Local parent joins autism walk

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, Apr 19, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Christina Davis, a Milwaukie resident, will be participating for the first time this year in the fifth annual Autism Walk-a-thon, held on April 22 at Oaks Park. (See sidebar)

“I am trying to give back to the community, and also to be an example to other parents. If it wasn’t for the Autism Society of Oregon, I would not have had as much help, and I want to make other people aware,” she said.

Davis is raising her 4-year-old granddaughter, Jacqueline Davis, who was first diagnosed with autism in November of 2005.

“She was born in Gresham, and we took her to a pediatrician, because she was not responding to us talking to her, or to loud noises. She was referred for a hearing test, which is pretty common for children with autism,” Davis explained.

Jacqueline passed the hearing test, and then the situation became “tricky,” Davis said, because she did not have custody of her granddaughter at that time, and it was up to the girl’s mother to follow through on the diagnosis.

“She was in denial,” Davis added.

In less than nine months, however, Davis was granted custody, and she took her granddaughter to another clinic in California.

Then the pair moved to Milwaukie in January of 2006 and Davis took Jacqueline to OHSU to be re-evaluated, and she was again diagnosed with autism.

“Usually an autistic child is evaluated during the first year, and it is evident by the time they are 3 years old,” Davis said.

There is a spectrum associated with autism, but Davis noted that “when [children] are diagnosed, they don’t tell you to what degree [they have autism]. So I have just focused on what I need to keep working with her and improve her skills.”

Davis said she “got involved with the Education Service Department of Clackamas County,” and added that her granddaughter “goes to therapy through the ESD. She is in a pre-school program where she gets occupational therapy and speech therapy.”

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