Monday, February 28, 2011
iPhone
i <3 my new iPhone. So of course the first thing I did was look up some patterns for ideas for a cover. I'm ordering a case but still want an uber cool pouch for it.... pics as it develops
Another Day... Another $$
What a crazy weekend. Wedding was great - pics will follow of the fantabulous things I made for it. I would have been on cloud nine but somehow was just too busy to really enjoy it. But it was a wonderful night - truly special. More to come....
Monday, February 21, 2011
ADOS results
So this post is about my son. That's really a book in and of itself. School has never been his friend but we were slowly but surely starting to gain ground. Then we moved to Florida. Florida is a cesspool of incompetence. It's so maddening when there's not even the tiniest attempt of masking how little they actually care about whether or not your child is successful. I guess in some weird alternate-reality-sort-of-way I should be grateful. They pissed me off enough to start poking into options.
In KC, they wouldn't re-diagnose my son because whether or not it was accurate or not didn't matter. They had such a long wait list that they wouldn't even add him. I decided it was time to dredge that fun back up. Pretesting my son's diagnoses were: ADHD (age 5), Anxiety Disorder, Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) (age 7).
So - PDD-NOS - this is the great catch all. It means, no you're kid's not typical but we don't know exactly what's wrong so here's this cool catch all patch to help him get help at school. I didn't necessarily agree at the time but they told me they didn't start out tagging kids as Aspergers - that if it were Asperger's essentially we would know when he got older. Well, we know.
The ODD label I never agreed with but who am I, just the mom. My son is not always compliant. In fact, when trying to get out of non-preferred activities (read - schoolwork) he is very non-compliant. He definitely pushes buttons to try to get his way. I don't think he counts as ODD because whenever we've had ugly physical behavior it's been a response. He doesn't initiate oppositional behavior and he doesn't ever exhibit it without triggers. In fact, I have a stack of papers that refer to him as sweet or sensitive.
Anyhoo - now to the news... I took him to the Child Development Center here in Orlando and Connor went through some cognitive testing as well as an ADOS. So I don't remember the entire scale but the cutoff between Aspergers and Autism is 10 and Connor score a 13. So yes, you read it here first, his actual score puts him as HFA. However, the tester and his therapist agreed that his state of mind that day influenced his results and so they're still pegging him as Aspergers.
What this means for me, as his mom, as the person that had to go to 100,000 different school meetings and deal with family member after family member who seemed to not get it, is vindication. When you have that many people acting like you're making a mountain out of a molehill and you know they just don't get it, well it's refreshing to hear a medical opinion even if the result was slightly more dramatic than you had even anticipated.
They actually want us to look at a day program that would give him some more intensive therapy. It's hard for me as a mom to be ok with that. On the other hand, after everything we've been through if they can help him then I'm all for it. And, as always, I'll be with him every step of the way!
In KC, they wouldn't re-diagnose my son because whether or not it was accurate or not didn't matter. They had such a long wait list that they wouldn't even add him. I decided it was time to dredge that fun back up. Pretesting my son's diagnoses were: ADHD (age 5), Anxiety Disorder, Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) (age 7).
So - PDD-NOS - this is the great catch all. It means, no you're kid's not typical but we don't know exactly what's wrong so here's this cool catch all patch to help him get help at school. I didn't necessarily agree at the time but they told me they didn't start out tagging kids as Aspergers - that if it were Asperger's essentially we would know when he got older. Well, we know.
The ODD label I never agreed with but who am I, just the mom. My son is not always compliant. In fact, when trying to get out of non-preferred activities (read - schoolwork) he is very non-compliant. He definitely pushes buttons to try to get his way. I don't think he counts as ODD because whenever we've had ugly physical behavior it's been a response. He doesn't initiate oppositional behavior and he doesn't ever exhibit it without triggers. In fact, I have a stack of papers that refer to him as sweet or sensitive.
Anyhoo - now to the news... I took him to the Child Development Center here in Orlando and Connor went through some cognitive testing as well as an ADOS. So I don't remember the entire scale but the cutoff between Aspergers and Autism is 10 and Connor score a 13. So yes, you read it here first, his actual score puts him as HFA. However, the tester and his therapist agreed that his state of mind that day influenced his results and so they're still pegging him as Aspergers.
What this means for me, as his mom, as the person that had to go to 100,000 different school meetings and deal with family member after family member who seemed to not get it, is vindication. When you have that many people acting like you're making a mountain out of a molehill and you know they just don't get it, well it's refreshing to hear a medical opinion even if the result was slightly more dramatic than you had even anticipated.
They actually want us to look at a day program that would give him some more intensive therapy. It's hard for me as a mom to be ok with that. On the other hand, after everything we've been through if they can help him then I'm all for it. And, as always, I'll be with him every step of the way!
New Blog Design
Thought I'd actually start doing this. Free therapy and not restricted in characters like I am on Facebook.
I have been in an odd place lately - need somewhere to talk things out - it helps clear my head. I'll apologize in advance for any future feelers that get hurt over anything posted here. It's not meant to be PC or overly thought out. It's meant to be a place to pour out some anguish and hopefully fill the hole that's left with some love.
I have been in an odd place lately - need somewhere to talk things out - it helps clear my head. I'll apologize in advance for any future feelers that get hurt over anything posted here. It's not meant to be PC or overly thought out. It's meant to be a place to pour out some anguish and hopefully fill the hole that's left with some love.
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