such a waste of my time!

[MilosMommy7]

well milo's therapy session was earlier this morning... it went not way the way i wanted it to. the developmental pedi that came with our ST therapist sounded like full of crap. that, or it's just me thinking that. she asked me about my concerns and things i've noticed. first off, she didnt let me finish telling her before she interrupted me. here are some of the things she said to me... "children with autism will not look you in the eye. he looked at me so that means he cant have autism." (which i then promptly told her was NOT true). and "children with autism dont care about anyone, and i mean no one, not mom, not dad. if he's attached to you guys he cant have autism." then she said that when he's stacking and lining i have to stop him because that's inappropriate play. and the only reason he has been doing it since he was 12 months was because i let him. then she turned the shape sorter upside down to play with them on the bottom. and she said that because he let her do that he cant have autism. then he took the shape sorter and put it up to his face and sniffed it and leaned his head back. she said "oh look, he's pretending to drink. he cant have autism if he does that." i felt so overwhelmed and defeated, i wanted to start crying because i felt like an idiot. she made me look like i had no idea what i was talking about. so now i have 3 people who saw ASD and 2 who havent... i dont know what to think anymore. the only good news is that he starts his playgroup in two weeks. he would be able to start next tuesday morning, but i have my post surgery check up that morning. she did say though that after his first visit or two she'll come watch him there and see how he acts.
i was a second away from asking them to leave my house. so much anger started building up while i had to sit there and listen to all these reasons why he cant have autism. and it's like everything i said she tried to twist around my words and then find a reason why it means he cant have ASD. it was such a waste of my time and i'm so pissed. so now i have my coordinator, and two speech therapists who saw it. but this developmental pedi and the people who evaluated him at EI to see if he qualified for services didnt see it either. and to make things worse, i sat there rethinking everything and telling msyelf "well maybe i am wrong.. maybe he IS neurotypical and i cant see it." i eventually went upstairs to take a nap before Thomas had to go to work. i just wanted to start freaking out. lol. one other thing she said is a reason he cant have ASD... she shook her head and blew raspberries with her lips. and then milo did it too... i was telling my sister-in-law that it is SOO funny how she picked something that milo does non-stop on a daily basis (head shaking and rapsberries) to use as an example for him to repeat. as some of you who have seen video's of milo before, the head shaking and raspberries is something he does all day long. it was like it backfired on me. lol.

 

[LoveleeB]

That's ridiculous! Everything I've read about autism says that there are no hard and fast rules! To say that because he did certain things he can't be autistic is a joke.

Did she have an explanation as to why he no longer babbles or can drink from a straw?

 

[MilosMommy7]

i dont think this lady was aware of his regressing. she didnt let me get that far in my explanation as to why i'm concerned. the second we said the word autism is when she start ranting about all those reasons why he cant have it. and i didnt say much anything else for the rest of the session. i sat there basically ignoring her. lol

 

[sun]

I would be seriously annoyed too! My son has been assessed twice for his delays (gross developmental and speech). They were also looking at his overall development - cognitive, social, communication, receptive language, etc. They did mention it was difficult to diagnose anything specific when they are quite young as things either become more apparent as they get older or get better with time.

Anyway, they were the complete opposite of your experience. The team of people who saw us stressed that even though there are a million checklists for different conditions and types of delays, usually it isn't a matter of just checking things off. My son had quite a few "red flags" for different conditions, yet most of them were ruled out because of his social interaction and how much he understood. At the same time, other things couldn't be because there's no one-size fits all. Each child has to be assessed individually - the diagnosis might be the same in two children, but the children tdefinitely won't be.

Can you get a second opinion? Or one with another dev.ped.? I had a really great one that was so helpful with my questions and concerns. This lady you saw sounds like not only was she unhelpful to the maximum, but was making you feel like a crazy person for being concerned. So sorry you had to deal with that! I hope you can get another opinion. xx

 

[JASMAK]

Well, that is balony!! My daughter has PDD-NOS but the school says it is more like classic autism now (we have to get her reassessed). Don't care about anyone?!!! She cares about EVERYONE!! Her mom and dad, brother, baby sister...the cat...she has friends that she LOVES. She looks not only us in the eye but others...Get a new doctor!!!

 

[MilosMommy7]

yeah, this lady was a complete wack job. she also told me that since he can do a few sign language, that means he cant have ASD because he shouldnt be doing sign language since kids with ASD dont want to communicate. so by him signing, he's trying to communicate, which in her opinion autistic kids cant do....

 

[MilosMommy7]

oh, but since his bday is just next month, i'm gonna wait to call within the week after his bday with a different doctor. one that specializes in ASD.