Michelle San Miguel | 6/9/2012 Many young children develop autism in their early years. Although researchers are learning more about the disorder, it remains difficult to diagnose. As two mothers in North Dakota discovered, the disorder is not clear-cut and, in some cases, it can take several trips to the doctor before a diagnosis is given.
Not many people pass through this small town in south-central North Dakota. And that`s just how the people of Fredonia like it. The town`s youngest resident is just three-years-old. And it`s not just his age that sets him apart.
"He has autism. Nobody else around us has it," said Brandy Kracke of her three-year-old son.
Kracke says she knew her son, whose name she asked KFYR-TV not to mention, wasn`t developing normally when he was just four-months-old. That`s when he stopped making noises. She drove him to doctors around the state, making stops in Jamestown, Fargo and Minot. Kracke says doctors there couldn`t figure out what was wrong with her son.
"He kept telling us boys develop later than girls so it`s nothing to worry about. His speech will come. He`ll go back to how he was. Not a big deal," said Kracke in response to what a doctor told her about her son.
Mindy Iverson of Bismarck also had trouble getting her four-year-old son Jack diagnosed with autism. Like Kracke, she heard much of the same information.
"A lot of people just were like oh he`s just a boy. You have too high expectations for him. Stop comparing him to others and so I would kind of then oh yeah I am. I`m trying to have you know this super child here. Just let him be who he is and he`ll develop," Iverson said.
But both moms persisted that something wasn`t right with their children. Kracke suspected her son may have autism and spent hours online learning more about the warning signs of the disorder.
Kracke said, "We needed to keep pushing because it was well suspected that it was autism. And we knew that the critical years to get him the help he needed was before he turned three."
Last October a Bismarck doctor gave Kracke the diagnosis she long suspected was the case. "It took eight minutes for him to tell us he has autism and there was no question in his mind," Kracke said.
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