IEPs IEPs

It was good, it was bad, it was frustrating, and it was mostly good.

Last week was KK's IEP meeting. It lasted a lot longer than I think any of us had anticipated and it went better than I'd hoped for bits.

We have a setup where we take the boy to the university for their language school. He gets his speech therapy there, but other services have to come from the school district. Last year we requested that he get evaluated for OT. We got those results this year. Yeah, that's more than a bit out of compliance for a response. And I'm still a bit pissed about it.

But the results say that he does qualify for OT. We knew this. He can't even dress himself for Pete's sake. Anyway, she also said he's very ready to learn and will incorporate what she demonstrates back into the classroom. Yay. This is a really good sign. Also, she's going to take him out for one on one sessions to avoid distractions in the classroom. I think that's brilliant. She also said he's got the skill level of a 24 month old according to her tests. FTR, he's almost four. ;-/

They actually read his autism evaluation and suggestions for the first time. We gave them a copy much earlier. Did I mention my frustration with the school district? Yeah. Anyway, they read the recommendations and asked about getting an autism specialist on his team. Ya think? His preschool director also wants to involve the university to see if he qualifies for any studies (since those usually involve funding and more therapy than we would otherwise receive.) I'm all over that plan.

We went over his strengths - letters and numbers, increasing receptive skills, better focus, etc. Yay. And then the bad part, his weaknesses. I had to admit that his functional communication skills really hadn't improved. He says the words he says more clearly, but he's still not saying that many words to do anything other than label objects. He does have his moments, so here's to hoping that those moments increase.

His preschool director said she'd left an AAC device in the class and given him some opportunity to play with it to see if it would help at all. He used it to ask for a snack, which is good, but then when other kids started playing with it, he started hitting the "no" button repeatedly. Even better.

The end goal is still going to be spoken communication, but if an AAC device bridges the gap, I'm all over that.

I requested cognitive testing if it were possible, but we decided that maybe waiting another year would be better to really get a good picture. I wanted a baseline, but I didn't want a test that relied on his communication ability to see what's going on in his head, and I know that's going to be hard to find.

They also initially had him listed as being dairy free for the treatment of autism. We corrected them that he was dairy free for the treatment of foul smelling farts from hell, but if it improved his behavior, yay for us. They all seemed to think he was much more focused since we'd eliminated dairy from his diet, but it's hard to tell if that's just halo effect. The stinky farts are not halo effect, so yay to be rid of those.

No Fragile X

We had the boy tested to rule out Fragile X. They sent the sample to the wrong lab, so we thought we wouldn't get the results. I guess they caught their mistake after all. We got them anyway, and they're negative. So yay.

And in all that naval gazing that I suppose goes on when your son gets a diagnosis for something like autism, my mom and I have mentally diagnosed my brother with Aspergers. He has some quirky speech patterns. He had behavioral problems in school. He was diagnosed with ADHD, which is a classic misdiagnosis for kids on the spectrum. He's always had a love for machinery, mechanical objects, electronics, etc. Does he have it? Eh, it doesn't much matter. He's who he is, and he's able to live without supports. But it does explain a lot.

The A Word

Yeah. That one. The one that starts with a and ends with utism.

When we went to the pediatrician to get the required paperwork for him to start preschool, K bombed the screening they give for autism. That doesn't mean he has it, but it does mean he should be tested.

The more I read, the more I'm inclined to think there's cause for concern. He doesn't have every single symptom, of course, but neither do kids with diagnosed cases of autism. So, yeah.

I've been mulling it over and trying to figure out how I should feel about the whole thing.

Ok, here's our areas of concern:

Eye contact. He makes eye contact sometimes, but only if it's something he's really engaged in. When he's on, he's on, but he spends a lot of time looking away and acting like you and the rest of the world doesn't exist.

Speech. Dude is almost three and we still don't have any two word sentences. Or that many one word sentences. He still asks for water by handing us a cup.

Play. Most of the time he takes a toy, like a doll or an animal, and he bounces it up and down. I've never seen him pretend like one doll is talking to another or take the dolls and put them in the house.

Other kids. He likes to chase after other kids, but he doesn't play cooperatively. No tea parties, no balls back and forth, etc. I don't know how much of this is developmentally atypical, but other kids his age seem to be down with the whole cooperative play thing.


Yeah. I think we've got some big concerns. The waiting list for screening can be up to six months long, so it may be a while before I find out anything more.