Tuesday, November 29, 2005

My Kid: Autie or Not

It's been five years since sweet M. was first evaluated for her significant speech and language delays and her difficult behavior.

She's eight now, and has had nearly a dozen diagnoses, some from the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition), and others that are less formal.

The less formal ones—the ones that her speech and occupational therapists have provided— include:
  • central auditory processing disorder
  • language processing disorder
  • sensory integration disorder
Her school psychologist said she has:
But since M. has a significant language impairment, she doesn't actually fit the DSM profile for Asperger's. Most Asperger's folks—Aspies as they've begun calling themselves—have good language skills, but have difficulties with social information and inflection.

The ones from the DSM—the ones that her physicians and psychiatrists have given her:
And she is odd. I am, too. We're all odd. We're an odd family.

And it's an odd world in which a little girl would have a Dx for every candle on her birthday cake, and then some.

This blog will tell the story of our life with sweet M.—and the medical, psychiatric, therapeutic, educational, and legal worlds that have shaped our life with her.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey I can truly relate....we are also an odd family and I was finally labeled an aspie in my 50s.

I have 5 kids, they have variously the labels of your sweet M., plus episodic dyscontrol, static encephalopathy, sedsory integration disfunction or whatever they are calling it this week, and a handful of others. The youngest is 8 and has known physical anomalies, the older ones range from 17-22 and despite their quirks are pretty successful students, even the one who didn't talk till 3 and the one who had mental retardation labeling as a preschooler. All 4 of the older ones work at some kind of job.

Hang in there...and ignore the pros when you think it is warranted. Push them, ditto. This is always, I have found, the best thing to do. And above all remember they aren't really G-d even if they think they are.

Anonymous said...
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kristina said...

My son Charlie is 8 too--and the merry-go-round photo is so familiar; always a favorite.

One difference: Charlie's diagnosis has always been autism from the beginning.

Another similarity: We in our household have plenty of edges too!

MothersVox said...

Jane and Kristina,

Thanks so much for your encouragement . . . I started off with listing all these Dx's because one of the hardest things for my family has been to get a handle on what is actually going on for sweet M.

But one thing we know for sure: merry-go-rounds are M's all out favorite . . .

Octobermom said...

Nice to see a blog that talks about a girl with this type of "problem". My daughter, India, is three. She's gorgeous and funny and delicious and also happens to have a diagnosis of PDD-NOS. I have a typical 5 year old son and a wonderful husband but just as in your home, we're all, you know...wierd! :-)

India goes to a school for autistic kids in Manhattan. She's the only girl of the 8 kids in her class. Of all the blogs I read, this is only the second (beside my own) that I've found about a girl.

THANK YOU!
Sal