CUMBERLAND PLATEAU, TENNESSEE – Lakotah Frye wants her story to be told in order to help others. Not too long ago, Lakotah was in many of your shoes, reading patient stories on AsYouAre.com to soak up as much as she could about the process. In fact, other moms who shared their experiences helped her make the decision to schedule an appointment.
She said, “I was put at ease by the whole situation.”
Make no mistake, this has not been an easy journey for Lakotah or her family. Lakotah says she echoed concerns about her son’s behaviors for years. Around two years old, she would notice that Anderson would rock back and forth, would progress and then regress when it came to speech, would always play with toys the same way, and would have a difficult time getting his attention, among other signs. Lakotah came across As You Are in a Google search, looked at reviews, and decided to put in a benefits investigation. She scheduled the appointment, and in the end loved that all of the visits were done over telehealth.
“I thought it was amazing. My son has a lot of trouble with doctor’s appointments. He doesn’t like them very much. I thought it was really cool that I was able to do that at home, where he was comfortable, and could be himself and show the things I was concerned about,” she said.
She says the doctor was extremely “patient and understanding” during the video calls. When it was time for the results discussion, Lakotah describes her emotional reaction to hearing that her 5-year-old has autism.
“I was mad. I wasn’t mad because he had autism. I was mad because I was ignored for so long because I knew,” she said.
Since her son was officially diagnosed with autism by As You Are, Lakotah is thankful that she has been able to finally take those next steps for her son that she has been desperately seeking.
“Since the diagnosis, the school has set up more things in his IEP to help him. It’s been a lot emotionally but the outcome has been great. Now he can reach his full potential,” she said.
Do you have questions about your child’s development? The team at As You Are provides diagnostic evaluations for kids 16 months to 10 years old via telehealth appointments along with useful resources, including an online autism screening. Learn more at asyouare.com.
