What are some good resources for learning what these kids need from us healthcare workers? I wasn't taught about autism in school, haven't run across any good continuing education about it. Just discovered this site yesterday, are there others I should be reading? Books? Suggestions for me? I don't want to make the experience any more difficult than it already is going to be -- even normal kids can make me dread coming into the exam room, not knowing if they'll be needlephobic or not. When I find out the child has autism, I just feel doubly worse because things can escalate so quickly and to so much worse levels. I know they can't help it, but if there's something *I* can help, I want to know about it, not just "This is going to be a challenge."

I love that you called the office beforehand. I try to call all patients before their test so that I can answer questions, and pediatric patients get my first priority, but not everywhere does that, so some parents will call us before the test to find out exactly what's going to happen to prepare the child. You may think you know what they're going to do by googling or previous experience, but protocols vary from place to place, and they change based on current evidence, so it's always worth a check.