I am the parent of a 21 month old "high functioning" autistic GIRL ( I'm in NJ also). I actually have an appointment to see the Dr Ming who was mentioned in the story for late fall. Caitlin gets early intervention, speech and occupational therapy and I have seem much improvement over the past 3 months from when we first got the diagnosis. IMO socialization with others is not a problem for her, her main deficits are with her expressive and receptive language. I'm not putting this out here to start any sort of debate but FTR, my daughter did NOT receive the MMR vaccine and I am not convinced this is the culprit of the increase in diagnoses.
This caught my eye in light of your week from hell. Do you think there could be any relationship? You know Caitlin is in my prayers everyday, and I know your determination is going to give her the best possible outcome.