HI again - question about eval
Find a Conversation
| Tue, 10-18-2005 - 8:00am |
HI,
Ok, so I told you all the eval with the dev ped went great - she said no less then 5 times that our DD was not on the spectrum in any way - not even mildly, she said that she thought this within the first 5 minutes - but after almost 2 hours - said she could say with 100% certainty. BUT - I get the full eval write-out in the mail ( her dictation) and it says "I do not believe this child falls on the spectrum" and that her behavior was more condusive to a language delay. She went on to say ' she does not meet the criteria for a spectrum disorder and blah blah blah.
My question is - why did she say so unequivicaly say that she did NOT have it ( even joked with us about getting out of her office) and then in the write-up it sounds like 'she just thought my DD was not autistic " ? When I tell you that she was gushing that she did NOT have a spectrum disorder - that would be putting it mildly, she even went on to say that this was her favorite kind of appt - a reason to celebrate. What gives?
Why didn't she put that in the report??

The language one uses in an official written report will be diferent than the language used to reassure a frantic parent. I am guessing it took her about 2.5 seconds to figure out your biggest fear, which was why she pushed the point so hard with you. However the language used in the report is probably the official way to say the same thing.
Professionals rarely say things like "100% sure" on paper -not because they are NOT 100% sure, but because something could theoretically happen; say the criteria for diagnosing an ASD change in the next few years, and then they are on paper as being "wrong". OK -that's a highly unlikely scenario, but you can see whee I am going with this.
I really wouldn't stress about it.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
I wouldn't stress either. That is pretty much the standard language used by professionals on diagnostic reports like that.
I have had the opposite where a professional will tell me my child was "definitely on the spectrum" then write that "they believe..". In fact it is only since they have gotten older that they use the stronger words of "meets the criteria for..." and even then they often refer to an older report by saying "X has been diagnosed with ......due to ....they meet the criteria for ....". In otherwords they are just agreeing with the folks who before only believed that the child had autism.
It is not an exact science and they have to be careful how they word things.
Renee
I call this the "CYA" factor. Being married to a PT, I've come to realize that medical professionals are incredibly talented at saying what needs to be said, without putting themselves in a position where liability could become a factor!
What gets to me, DH does with at home as well! I'll ask him if he wants to do "X" and he'll respond with "possibly"- UGH!
Amy W.
thanks everyone -
I figured as much, but knew you ladies would know for sure.
I will probably keep lurking and popping in from time to time if you all don't mind - I've gotten some great ideas from you all even though my DD has a different dx
thanks again