Best part of the trip
Originally uploaded by Mauvis.
I've got a pic of tristan with these things and posted it. and it reminded this mom of this pic so much that she had to post it herself
This post involves comments made on the above picture and is a response to the comment above the one in which I reference this blog:
I've heard of the multi-diagnoses and misdiagnoses between the two.
So far the school system has done the primary evaluation of tristan. I need to get both of my kids evaluated further. had a bit of a bad experience with a therapist recommended by a dr we have a lot of faith in, so I'm a bit wary, I don't want to drag my kids through the number of bad therapists my husband says he went through as a child - I don't know for sure if they were bad or he just didn't like them, he has a lot of issues - My daughter's therapist treated her as a classic adhd/explosive child case and was convinced the child ruled our household when neither is true (though we are a household that negotiates and some more traditional paradigms might view that as letting the child rule) and recommended treatment that garnered a violent response from a nonviolent child - that meeting made me decide this wasn't the therapist for my daughter.
My son seems to be severely understimulated, to tell you the truth, unless it involves his head, which is primarily his ears (touch, not so much sound), and before he got the autism diagnosis, I was wondering if he didn't have an early case of adhd, that may have somehow affected him developmentally due to the early onset (complete speculation - I've never read anything of the sort). Having dealt with an adhd husband, I had noticed many similarities.
His father has been diagnosed both ADHD and bipolar disorder (another two I've heard are frequently confused with eachother, esp in children). I've been told by professionals that his older sister shows signs of both (she has a wonderful school system that has provided special ed services despite her academic excellence, that works on the areas she needs help with and she sees a social worker weekly).
He does have tantrums for no apparent reason. though we've learned it's usu related to tiredness, an inability to communicate and not getting enough attention - which are fairly normal reasons for a neurotypical 3 yr old to melt down, let alone one that's not talking yet - I started giving him something to drink or eat or putting him on my bed - a large place to lay down and family members don't go in there generally until bedtime - or laying him down near a fan or making sure I periodically look in his direction - whatever I guess appears to be the cause - and the tantrums aren't nearly as severe. there was one day I noticed him periodically watching me to see if I was paying attention and he'd start grumbling if I wasn't looking at him. He has two sisters that garner a lot of attention (esp one being an infant, and the other having her own issues) and extended family doesn't tend to interact with him a great deal (not that he sees them regularly). I've learned both my children seem to be far more intuitive than they let on and I'm sure he feels ignored.
He actually seems to like both light and heavy touch. he'll gently caress my hand against his cheek and almost never complains if I do so and he absolutely loves hugs. it's primarily the slowly developed communication, lack of social interaction with peers (he interacts up the wazoo with adults, if they pay attention, and he decides he likes them) repetative motion and severe developmental delay that seems to have given him the diagnosis. They also used an occupational therapist to evaluate him, in addition to a nurse, nutritionist, special ed teacher, social worker, and psychologist. We also noticed he ignored just about everyone who evaluated him except for the psychologist. so they didn't give him credit for eye contact (which has been discussed as overrated in this group) when he makes a ton of it, at least not really any less than the average person. The psychologist figured it may have been due to her dark hair (that happened to be a similar style to his godmother) - all of the women in his life at that time had brown hair, and the other people evaluating him had light hair. it also may have had something to do with her far more casual demeanor, and she seemed to know how to get him to interact. honestly now that I think about it, I should have found out if she takes patients or if she just works with the early on program...
