Where do we go from here???
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| Wed, 10-12-2005 - 11:29am |
I want to make sure that I am on the right track for our plans.
A little background...ds was evaluated through the school and accepted into a ppcd program based on a speech impairment only. The autism specialist evaluated him during the school districts testing and at day care and witnessed several of his behaviors but said that that still didn't qualify him in the program based on a pdd diagnosis (we went to a neuro and he diagnosed him w/ pdd but the neuro didn't do a full evaluation).
Currently ds attends a special class for 3 hours a day with 3 other kids in his class. He receives speech therapy one hour a week with the other children also (NO one on one). The other boys receive OT also. Ds participates in the OT activities just b/c the other boys are but he has no OT goals written in his IEP.
When we did his first evaluation I completed a form w/ autism questions (dont' remember the exact name of it). Since school started the district has gotten a new autism specialist. His teacher said the socialization and stemming are a major problem. The teacher sends home the exact same form that I completed in Jan wanting me to fill it out again. I asked her if she was requesting another autism screening and she said no. HUH?? Why did I have to fil that out again? Teacher is already saying that next year we may want him to continue to be in the ppcd class for 3 hours and go to regular Kinder class for the rest of the day, then the next year he will be a "real" Kindergartener and go to Kinder all day, but still being pulled out for Speech or whatever else as needed. Basically being held back a year,but that's fine, actually what I prefer.
Academically ds is doing well. His counting has improved as well as language. He still has problems with who, what, when, why, where but the pronoun usage is improving. What I mean by his language is that he uses words I never even knew he meant. Could just be b/c he's getting older, I don't know.
At home he's getting somewhat "worse". The tantrums are so much worse, but they go hand in hand w/ his routine. If his day gets out of whack he freaks and throws fits. The intensity of the tantrums are what is concerning me also. He still has lots of sensory issues, echolalia (expect now when he does this he whispers it back to himself-anyone else do this??), has a hard time 'letting go' of a conversation.
My plan at this time is to go back to a neuro (actually a dif doctor than before. The first doc is an hour away plus I'd like to get a 2nd doc to seehim anyway. This neuro we are seeing last week actually saw him when he was 2 and I did not like him that much and basically he dismissed my concerns despite our pedi referring us. The ped said he things he has Asperger's which from all of my research, I do as well). I want to get a referral from this neuro to an outside place to get our own eval done. I've already spoken to the place and it will cost us about $800 total and our insuranc ewill not cover it.
After I get this eval, which I am confident will confirm the 1st neuro's and my thoughts, I am going to request another autism eval from the school district. After that eval get ds more treatment from the school as necessary.
Any other suggestions? Gosh, this is just so stressful. I never imagined I'd be dealing with this...
kate
ds 04/02/01
ds 02/10/05
