Step Two

I think something else is happening with my child: am i going to have to go through the same process again?

Your child may now be displaying symptoms or engaging in behaviors that are new. You ask around and you realize that these symptoms and behaviors are not part of your child’s condition. You may do research or listen to the professionals already working with your child and  learn that many children with your children’s condition end up getting a secondary diagnosis sometime during the middle childhood years.

Here are a few examples:

• A child with autism may get a secondary diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder;
• A child with Down syndrome may get a secondary diagnosis of autism;
• A child with epilepsy may get a secondary diagnosis of an intellectual disability;
• A child with cerebral palsy may get a secondary diagnosis of hearing loss;
• A child with any special need may get a diagnosis of a medical condition, such as celiac disease (see full Glossary) or epilepsy.

You may not know what to do or where to go. You may not have been prepared to go through another phase of referrals, assessments and diagnoses.  You may also worry that professionals in both the medical and allied fields may not believe you, just like some of them may not have believed you when you were going through the assessment and diagnosis processes the first time around when your child was under six years of age.