Shari
IsItFridayYet?
Just got home from the evaluation (it was at 8am - 10:30 now). It went well.
She had the previous psychiatrist's notes, notes from devped, and notes from the behavior therapist he works with weekly.
Apparently the prev psychiatrist wrote in her notes that he was on the spectrum somewhere, tho she wasn't sure if it was Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or just "on the spectrum". I did not know that, but new psychiatric agrees hands down. She noted hand flapping during the evaluation that I wasn't even noticing.
She also said there are some definite red flags for BiPolar (BP), as well as attachment problems. Not Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), but a disordered attachment. I don't think she's making a diagnosis of that, but is noting it.
The toys she had in her room were a doll and legos. difficult child did the intermittent "flying" legos and beat the crud out of the doll. She got a good, altho stil scaled down, glimpse of difficult child.
She spent a lot of time at difficult child's level talking with him. He never looked at her. She used her hands to put his face towards her and he still avoided the eye contact.
Only once thru the hour and a half or so did he "lose" his attention with her, tho, even tho he didn't seem to be paying attention, he was answering questions and keeping up with the conversation. She doesn't agree that ADHD fits. Hyper, yes, attention problems, no.
We were sent to her by BT based on his comments to murder his sister and pee on her dead body, among others. She tried to get him to talk about his sister, but she didn't get a lot. She asked him about his mom, if he liked her, and he said "I love mommy".
She asked him why. He said "She's so beautiful."
She asked him if he loves mommy because she takes care of him. No answer.
She asked him if mommy brings him food? "Yes" (no eye contact).
She asked him if mommy takes care of him? "Yes" (still no eye contact).
Why do you love mommy? "She's beautiful". Why else? "Oh, her clothes and hair."
She pointed out that that was not a typical response from a 5 year old. There's an attachment, but its not the usual.
That doesn't really explain anything, but it makes me feel a little better that its on paper somewhere, because we've all always felt his attachment to me was strange.
Oh, and when I showed her the videos at the end of the evaluation (I almost forgot them), she said it just confirmed in her mind that we're dealing with autism.
As for what to do now, she suggested taking this info back to devped and asking for therapy from the autism center. Get him back into Occupational Therapist (OT) full time, keep up BT, and check in with her in 3 months after we've tried the tenex (sooner if we can't make it work). She works in the same office as BT, so that will be handy.
Thanks all for all your input and dialogue. I think I had given up. You helped me find a little warrior armor to dust off. I needed that push.
PS - the possibility of the attachment thing....that just makes my blood boil. I WILL be spending today hating my ex. Maybe tomorrow, too.
She had the previous psychiatrist's notes, notes from devped, and notes from the behavior therapist he works with weekly.
Apparently the prev psychiatrist wrote in her notes that he was on the spectrum somewhere, tho she wasn't sure if it was Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or just "on the spectrum". I did not know that, but new psychiatric agrees hands down. She noted hand flapping during the evaluation that I wasn't even noticing.
She also said there are some definite red flags for BiPolar (BP), as well as attachment problems. Not Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), but a disordered attachment. I don't think she's making a diagnosis of that, but is noting it.
The toys she had in her room were a doll and legos. difficult child did the intermittent "flying" legos and beat the crud out of the doll. She got a good, altho stil scaled down, glimpse of difficult child.
She spent a lot of time at difficult child's level talking with him. He never looked at her. She used her hands to put his face towards her and he still avoided the eye contact.
Only once thru the hour and a half or so did he "lose" his attention with her, tho, even tho he didn't seem to be paying attention, he was answering questions and keeping up with the conversation. She doesn't agree that ADHD fits. Hyper, yes, attention problems, no.
We were sent to her by BT based on his comments to murder his sister and pee on her dead body, among others. She tried to get him to talk about his sister, but she didn't get a lot. She asked him about his mom, if he liked her, and he said "I love mommy".
She asked him why. He said "She's so beautiful."
She asked him if he loves mommy because she takes care of him. No answer.
She asked him if mommy brings him food? "Yes" (no eye contact).
She asked him if mommy takes care of him? "Yes" (still no eye contact).
Why do you love mommy? "She's beautiful". Why else? "Oh, her clothes and hair."
She pointed out that that was not a typical response from a 5 year old. There's an attachment, but its not the usual.
That doesn't really explain anything, but it makes me feel a little better that its on paper somewhere, because we've all always felt his attachment to me was strange.
Oh, and when I showed her the videos at the end of the evaluation (I almost forgot them), she said it just confirmed in her mind that we're dealing with autism.
As for what to do now, she suggested taking this info back to devped and asking for therapy from the autism center. Get him back into Occupational Therapist (OT) full time, keep up BT, and check in with her in 3 months after we've tried the tenex (sooner if we can't make it work). She works in the same office as BT, so that will be handy.
Thanks all for all your input and dialogue. I think I had given up. You helped me find a little warrior armor to dust off. I needed that push.
PS - the possibility of the attachment thing....that just makes my blood boil. I WILL be spending today hating my ex. Maybe tomorrow, too.