to help out in any way I can. Because I want great things for autistic children.

What do I want for autistic children?

As a mom: I want them to be able to express their needs.

As a communications professional: I want them to be able to communicate with others, especially family.

As a special education teacher: I want them to be able to learn, from simple to advanced lessons.

As a Sunday school teacher, I would love autistic children become full members of our communities as their parents and relatives are.

This is not compassion. It's their right. Because no matter their color, race, religion, national origin or first language, this is the right every living human being deserves.

At first I didn’t have any clear answers to help my son, but this gave me the courage to learn about autism and help other families who are struggling with their kids. Now I work with severely autistic kids.

The specialists and doctors have to tell you the facts: there is no treatment to cure autism. But there is hope for our kids to develop their skills and have better lives, with dignity, love and success.

Love, patience and faith kept me on my journey and I can say it is worth it. Today, Eric knows all the letters of the alphabet, their sounds and can count to up to 50. He is starting to speak in simple sentences, and he can even read five-letter words. Right now, he is learning to use the computer.

Keep positive. We all have a journey to take.