I *think* it was a rejection letter from (name of town) Mental Health

[nerfherder]

The text:

"Dear Ms. (nerfherder):

I am writing to confirm that (Kiddo) should be followed by Rural Regional Center, which is co-located in our facility. If you should have any further questions, do not hesitate to call."

So yeah.

I'm going to call in five minutes when they open, and set up a "further questions" phone call or meeting.

I think a big part of the problem here is the whole mish-mash of Autism diagnoses - it's BAD to call it Mental Illness, but when you need to consult behaviorally, developmentally and the behaviors are frequently controlled or alleviated by the same medications that are used for those that are part of Mental Illness...

I'm frustrated because I KNOW yeah, calling Autism a Mental Illness is bad and inaccurate. But calling it the other things means that according to county and state agency protocols (which can be as bad as union task divisions at their most irrational) One shall NOT be treated by the Other even when it's appropriate and makes sense.

Now excuse me, I have to go water and plant stuff before I call or I shall be behaviorally impaired.

(quiet smile)

 

[InsaneCdn]

Now excuse me, I have to go water and plant stuff before I call or I shall be behaviorally impaired.

been there done that. Frustrating.

Here's a term for you: system-induced psychosis.
In other words - not getting the resources and help your difficult child needs, is causing her to become insane, and therefore it has become a case of mental illness... on TOP of the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) diagnosis.
JMO...

 

[Hound dog]

I might have asked before...................but on the chance that I haven't..........I will ask.

Is there any history or any remote chance of history of a brain injury with kiddo? Was there any birth trauma? Anything from fetal heart tones dropping with contractions to oxygen deprivation? (despite was OBs tend to assure patients, it does not take much to cause brain injury to a fetus/newborn)

Travis is genetically predispositioned for autism, it's a strong family trait. However, docs are fairly sure he'd had a much milder version (which is common in the family) but that the brain injury resulting from birth trauma might have made the condition more severe, as well as adding in a mix of a lot of other issues that otherwise didn't make sense. Travis was diagnosed with static ecephalopathy at 14, it is the term used for cerebral palsy that is diagnosed later in life because they can't necessarily prove beyond a doubt it was caused by birth trauma. Travis' CP is not severe but there are issues a trained eye can spot rather quickly. The stroke at 18 didn't help much either, but lead us to an addition cause to the birth trauma in addition to an OB that was an idiot.

Many of the behaviors in your posts about kiddo remind me of a brain injured person/child. Has she ever had an MRI done?

Just thought I'd toss that out there because 1. it might explain some things you've had questions about and 2. there would be most likely different services available to her if that is the case that you could look into.

 

[nerfherder]

I might have asked before...................but on the chance that I haven't..........I will ask.

Is there any history or any remote chance of history of a brain injury with kiddo? Was there any birth trauma? Anything from fetal heart tones dropping with contractions to oxygen deprivation? (despite was OBs tend to assure patients, it does not take much to cause brain injury to a fetus/newborn)
(...)
Just thought I'd toss that out there because 1. it might explain some things you've had questions about and 2. there would be most likely different services available to her if that is the case that you could look into.

You know, I almost wish it was possible to say "Yes." I have high speed uncomplicated births, and had it not been for Kiddo's creeping concerns at age 15 months onward, I'd have been quite happy to be mom to a vast brood. Older Sister: 4.5 hours from water breaking; Kiddo 3 hours 45 minutes (but her water wasn't breaking, even unto full labor, doctor had to snip her bag to get things moving.) Both of 'em had good color and no complications at birth, high Apgar scores, the only difference with Kiddo (which I later learned was sometimes a factor correlating with a later Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) diagnosis) was a peculiar period of quiet a week or so before birth. I had the juice test (stress test? non-stress test) and she moved appropriately with that encouragement. Aside from lots of colic (Older Sister had it almost as bad) in her early weeks the only oddness was her poor sleep cycle and slow growth.

The slow growth we attributed to her... I wouldn't call it an inability to latch on and suck. She was able to nurse just fine, she just lost interest before she got all the hindmilk. There were a number of things going on that now we know are markers to watch for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)'s, including her asymmetrical crawl. First word even earlier than her sister's (6.5 months, she started saying "Kee-Kah!" to the cats, her sister said the same thing at 7 months), but very poor eye contact, poor body cooperation with being held (I had to have shoulder surgery to correct what she did to me because she wouldn't nestle when held, she would swivel onto my right hip and lean WAAAAY away, I ended up with tendonitis, a bone spur and a shortened tendon.)

Her infancy and toddlerhood were pretty awful in a lot of ways, but then I could keep telling myself a lot of the behaviors would change over time - and when they didn't was when we started getting evaluations.

She's never had an MRI. I'm not sure if I can come up with a reason to have one that's considered valid or "medically necessary." It *would* be worth seeing if there is anything, and yeah, if it was a documented physical OOH LOOK AT THAT THANG THERE area of dysfunction, that would change a whole lot of stuff.

Sigh. I saw a sheriff's SUV turn onto the main highway heading in the direction of our house this morning while running errands. And then I had a mild panic attack, because you know, I'm getting a little gunshy about "What's she gonna say in school next?" Just practicing my breathing, I think I need to Sit in the mornings again, but I just haven't been able to stop my brain spinning enough to breathe.

 

[buddy]

So sorry! What a bunch of yuck.

 

[welcometowitsend]

Insane is very smart. She has the lingo for you to use and sometimes that is exactly what it takes.

So sorry they seem to be passing the buck on your situation. It's very frustrating to try and get things put into place for our children, especially when they don't seem to fit in any one spot but overlap with others.

I'd go back to them with some appropriate wording and lingo (as per Insane and maybe some internet research) and see if that gets you what you want for your child.

 

[DammitJanet]

2 of my kids I think had birth complications and for completely different reasons. With Billy my birth was incredibly long and I had what is known as a dry birth. Today they would never let me go through that. My water broke at approximately 2 am on a Wednesday morning and I got to the hospital within the hour. I was put in the ward where all the pregnant women labored. Big room with probably 10 women separated by curtains. Yeah...this was in the old days when they had separate labor and delivery rooms. I was in that labor room from about 3 am Wednesday morning until they moved me to delivery on Friday afternoon at about 2 pm. I didnt progress with my labor on that Wednesday morning when I first got there like they wanted me to so after about 12 hours they hung a pitocin drip on me. I also got the epidural in there not long after that because I was in agony. They maxed me out on the amount of medication they could give me in the epidural and it only worked on one side. Some time during the late afternoon on Friday they started giving me demerol every half hour. I had that along with the epidural until Billy was born mid Friday afternoon. Because of all that Billy had gone through, his heart rate had dropped several times, and the dry birth. He had to stay in the hospital 2 days after I went home.

I know in todays world they would have taken him Csection in a heartbeat.

Cory's problem was he came so fast that they didnt have time to catch him or cut some of the leads they were supposed to before he was actually born. They didnt actually get O2 to him quickly because he shot out with his cord wrapped around his neck and a foot. Tony had to catch him himself because the doctor had turned around to wash his hands at a sink on the other side of the room and simply wasnt close enough.