Word of the Day - Asperger's Syndrome

Which is what my son was diagnosed with today.

At his parent/teacher conference his teacher thought it would be good for him to get evaluated for OT therapy because he was having a hard time with his fine motor skills. (buttoning pants, writing his name etc). I talked to other parents and they didn't find this odd. None the less we decided it couldn't hurt for Cody to have a little extra help.

So the therapy began. First he met with the psychologist, then with the OT therapist, then the speech therapist. The psychologist is the one who has been the most communicative during all this. I filled out a behavior form, he evaluated Cody in school. His findings were the following:

Cody seems unaware of people/surroundings (only sometimes but enough)
Doesn't engage in social actives
Doesn't initiate conversation
Doesn't engage in imaginative play
Wanders
Stands outside a group, part of group but not involved
When I added his obsession for lining things up, which to be honest was the only thing really concerning me, he made the decision to diagnose Cody with mild PDD or Asperger's.

Doing my own research, sure I can see where this makes sense. There is something in my child's brain that isn't quite clicking. On the other hand he is very bright, and high functioning. Meaning he doesn't have any real tics. For example, you can hug him, he has no aversion to any material or food, or color. Etc. He does like his food to line up, therefore if its food you can't line up he doesn't really like it. Its strange, I know but hey I don't like my food to touch so...there you go.

At least he is high functioning. He allows me to hug him, he doesn't have fits, he will look you in the eye. The psychologist tried putting it like this, he has two toes in his own world and the rest of him is with us. To me, that isn't so bad.

His speech therapist said, that he has a hard time processing information and the relaying to others. This is where the big block seems to be. So this is something that we need to work on.

For the next six months (mind you I still haven't had the BIG meeting but I am assuming they are going to suggest further therapy!), so for the next six months I am going to have him get extra help. Then we move back to our home town. There, I will get him re-evaluated and see where he stands. Whether he needs more therapy or not. This seems like the best plan of action.

I considered doing nothing until we moved, but we would waste and entire year. I don't want to do that to him.

So this is what is going on. As the blog states, I am just Treading Water...but hey aren't all parents?

Some links:
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/tc/aspergers-syndrome-symptoms

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/development-disorder
http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/