Today we had the Educational Psychologist visit us at home. She was really lovely, & asked lots of questions whilst observing River. River spent most of the time standing by the window, looking outside. He also looked out of the corner of his eye at the living room lights a lot, then spent a while spinning some cake boards over & over again. He ignored us when we called his name repeatedly. At one point, he managed to pull a pile of video cassettes on top of himself & burst into tears, so I picked him up & cuddled him- & he just pulled away & was desperate to get away from me, getting no comfort whatsoever from me. This is typical of River, so it was quite convenient that it happened in front of the Ed Psych. We then put on some Thomas, & River immediately ran up & down the room on tiptoes, flapping his arms & clenching his fists.
She talked quite a lot about Aspie's (Asperger's) & high-functioning autism, so I got the impression that she agrees that River's on the spectrum. She described Aspie's as "wizards in a muggle's world- very clever, but just not understood by the rest of the world" which I thought was such a lovely analogy.
I said that I was concerned the paediatrician may say that River's too young for a diagnosis, or disagree that he's on the spectrum because he makes very good eye contact but the Ed Psych said she'd seen young children diagnosed who were very similar to River. Also, if we're unhappy with the paeds decision she will help us get seen by a different one who may be more experienced with very young children.
It was sooo lovely to have somebody agree with me, & talk about the help available long & short term, but at the same time it always leaves me with a heavy heart as I still desperately want to be proven wrong- although really, I know that won't happen :-(
So she's sending her report to the paed, health visitor, GP, & a copy to us.
GREAT NEWS: We're on the waiting list for the Brainwave programme (http://www.brainwave.org.uk_) & were looking at July before a slot was free- however, they've had a cancellation & we're now having our two-day assessment in TWO WEEKS!! Can't wait x
No comments:
Post a Comment