As soon as I got home I sent an email to two of my friends who have children on the spectrum. One who has a son who had a similar diagnosis as Juliette and another who has a daughter that is much more further down the spectrum. Both said to me the same exact thing. PDD-NOS is a promising diagnosis and that most kids diagnosed with PDD-NOS, if they receive intense therapy and the correct services, can lose their diagnosis. PDD-NOS is the only diagnosis where you can "cure" autism.
The following are the symptoms they saw in Juliette broken down into 3 categories: social, communication and unusual behavior:
Social - impairment with eye to eye gaze, facial expression and body posture to regulate social interaction. She lacks initiation in play to seek shared enjoyment with other people.
Communication - Juliette is moderately delayed in speech. Although she is improving in speech everyday and talking a lot more, she does babble and uses jargon in between actual words to express herself. She also echoes, repeats words or phrases she hears on a daily basis. She also lacks in varied, spontaneous make-believe play.
Unusual Behaviors - Juliette used to flap her hands/arms when excited when she was younger. I haven't noticed this behavior lately but during the evaluation they noticed she likes to rub her fingers or flap them alot. She also likes to spin, usually she does this in her crib. She also likes to pull or twirl her hair.
So we definitely have our plates full with the amount of therapy Juliette will be getting from here on. With the support of EIS and her current therapists we should be good. I am just so grateful that I am able to stay home and not worry about juggling work and time off for her appointments. However, financially, with the out of pocket expenses we will incur, we'll have to tighten up our belts as insurance will not cover everything.