The diagnoses

We had our appointment to hear the results of Brecken's assessment on Thursday August 12, 2010. Unfortunately, the woman who performed his assessment, Jennifer, had just been to the Doctor and informed us that she had bronchitis. This resulted in an appointment via telephone conference. Not exactly what I had hoped for, but I was also not going to wait until the next week to hear what she had to say! During the conference she stated how Brecken scored at or above his age level for gross/fine motor skills and his cognitive abilities. However, he scored very low with his language abilitites, social emotional skills, and what she called "communicating with his environment". She said that after considering the evalutaoin and our concerns she decided it best to change his diagnoses off PDD-NOS to a Provisional Diagnosis of Autistic Disorder - High Functioning. She informed me that "they" don't like to diagnose children under the age of 3 with Autistic Disorder because there is a 'chance' that they may just be behind and "catch up" by the age of 3. Although Brecken is just 6 months away from being 3, that is just the way that they do it. They would rather give them a chance to 'catch up' before they diagnose.

So then came my question to her. "Is the fact that Brecken is not 'diagnosed' with Autistic Disorder going to hinder him from getting the services he needs right now"? She said that it would "most likely" not interfere with the services that he needed, but if anyone needed further clarification, they could call her at anytime. I said "OK, well to me this sounds like a catch 22. Your telling me how imperative early intervention is and how it is KEY to the future outcome of his life, BUT since he is 6 months away from being 3 and there is a CHANCE that he can 'come out of this' we are not going to give him the diagnosis and *hope* that people will help him? Wouldn't it be fair to assume that they may just push him aside and tell us to wait it out another 6 months or so and see how it goes"? It just didn't sit right with me that ALL of the signs are there, but because of a 6 month difference in age, we may have to fight tooth and nail to get him services. (I do have a degree in Human Services, I am familiar with how all of this works). But, I am just the parent so I agreed to what she was saying and let it be what it is. She gave us a list of resources to call to find available services for Brecken and said to call her if we needed any further assistance.

4 Days Later

Monday afternoon I receive a call from Jennifer. She explains to me how she re-evaluated Brecken's assessment and our concerns and spoke with her supervisor and has decided to REMOVE the Provisional Diagnosis and diagnose Brecken with Autistic Disorder - High Functioning. She stated how all of the behaviors that she witnessed with Brecken were classic signs of Autism and that she didn't feel they would disappear within the 6 month's before he turned 3. And then she said ... and I quote " I don't want the provisional label to hinder Brecken" from getting the services he needs. YES! I said to myself. Now, in NO way do I want Brecken to be diagnosed with Autistic Disorder if he isn't. But, I also don't want him to be denied services just because of a silly 6 month difference in age and the assumption that his behaviors may just 'go away'. Not likely. And even if he ever did 'catch up' and eliminate his 'signs of Autism' I would rather have him receive the services NOW and remove the label later.

Where we are right now

As of right now, I think we are making some progress. Brecken has another psychiatrist appointment scheduled on Wednesday August 25, 2010. It is with Dr. Fomunang. He is the Dr. who diagnosed Brecken with PDD-NOS and referred us to Brains (Jennifer) to have Brecken evaluated for Autism. The last time we saw him he spoke about the possibility of prescribing Brecken medications. He said that once we got a solid diagnosis, we could speak more about it. However, I will not be giving Brecken ANY medication unless I feel it is absolutely necessary. And for him, I definitely don't feel that medication is the answer. Does Brecken get very frustrated that he can not verbalize his wants and needs to us? - Yes. Do they typically result in an extreme tantrum? - Yes. But, do I feel the need to medicate him based upon these? Absolutely NOT. So I am unsure of what this appointment is going to be covering, but I will blog about that later I'm sure :)

Brecken also has his FIRST therapy appointment scheduled for Thursday August 26, 2010 at 4pm. He will be doing his therapy sessions with Jennifer from Brains. She will be concentrating on the techniques of Applied Behavioral Analysis. Here is some information on what exactly that is:

What Is ABA?
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)is a system of autism treatment based on behaviorist theories which, simply put, state that behaviors can be taught through a system of rewards and consequences. The Lovaas Institute explains the concept in this way:

•Applied - principles applied to socially significant behavior
•Behavioral - based on scientific principles of behavior
•Analysis - progress is measured and interventions modified

ABA and Autism
When it comes to autism, ABA has become synonymous with the methods and research of Dr. Ivar Lovaas. (This is why ABA is sometimes actually called "Lovaas" within the autism community!) Lovaas, a psychologist, first applied ABA to autism at the Psychology Department at UCLA in 1987. His idea was that social and behavioral skills could be taught, even to profoundly autistic children, through the ABA method. Indeed, his idea turned out to be quite correct: Many if not most children who receive ABA training learn to behave appropriately at least some of the time -- and some even lose their autism diagnosis after years of intensive therapySo we are hoping for the best out of these sessions! Jennifer will be working with us as well to help us use ABA in our everyday routines etc.

The other thing that is going on for Brecken right now is that he will be starting 2yr old Special Education Pre-school at Nelson Elementary on September 7, 2010. He will be attending every Tuesday and Thursday in the am class. This class is going to be fantastic for Brecken! There are only 4 other students enrolled right now and all of them are having trouble with their language skills. There is a 2:1 ratio of students to teachers/aides, so I am very optimistic! This is a program that the children have to qualify for based on their needs and milestones met and that is why it is a "special education" class. It is basically a class to get these children used to classroom settings, schedules, and to help them with their speech.

This is just a little summary of what is going on as of right now ... I think we are off to a good start!!