Prologue: How I Fell Down the Rabbit Hole

   Once upon a time, about 2 years ago,  my second born was diagnosed with Autism. Oh it wasn't entirely a shock to me and most definately not to my husband Marc. I always waited for my son Connor to achieve the next milestone, at first early (he was my son, he had to be a genius!) and then I just hoped he would reach that milestone on time (okay so he was just average). He always liked to wait until the last second to do everything; crawling, walking, etc. Eventually he did it. Then it was time for him to talk. I listened patiently for words. I compared him to other children his age who were starting to speak. I was told many times over by family and friends "he's just a late talker." At this point I was convinced but with a little voice of doubt in my head that I told to shut up on a regular basis. Marc was was not so convinced. We had him tested through our school district to get him into a preschool that would help him with speech development. Even though the program was mainly for children on the Autism Spectrum we didn't have a official diagnosis from a medical professional. I held on to that for as long as I could.  Then, 3 doctors visits, testing done by a team  of specialists, and several IQ tests later we were called in to speak to the team that tested him. As they entered the room, I noticed the chairs seemed to be sitting further back from us then they had been before. Then they told us our son was Autistic. Okay, so we were somewhat prepared for this, but why did they look as if we were going to flip out and go on the attack? My husband and I knew next to nothing about Autism at the time. The next thing I know, he is receiving speech therapy and the doctor is insisting that he needs several hours of ABA therapy, a team consisting of 3 people a psychologist, consultant, and therapist. All at the bargain price of $70-$80 dollars each. Were they serious!?  What on earth was ABA therapy anyway? A cure?  Were we going to spend the rest of our lives in therapy? Why was I getting calls every other day from a consultant asking what our plans were for him? Yep, that's when I fell down the rabbit hole. I have felt like Alice ever since.