Life is an endless Developmental process. We all have unique Abilities and Disabilities. The Day we choose Awareness instead of ignorance, is the DAY we start to see everyone as equal. Gary Spears, DSP



Tuesday, May 19, 2009

FINALLY! WE HAVE A DIAGNOSIS!!

So today was our appt. at Strong in Rochester, what a great place! I am just SO relieved that we have SOMETHING on paper for caden man. We actually have a couple somethings:

Isolated Language Delay, Oral-Motor Apraxia with Autistic like quirkiness, he will be tracked for Aspergers in the future, as well ADHD, with meds possible in the future if he progresses at the rate he currently does.

That is alot for one little 3 year old if you ask me. I however was not far off on my PDD-NOS feelings for the past few years, since she said he does have almost all of those characteristics, but is able to use gestures and signs which puts him off the spectrum. I am OK with this. Apraxia is however a PDD (pervasive Developmental Disability) also. I've heard vague things about Apraxia, from his current speech therapist and don't know much really about it, so those of you who know me, know that I will be doing as much research as possible on the subject and plan to even possibly go to the library this evening and get some books. She also recommended a book called the "Quirky Child" so in case anyone is interested, I plan on reading this one as well. They were not thrilled with the idea of Caden being integrated come this fall, unless he has a 1:1 aide available to him, so that is something I will have to bring up to school, I am not sure how that works at all in our situation. They also highly recommended since his delay is so severe the PECS. Which is a picture way of communicating. So between the signing and the few words he has as well as combining it with the PECS, it should hopefully be able to cut back on the lack of speech related tantrums. So I have to do research on that as well. We will go back in 6 months for another evaluation and too see how far Caden has come since now. Apraxia we do know is a lifelong disability, but with the proper tools and therapy, we hope that he will be able to gain the skills and vocabulary to live an everyday normal life.

That is all I can think of at this moment, I've repeated this so many different times today, my mind is in a blur. It's been a long stressful day and I am glad its over! Thank you to everyone who has stood by our side during all of this, this is just the beginning, we have a long road to cover still!

Oh yea.... remembered something else. Caden also has a touch of anxiety (hm..seems to run in this house huh??) Due to his delays. So as long as it doesn't become burdening to him, we will not treat it with meds.

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