SAN ANTONIO – District Attorney Nico LaHood’s beliefs about childhood vaccines causing autism that are featured in a new documentary have renewed a long-running debate, but Terrie Ruiz said it doesn’t matter why her daughter, Katie, has the disorder. She just wants her daughter to get the care she needs.
“It’s different for everyone,” Ruiz said. “This is where we are now and we have to move forward.”
Like many in the autism community, Ruiz said they had to endure waiting before Katie was treated, which was two years after her family first noticed the changes.
“Shortly after her first birthday, she just stopped. It’s like the light went out,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said her daughter was crawling, babbling and wouldn’t make eye contact.
“She wouldn’t give hugs and kisses,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said first it took six months to get a referral, a long list of physicians.
“They all had a year to year-and-a-half waiting lists just to get tested, to see if something was wrong,” she said.
Ruiz said they jumped at a six-month wait to finally get the diagnosis confirming that Katie had autism. Then came the search for therapy.
“What can we do? Where do we go? Who do we call? More waiting lists,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said Any Baby Can of San Antonio, which helps families like hers, referred her to the Autism Treatment Center on Nacogdoches Road.
“She was already 3 when she got here. Some wait until they’re 5 or 6, because they can’t get in,” Ruiz said. “We were blessed.”
Ruiz said thanks to the treatment center’s behavioral analysis therapy, Katie has made remarkable progress.
“She makes eye contact. She plays. She seeks your attention now,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said she’s also worried because Katie has one year left in the program.
“I’m scared. I’m really scared,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said schools have their own waiting lists, which is why many parents drive to Austin, or elsewhere, where schools do have openings for autistic children.
“Everybody’s on a waiting list. We need services for our kids,” she said.
Cynthia Hamilton, the development director for the Autism Therapy Center, said the problem is the lack of trained therapists.
“The professionals who are trained to do the behavioral analysis therapy, we don’t have enough of them,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the center has partnered with UTSA, which teaches them, and the Children’s Hospital to offer paid internships, in hopes of keeping therapists in San Antonio.
As for Katie, Ruiz said, thanks to the therapists she calls angels, “I’m looking forward to one day hear her voice, hear her talk, saying ‘Mommy’ again.”
Courtesy: Terrie Ruiz || Katie Ruiz Gallery