Update on difficult child

Ohio

New Member
An update on my difficult child.

After careful consideration, we now suspect that our difficult child has AS and possibly some type of anxiety disorder. Our pediatrician referred us to a few specialists who could not help us. The Occupational therapist would only see patients with a current diagnosis, the neuropsychologist department would only see those with a known brain injury, and the autism center could not get us in for an appointment for another year. Currently, he we have set up an appointment for an evaluation in October with a psychologist who specializes in autism. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of the matter, because the evaluation will be costly, and our insurance does not cover any services related to autism.

I talked with the school, and they have not been very helpful. I asked the counselor to speak with my child about his fear of school, because he cries and begs to stay home from school while at home and daycare. I was told that she would not speak with him unless he displayed problems at school. I think it's ridiculous, and a cop out. It's like me saying, I can't help you if he has problems at school, because he isn't having problems at home. Bottom line, they aren't going to be of much help to me. I am waiting to figure out what comes of his private evaluation before I ask for official school testing. I know you guys will probably think that I should write to the school now, but I don't think it will make much of a difference.

I guess I am a little pessimistic, and worn down. I feel bad that I can't fix things, or control the situation. It just seems like his behavior at home is getting worse, and it just :censored2: all of the energy out of me. He has been stealing shamelessly, he has been telling serious lies (he told my husband that I punched him in the face while I was at his daycare), he has threatened to hurt me, and today he tried to jump out of a moving car during a tantrum. I just hope that we get a diagnosis in October, because we really NEED help.

Any words of advice will be truly appreciated!
 

nvts

Active Member
Hi! Send a letter to the school telling them that you want an assessment done on him. Send it certified because there is a time limit for them to respond and that starts at delivery. The moderators on this board are super-brilliant on the rules and I'm sure they'll help WAY more than I can!

Beth
 
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flutterbee

Guest
Here are some links for autism resources in Ohio. Also, State Rep. John Peterson (R-Delaware) is on the Education Committee and is considered an autism expert. I'm in his district and have contacted his office and they have been more than happy to offer their assistance. He seems to be very passionate about this and was also one of the loudest voices for mental health parity in Ohio. I do know they tend to respond faster to constituents within their district, but it's worth a shot.

http://www.ocali.org/

http://www.autismohio.org/

Also, did you only check with a neuropsychologist dept within a hospital? Our neuropysch was in private practice and maybe that's the difference in who they'll see?

Hope this helps.
 

SRL

Active Member
Go ahead and send the letter formally requesting the evaluation at school now. The school psychologist can do some assessments for Autism even though it's not a medical diagnosis it may be enough to open the doors to school services. They would also assess for Occupational Therapist (OT) (sensory and motor), as well as the areas of speech and social skills.

Schools will have a bunch of kids referred for assessment in this early part of the school year so I'd get him on the list because it can take several months for a child's turn to come up (and/or the legal timeframe they must assess to pass).

Sorry things are so difficult right now...been there, done that and it ain't fun! Hopefully some answers and help are just around the corner for you. In the mean time, lay low on additional expectations, give him lots of downtime at home if it helps him. You might want to pick up a copy of the book The Out of Sync Child by Carol Kranowitz and see if there's some sensory stuff going on. Often that flares up big time with the start of school.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
I agree that you should contact the school formally for an assessment, but you may want to take the rest of the week off from being a warrior mom. Just be a mom for a few days. Carve out some time for yourself so you can recover from the pain of running into brick wall after brick wall. I know just how exhausting that can be. It's okay to take some time out for you. by the way, autism may not be considered a medical problem by your insurance but anxiety, sensory integration disorder and speech problems are. You also want to be put on the cancellation list at the autism clinic, be prepared with your parent input report.
 
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flutterbee

Guest
I'll send you a PM on Monday with the info. The neuropsychologist we used is in Franklin County, but her contact info is in my desk at work. I don't remember it being a long wait to get in to see her...maybe a couple of months at most.
 
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