UPDATE & Q? Wanna hear how I (didn't quite) tell off the ABA therapist? (Super long)

[ha98ed14]

This is a story similar to the one about our neighborhood aquaintences who wanted us to "vacation in their home" taking care of their multiple animals while they went on vacation. I am telling it just for the fun of gossip about stupid, self-impotant people who haven't a clue how they appear to the rest of us poor schmucks. This is old news IRL, it happened on Monday, but I have not had time to post it because of school and DD's new pre-school. I'm done being mad and can laugh about it now, so just read if you want a good gossip about no one you no IRL. :tongue5:

DD has started getting ABA for her sensory issues. Monday was the first meeting with the therapist. The therapy *technician* will be coming every week to do the therapy and the therapist herself oversees the technician, sets the goals and monitors DD's progress.

The therapist who came was a young woman under 25 by my estimation. It was blatently obvious to me by the way she interacted with DD that she is either uncomfortable around young children or just has no experience interacting with them. DD wanted nothing to do with her, which is unusual for DD. The therapist had not bothered to read either of DD's evaluations (there were only 2) or the progress report from her speech therapist or her IFSP. We have a little chat about DD which is filled with lots of silences as the therapist flips through all of DD's reports that could not be bothered to read before showing up at my apartment. Then she starts asking me questions about DD's developmental skills; questions like, "Can DD feed herself with a spoon?" Yes. "Does she go up steps one at a time or alternating feet?" One at a time. "Does she ask for 'More ____ (milk, juice, etc.)'" Yes, she says More milk, more juice, more cookie, etc.

On this last one, the therapist stops and looks at me and says, "Really?" I said yes. She says, "Are you sure?" I said, "Yes, of course I am sure. DD, say 'More milk.'" To which DD responds, "More milk!" (And no, she is not just parroting. She uses these words when she actually wants more of whatever she has. DD has made great strides in speech in the past six weeks. She is now using 2 words together consistently and has a much expanded vocabulary. This is real progress for DD who had no words at 18 mos.)

The conversation continues and the whole time I am talking to the therapist, I am getting this vibe from her like she does not believe what I say about what DD can and cannot do, about what her issues are. To date they have been an expressive speech delay and tactile defensiveness. Those are real issues. Yes. But on the bright side, my DD has hit most of her developmental milestones on time. Mostly, she is fine. She does have sensory issues and a speech delay, but there is a lot of ways in which she is just like any other delightfully willful 2 year old ;). But instead of focusing on her achievements and her strengths, the therapist keeps going on and on about her "behaviors." I finally said to her, "Look, my kid does not have any behaviors that any other 2 year old does not have, on OR off the Spectrum. There are sone things that kids do because they are 2, not because they are on the Spectum." (FTR, DD is has not been dx'd as being on the Spectrum, but this therapist kept hinting she must be because she has sensory issues and a speech delay. I try to tell her that there *are* kids who have both and are otherwise typically developing.)

So fast forward a little towards the end of the meeting. It's 12:30 and that is the time our session was supposed to end. Nevermind that she was 40 minutes late getting here. (The session is supposed to be 2 hours: 10:30 to 12:30) To wrap up, she shows me this binder that the therapy technician (who will be coming regularly to do DD's therapy) will put all her notes in and this is how she and the therapy technician will keep in touch on how it is going. I asked if this binder was going to stay at my house or if it was going to go home with the technician? She says normally it will stay at my apartment, but this time she (the therapist) needs to take it with her so she can fill out all of DD's goals and that is going to take her a lot of time, she wants me to know. I say, "OK, that's fine because I need a chance to find a place for the binder so it doesn't get lost." I was thinking out loud. The terapist looks at me and says, "Well, if you lose it, I am going to make YOU do it over because it took me 2 hours to put it together and it is going to take me another 2 to fill out all her paperwork!" I was taken aback, but did not say anything.

So then as she is rushing out the door she tells me she will be back on Monday. I say, Ok. 10:30? She says, well, that is the time she is supposed to be here, but since she stays late to talk to the parents of the child she sees before DD, she won't be here til around 11. They really need her. Now I was floored. Both by the way in which she tells me flat out that she will not be here on time and by her percieved self importance. No apology, just, "X family really needs me, so I will be late." As she is leaving she is telling me about how hard her job is, how much paper work and phone calls and all these needy parents. All I can think is that this woman has no clue how she must sound to parents who have children with special needs or other issues. THEY have a hard job. YOU have a paid job that you get to leave in the evening and on weekends.

Anyway. I called the service coordinator and told him exactly why I would not be working with this woman. I told him every detail of every inappropriate thing she said and how it struck me as unprofessional and self-important. He said he understood and he would find me a new therapist. He did. SHE is coming on Monday. He said I was not the first person to complain about this therapist. I almost said, "Then WTF did you send her to me?! I'm enough of a B. Don't set me up for failure by making me deal with another B." But I didn't. The new therapist called and we spoke Friday. She seems to have better boundaries. And she has her own kids, so I think that gives you some perspective when dealing with other people's children. Anyway. That's the story.

[egoldber]

Um wow. How awful!!! Maybe she is just really new and still really, spectacularly clueless.

[JTsMom]

I'm enough of a B. Don't set me up for failure by making me deal with another B."

:ROTFLMAO:

I'm glad you got set up with someone new.

[bubbaray]

I hope Monday is much better!

[Staraglimmer]

I'm so glad that you stoog up for your dd! But really, they need to get rid of her!

[elephantmeg]

I'm glad you stood up for yourself!

[pinkmomagain]

Good for you for insisting on a new therapist! For what it's worth, when dd2 had dev delays and was getting services, I quickly discovered that I preferred therapists who had children of their own. I felt they were better with the kids and the parents.

[swrc00]

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who work with children and don't have the skills to interact with children let alone parents. I am so glad you stood up and demanded a new person. :applause:

[Melaine]

Wow! That's amazing. Glad you won't have to keep dealing with her!

[MontrealMum]

Yikes! I am so glad that you stuck up for your DD and you will be getting someone new :bighand:

[VClute]

WOAH!! I swanny, the way you described that therapist, it almost sounded like SHE is on the spectrum - So INAPPROPRIATE!

BTW, we do ABA the same way - with a "tutor" who works the programs and a therapist who manages and designs them. We have a bin in the playroom set aside for the books and toys. I, too, would be in BIG trouble if we lost that book! :)

[nov04]

Friends of ours had an experience like this with their first ABA team. They had to switch things up too.

It's a huge shame, but we've found frequently that training/educational in something for special needs doesn't guarantee that someone will have the interpersonal skills necessary to help dd1 out.

[SammyeGail]

I have twin boys, one with autism, the ABA therapist started coming, she was great, very gentle to get to know Jonas. I'm guessing she was in her early-mid thirties. Anyway after about a month she said she noticed some sensory issues in Noah (also speech delayed, actually no real speech help until they turned 3 and he started seeing the ST at the school). I honestly was a bit hurt at first, but she was very good at explaining it to me. (Noah is very high-spirited, we now assume AD/HD, have him on the GF/CF diet, if he gets something off the diet its like having a wild monkey in the house for 3 days).

So she set things up thru EI and everytime she came, 3 times a week, she spent her time with Jonas, then Noah. Noah also went to OT.

Just to let you know, there are good ABA therapist out there, you just got a bd one.

My first IE coordinator was awful. When I brought up my concerns about Jo's autism at the Oct meeting (the month before they turned 2) she said 'yes, I can see that he has tendicies of autism, but you should just wait until he turns 3 and let the school system take care of it. We live in a small county outside of our city. School system is great but this is AUTISM. I was very distraut and was just stunned. I called her back a few days later and asked about the red flag of walking after 18 months, she said on Jonas' file it says 17 months and 3 weeks, so again, I should just wait it out.

Alot of other crap happened, calling the head of special need of our state, well several calls, lol, helped. it took us 6 weeks to find a place that did evals and get an appt, 6 weeks of testing, a month to get the results which was the following March. I had been told EI doesn't 'cover' autism. Thats when I called Nashville, she had totally lied. That eval was $4500 for us. Then she tried to start the crap that since we went on our own (you said an eval wasn't covered!!) no treatments would be covered. I finally filed an official complaint and got a new EI coordnitor, who was wonderful.

Sorry to take over, I might have considered having her come back again, no therapy, but to give her a piece of my mind and telling her that if job was that horrible/she was burned out she should quit/go into another field. Those kids need her and can read her. As a parent of a child with autism, no-one wants a therapist who doesn't want to be there, kwim? Also, other parents might not know they have a choice besides her.

This woman needs a good 'tearing into' by a parent that would hopefully get her perspective back in the right place.

As for our binders, all ours asked (not at first visit!) was if we could buy 2, then just asked where was a safe place to keep them, very nice, very casual.

Good luck with your new one, the reason that one's still around is that she's under contract, they stick her (they have to use her) with new parents and hope for the best until they get a complaint. Just like with my 1st EI coordinator. Yes, totally unfair. Isn't the state great?

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

Sounds like she was fresh out of school,young,and very sure of herself and not very good at her job yet really.

Mike has had 2 speech therapists. One was just o.k. but I knew something needed to change when we wanted to put him in montessori school and she had issues with it.

We love the therapist he sees now. She's semi-retired but just couldn't not work. She has children of her own(all grown) and taught special need kindergarten for more than 15 years.:) We really lucked out with her and I'll keep taking him to see her when we move out of the city into the burbs. It'll be worth the 20 minute drive each way.

Sorry you had a bad experience but HOORAY for you for standing up for yourself and not wasting time on a bad therapist.

[Indianamom2]

Yep, sounds like a young, totally inexperienced girl who might eventually get it...might not.

For what it's worth, I'm not against young. We had a fantastically organized, involved developmental therapist for DD who definitely went the extra mile, but I think she's probably the exception to the rule at that age.

I found that as the parent, I had to really be willing to create waves and do whatever it took to get the best, most appropriate therapy for my daughter. We waited for a speech therapist for several months, finally got one who seemed to be well-liked, and who I liked on a personal level just fine, but DD was not progressing and it was obvious that the therapist should have/could have been doing much more. We asked to be switched when she went on maternity leave and after a bit more of a wait, were placed with the absolute best person they could have picked. In fact, we hired her privately when DD aged out, she progressed so well.

Hang in there. As with any job, there are those who are meant to do that kind of work and others who have yet to figure out that they aren't. It's just frustrating to have to weed through the not-so-great ones.

And by the way, I have a 4.5 DD who had fairly significant speech delays (a year+ behind when we started), some sensory issues (fairly mild) and some very mild fine motor delays. She is not on the spectrum and is as bright a child as I've ever met. A good therapist will look at the whole child, not just a test score.

Christina

[ha98ed14]

Technician came today and played with DD to build rapport and look for skill levels. Things went fine. DD exhibited no "behaviors." Tech was surprised. I am not sure how to get through to them that DD is not a behavior problem. She is overly sensitive. Any a few questions for anyone with any ABA experience, if you would:

1st: While playing with DD, the tech was doing some kind of inventory of skills. The one I remember is ability to stack 4(?) blocks together. DD did 6, which was more than required. DD also had to look for an object that was in sight and then hidden. Anyone know what this inventory is called and what it measures? Cognition? (kijip, is this the Woodcock Johnson?)

2nd: new overseeing therapist is coming Wed. They are going to do a Day-C (sp?) test. Anybody know what that is?

3rd: The technician told me not to let DD sit like a W with her legs behind her. She said she needs to sit crisscross applesauce. Anyone know if W sitting is a sign of delay or is it just bad for the joints? Why do they discourage it?

TIA for any replies.

[Gena]

Technician came today and played with DD to build rapport and look for skill levels. Things went fine. DD exhibited no "behaviors." Tech was surprised. I am not sure how to get through to them that DD is not a behavior problem. She is overly sensitive. Any a few questions for anyone with any ABA experience, if you would:

1st: While playing with DD, the tech was doing some kind of inventory of skills. The one I remember is ability to stack 4(?) blocks together. DD did 6, which was more than required. DD also had to look for an object that was in sight and then hidden. Anyone know what this inventory is called and what it measures? Cognition? (kijip, is this the Woodcock Johnson?)

2nd: new overseeing therapist is coming Wed. They are going to do a Day-C (sp?) test. Anybody know what that is?

3rd: The technician told me not to let DD sit like a W with her legs behind her. She said she needs to sit crisscross applesauce. Anyone know if W sitting is a sign of delay or is it just bad for the joints? Why do they discourage it?

TIA for any replies.

I replied in your other post in the Lounge.

But I'm curious, why are they doing ABA for sensory issues rather than OT?

[bubbaray]

I don't think the W sit is a sign of delay, its just hard on their knee ligaments and stretches them. Both my girls did it and our daycare really was on them not to. Even in our former mommy&me music classes the instructors were on top of that.

[jal]

...DD also had to look for an object that was in sight and then hidden. Anyone know what this inventory is called and what it measures? ...

I'm not sure about the name, but the concept is "object permenence". Basically, at some point in our developement, we come to realize that an object still exists even if we can not see it (i.e. just because it is not in view does not mean it doesn't exist anymore).

[sste]

People in the therapy world are obsessed with w sitting. I sometimes wonder if there is evidence backing up the horrors of w-sitting. Anyway, the theory behind it for speech is that when they w sit they don't develop core strength (holding their torso up). The core strength is important for 2 reasons. First, if they are kind of collapsing over their chests and slouched from the torso or not very strong there, it can make it more difficult to talk and therefore they are less likely to talk. I guess speech flows better from an upright posture, open chest, etc. Also, for younger kids, there is some good evidence that kids that are slow to walk end up preoccupied with that skill, really focused on it and that can delay speech. Increasing core strength (by exercises and no w-sitting) speeds the physical milestones which can then speed the speech. This happened with our 18 month old son but your dd is older so I am not sure the physical milestone is at issue . . .

[ha98ed14]

I replied in your other post in the Lounge.

But I'm curious, why are they doing ABA for sensory issues rather than OT?

I haven't a freaking clue! And it is kind of pissing me off because they are constantly looking for bad behaviors. I'm not saying DD never has a bad day or is always "compliant" (I hate that word now), but she is not displaying the escaping/ tantruming/ aggressive behaviors that all their check sheets have spots to record.

The OT Eval called for monthly monitoring by an OT. I was also supposed to "brush her," but she hated it so much that I never did. Now she will brush herself sometimes. But she still will not willingly let us bathe her or open her mouth for me to brush her teeth. Dirty hands, clothes and diapers can be an issue depending on her mood. She knows the phrase, "It hurts." Even tho I'm not really sure she is feeling any pain because she is not crying. When she presumably woud feel pain (falls down hard, etc) she does cry.

We are supposed to see the OT that works with this ABA therapy company in about 3 weeks. DH wants wants to stick with the program until then. The ABA therapist (old one I kicked to the curb) said that they can design a therapy program geared towards sensory stuff. The part that makes me nervous is this rigid schedule and circle time, etc. They basically want to have her follow a preschool schedule at home, but they are only here for 2 hours twice a week. I dunno. I could call EI and ask for something different, but they are going off the eval from the OT who did it. I guess I will wait to talk to the OT who works for the ABA therapist. What do you think?

[JTsMom]

You know, I'm certainly no expert, but this whole thing strikes me as kind of strange. It's almost like they have your DD confused with some other child. Do you have access to all of her evals, and if so, have you read them? I'm wondering if they are looking at accurate info. I thought the ABA instead of OT was kind of strange too, but chalked it up to an alternate approach. I have zero experience with ABA, so I can't help there.

Jason has/had some tactile defensiveness issues, but they've mainly gone away. We did the brushing protocol for a short time, but it didn't seem to do much for him. Have you tried using something besides a brush? Washcloths worked better for us.

Have they rec'd anything else? Some of the activities in Out of Sync Child might work better for her. I think Jason largely just outgrew his issues. Oral defensiveness was the biggest one for us- toothbrushing was an insane battle. Counting really helped him a LOT. We'd brush his teeth while we counted to 20 sloooowly (as he got older, we counted higher). Singing also worked well. For him, knowing there was an endpoint really helped.

Also, not everyone has luck with this, but the single most beneficial thing that has come out of OT for us has been Therapeutic Listening. It made a HUGE difference for us. Don't know if you've heard of it, but here's some info if you want to check it out:
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/therapeutic-listening.html

We do it 2X/day, for 30 mins. During that time, we also work on some skills- language, OT stuff, fine motor, etc. We also work other stuff into the day in a less formal way.

ETA: If it were me, I would make a big deal out of them seeming to not really get what is going on with your DD. If they aren't addressing the real issues, or aren't focusing on them b/c they think she has other issues that she doesn't, therapy time is going to be wasted.

[ett]

I agree with PP's that I'm confused as to why they are doing ABA instead of OT. DS1 has OT for sensory issues. I don't know much about ABA but I always thought it was about modifying behavior.

[Gena]

I haven't a freaking clue! And it is kind of pissing me off because they are constantly looking for bad behaviors. I'm not saying DD never has a bad day or is always "compliant" (I hate that word now), but she is not displaying the escaping/ tantruming/ aggressive behaviors that all their check sheets have spots to record.

The OT Eval called for monthly monitoring by an OT. I was also supposed to "brush her," but she hated it so much that I never did. Now she will brush herself sometimes. But she still will not willingly let us bathe her or open her mouth for me to brush her teeth. Dirty hands, clothes and diapers can be an issue depending on her mood. She knows the phrase, "It hurts." Even tho I'm not really sure she is feeling any pain because she is not crying. When she presumably woud feel pain (falls down hard, etc) she does cry.

We are supposed to see the OT that works with this ABA therapy company in about 3 weeks. DH wants wants to stick with the program until then. The ABA therapist (old one I kicked to the curb) said that they can design a therapy program geared towards sensory stuff. The part that makes me nervous is this rigid schedule and circle time, etc. They basically want to have her follow a preschool schedule at home, but they are only here for 2 hours twice a week. I dunno. I could call EI and ask for something different, but they are going off the eval from the OT who did it. I guess I will wait to talk to the OT who works for the ABA therapist. What do you think?

I think the evaluators and therpists may think that your DD might be on the spectrum, but are not qualified to diagnose. So they are playing it safe by providing a form of therapy that is usually used with kids on the spectrum.

What they do know is that an ASD diagnosis requires delays/difficulties in three areas: communication, social skills, and sensory/play behavior. Your DD has definate issues with two of those areas: communication and sensory. The third area, social deficiets, is really difficult to determine at your DD's age. This is because a key element in ASD is how a child interacts with same age peers and even typical two-year-olds don't really "play with" other kids yet. That age is still dominated by parallel play. For kids who have severe or moderate ASD, you often can tell at age 2, but the social difficulties of more mildly affected kids are more sublte and often do not show up until a later age. Additionally, girls can be a lot harder to diagnose because their social deficiets can present very differently than in boys.

I contact EI when my son was still non-verbal at age 2. We thought that was his only area of difficulty. However I did tell the evaluator that I wondered if there was something wrong with his hands because he didn't know to pull his socks off. I was shocked to learn that he had gross and fine motor delays as well as some pretty serious sensory issues. DS was given speech therapy, OT, and something they called "work sessions". I later realized that the "work sessions" was their own version of a modified ABA program. Even after DS started EI's two-year old class, he still had pull out services for these "work sessions". While DS was in EI, the therpists encouraged me to get a referal to a developmental pediatrican for a full evaluation. I really did not think that DS had autism, but the therpists were gently insistant that a full medical eval would help us know if there were any underlying medical conditions. Of course, after a 6 month diagnostic process, DS was found to be on the spectrum, as his EI therepists had suspected all along. (He had graduated from EI by the time we got the official diagnosis.) I am greatful that they provided him with the appropriate type of therapy, even though he did not have a diagnosis and we insisted that we did not think that he had autism.

Now, I am NOT saying that your DD is on the spectrum. I'm saying that most likely the ABA therapists and EI people have seen children who have profiles similiar to your DD's and some of these kids will later get an ASD diagnosis. So they have this in the back of their minds. There is a big push to identify kids with ASD early and start treatment early. So they feel pressure to treat your DD as if she might have ASD.

All that aside:

Some kids do very well with behavioral approaches like ABA. Other kids respond better to just OT or to more play-like therapies such as Floortime. And sometimes you need to try different approaches for a while to see that works best - not just for your child, but for your family as a whole. We love ABA. It fits my son's learning style and I like having a method with a systematic approach. But it's a LOT of work and it is definately not for everyone. So I think it might be a good idea to stick with the program for the next three weeks until you see the OT. By then you might have a good idea as to how your DD is responding to it and how you feel about it has a whole. If you are still uncomfortable with it at that point, you should look into other approaches.

I'm sorry that this got so long. Again, this is just my impression of the situation based on your posts and my personal experience. Feel free to take whatever makes sense to you and ignore the rest.

Keep posting (either here or in the lounge) and let us know how things progress.

[SammyeGail]

Gena, thank you for your post, I couldn't because our laptop is messed up and I am on the old desk top which is hard to use but came online just to respond : ). It's great that your EI was on your side, I had to fight so hard for services.

Noah did not have bad behavior, neither did Jonas, gosh, he was a total sweetheart but at a level of a 1 yr old with no communication skills. This was at 2.5 yrs old. Jonas did not have *meltdowns* and still doesn't which shocks everyone in the profession field. I saw on someone's signature once somewhere 'If you've met a child with autism, you've met a child with autism'.

Maybe the therapist are looking for the meltdown behavior and perplexed that its not there. When they give you a chance to talk, if it were me, I would pls ask them to look at my DD as my DD, I know they work mainly work with children on the spectrum, but please watch/evaluate my daughter as my daughter and make the best plan you can to help her.

Give it a try, it won't hurt, DO make sure they are not aggressive, maybe asserative at times, but not aggressive, ask questions about anything you see, its your DD, its your right.

Noah loved OT, did awesome, both boys were approved to go twice a week but with ABA in-home 4+ hours 3 days, 4 days for Jonas, we went to OT an hour drive away one day after ABA, Mothers Day out for 'socialization' the othe day, I just couldn't fit it in. Well, I can't actually remember the schedule, it ended in early Nov, my mom suddenly got sick and passed away, they aged out 11/20, I was an emotional mess, then caught Mono end on January so I think I lost alot of brain cells.

Anyway, if you and DD love your OT and can fit it in, do try for more than once a week ;).

[buddyleebaby]

Technician came today and played with DD to build rapport and look for skill levels. Things went fine. DD exhibited no "behaviors." Tech was surprised. I am not sure how to get through to them that DD is not a behavior problem. She is overly sensitive. Any a few questions for anyone with any ABA experience, if you would:

1st: While playing with DD, the tech was doing some kind of inventory of skills. The one I remember is ability to stack 4(?) blocks together. DD did 6, which was more than required. DD also had to look for an object that was in sight and then hidden. Anyone know what this inventory is called and what it measures? Cognition? (kijip, is this the Woodcock Johnson?)

2nd: new overseeing therapist is coming Wed. They are going to do a Day-C (sp?) test. Anybody know what that is?




The DAYC is similiar to the test you described the tech doing. http://portal.wpspublish.com/portal/page?_pageid=53,69525&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
It is just a set of skills they are looking for to determine what areas, if any, she may have a delay.
You will also be asked the same questions over again.

[ha98ed14]

Anyway, if you and DD love your OT and can fit it in, do try for more than once a week ;).

My gut is telling me to stop the ABA and just ask for 2 sessions of one hour each of ABA. That is what sounds appropriate to me, but I'm not an OT.

I am wondering if I should take DD to get screened for autism. Even though I don't think she has it (based on her good vocab, spontaneous communication exchanges), I might have more ground to stand on as far as stopping ABA and asking for OT if I can show that she doesn't have Autism. Who do I go to to get that screening?

I understand everything Gena said (thanks Gena!), and it is very possible that since they can't dx, they figured just treat her like she has it. Then if they ever get a dx, they won't have to change the program all that much.

The new supervising therapist is coming today. I will see what she has to say. I just I have an appointment with their OT on the 17th and a well baby 2 y.o. appt with my ped. 2 days before that. So I should be able to at least feel out some answers. Thank you all for the good info.

[Gena]

I am wondering if I should take DD to get screened for autism. Even though I don't think she has it (based on her good vocab, spontaneous communication exchanges), I might have more ground to stand on as far as stopping ABA and asking for OT if I can show that she doesn't have Autism. Who do I go to to get that screening?

You can ask your ped for a referal to a developmental pediatrician. This is the appropriate specialist to evaluate for autism.

By the way, many kids with ASD have good vocabularies and some have spontaneous communication (although the nature and form of that communication may be odd). So neither of those automatically rule out ASD. How is her social interaction? Does she have good eye contact? Does she point out things that interest her? Does she look where you point? If she discovers a new object, will she bring it over to show you? These are better indicators, although on their own they do not rule autism in or out.

[ha98ed14]

You can ask your ped for a referal to a developmental pediatrician. This is the appropriate specialist to evaluate for autism.

By the way, many kids with ASD have good vocabularies and some have spontaneous communication (although the nature and form of that communication may be odd). So neither of those automatically rule out ASD. How is her social interaction? Does she have good eye contact? Does she point out things that interest her? Does she look where you point? If she discovers a new object, will she bring it over to show you? These are better indicators, although on their own they do not rule autism in or out.

Yes, I would say she does those things. She definitely makes eye contact and points out things that interest her.

The supervisor therapist just left. She performed the DAYC and we had a good chance to talk. She has a lot of experience and said that IHO, a lot of kids with 2 of the 3 signs of ASD are dx'd in our county so they can be guarenteed services. But she also said that some kids are labeled who, while they may need services, are not truely on the spectrum. I think for right now, I am going to trust her judgement and see what she things after her observations. I will also talk to my ped at the 2 year WB visit. One thing the supervisor therapist did say was that even if DD got dx'd/ labeled ASD, the program that she is designing to address DD's needs/ issues would not change. For that reason, maybe the label is not important. I can't explain why, but for me, SPD (tactile defensiveness) and expressive language delay are a lot easier to accept that ASD. But maybe that is true for all parents. It is an emotional fear reaction, not a rational one.

[Gena]

Yes, I would say she does those things. She definitely makes eye contact and points out things that interest her.

That's great!


The supervisor therapist just left. She performed the DAYC and we had a good chance to talk. She has a lot of experience and said that IHO, a lot of kids with 2 of the 3 signs of ASD are dx'd in our county so they can be guarenteed services. But she also said that some kids are labeled who, while they may need services, are not truely on the spectrum.

I totally agree. I think this is part of why the number of autism cases is so drastically high and why some kids lose the ASD diagnosis after several years of therapy. Some parents seek an ASD diagnosis becuase it can open many doors for services, both public and private. For example, when DS was diagnosed with expressive/receptive language delays, motor delays, and SPD, our insurance would not cover private speech therapy or OT. Once he was diagnosed with an ASD, insurance immediately began covering these services.


I think for right now, I am going to trust her judgement and see what she things after her observations. I will also talk to my ped at the 2 year WB visit. One thing the supervisor therapist did say was that even if DD got dx'd/ labeled ASD, the program that she is designing to address DD's needs/ issues would not change. For that reason, maybe the label is not important. I can't explain why, but for me, SPD (tactile defensiveness) and expressive language delay are a lot easier to accept that ASD. But maybe that is true for all parents. It is an emotional fear reaction, not a rational one.

That sounds like a good plan. It sounds like you had a really good meeting.

I understand that SPD & language delay are easier diagnoses to accept and emotionally deal with. Those things sound a lot less scary to many people than Autism Spectrum Disorder. For me, the official autism diagnosis was really a relief, because I finally had a real explanation for all of his delays/difficulties as well a his increasing problems with social interaction. My in-laws insisted that all of DS's issues were the result of my bad parenting, so it was actually reassuring to be able to say that there was in fact a medical reason for them. Even so, it has been a difficult diagnosis to deal with emotionally.

Anyway, it sounds like you found a therapy supervisor you like, so hopefully she will create a great program that helps your DD make good progress!

[ha98ed14]

I am hopeful it will go well. DH just left to take DD to speech. First time he has taken her to any therapy appointment. We'll see how he does.

A special thanks to you for being a faithful replier and for all your advice! I really, really appreciate your time and feedback! A big, big thank you!