new to it all

[nimamom]

My 2-year-old son has an IFSP meeting this week due to his significant developmental delay in communication (intake and output). He has been evaluated by our county Regional Center and qualifies for the Early Start Infant Program. I'm not sure what to expect at this meeting.
My son has many autistic characteristics, but has not been evaluated or diagnosed with any of the spectrum disorders. In the IFSP meeting will that be one of the next steps along with his Speech/Language Therapy?
We live in S. California, so anyone familiar with the programs in CA give me any important info. I'll be needing this week.
Thanks

[SimonsMom]

First of all, take a deep breath because everything will be OK :)
My son was recently diagnosed ASD/PDD-NOS and I was SO overwhelmed, but things have smoothed out quite well over the last few months. Simon was 2 when I first took him to the Early Intervention Program, and they couldn't "diagnose" him with "Autism" but they did establish a significant enough delay to start him on speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, and one-on-one time with a special educator. They referred me to the local University, who has a great program, and they were the ones that actually did the "diagnosing." You are going to get a lot of information all at the same time; don't be afraid to cry ... seriously, it helps! ;) Try and keep everything organized and all together - I put together a binder with dividers for each program that Simon was involved in. That has helped me SO much! Being on lists like this, is very helpful too. Even if you don't post anything, necessarily, it always good to read about what others are going through so you don't feel so alone.
I haven't dealt with the CA system, but I hope this has helped you at least a little :)

[Dave]

Hi there, the link below is a page of many resources inside of California. Hope this helps in some way.
http://www.nichcy.org/stateshe/ca.htm