It's been a while since I've updated this blog, so I thought I'd take a few minutes today and tell you what's been going on.
Schooling a child with M's issues is...difficult.
We recently got a new, and not unexpected diagnosis of PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified). In layman's terms, this is a sort of catch-all diagnosis that falls under the category in the DSM-IV of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, that includes Autism, Asperger's, Rett Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder and...PDD-NOS. My understanding is that a child would receive this diagnosis when he doesn't meet the qualifications for either Autism or Asperger's, but shows significantly impaired social skills, rigid thinking, unexplained anxiety, and other symptoms of classic Autism or Asperger's.
How did we get to this new diagnosis? Well, we've wondered for a number of years why M didn't "look" like other medicated kids with ADHD. Even if you didn't know my kid and had never observed his class before, you'd be able to pick him out as a kid who is different from his peers, even if you didn't know his diagnosis. And this difference has only gotten worse as he's aged. A few weeks ago, we were at the psychiatrist's office for our regularly scheduled ADHD medication checkup, and M mentioned something to me that was way out of the ordinary, and which also clearly and undeniably outlined his level of anxiety in a way we had never seen it. I'm sure he'd mentioned similar things to what he talked about that day at the psychiatrist's office before, but it had never been in such a succinct way...it had never made me stop in my tracks and think "oh holy shit, this isn't good." I'd never gotten that from him before. I'm glad it happened while we were at the psychiatrist's office, because we ended up spending about an hour there, and he was the first to mention PDD-NOS as a possibility for M never looking like other medicated ADHD kids.
We'd had a large battery of psychological and educational testing done the year before, so I called the lady who did that testing and told her what the psychiatrist said. She immediately recognized that it was likely M would fit that diagnosis, even going to far as to tell me that it was not unusual for older kids, like M, to gain this diagnosis; nor was it unusual for it to include a high level of anxiety. A week or so after that conversation we went to see her for 1 additional rating scale and for her to speak with M. I called a week later and she said that he definitely fit the diagnosis for PDD-NOS with anxiety...so here we are.
Before we saw the lady who did the testing, thus still not sure of a diagnosis, I had filled out an application for M to be evaluated over at TEACCH in Chapel Hill. Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders is their thing, so I figured having him evaluated there would be great...they are experts in the diagnosis of, research on ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders). I think it takes at least a month to even get a call back, and I just couldn't wait that long, so we went ahead with the additional testing elsewhere. I still want TEACCH to evaluate him, but I'm going to call them and see what the procedure will be since we now have a PDD-NOS diagnosis.
At this point, with 4 days of the school year left and about 3 weeks until the new school year starts, I'm not too concerned with starting any new methods of teaching with him. I am still feeling my way around learning about PDD-NOS and how it actually applies to him, what behaviors are attributable to it and how to deal with them appropriately. I am certain we will be using Carol Gray's Social Stories as part of our curriculum for next year, as well as other methods of instilling in him those skills in which is he deficient (social skills are at the top of that list, but also things like organization, time management, etc). I will also continue to look for interesting and hands on approaches to teaching him, as that is what he likes and responds to with interest. I have a list of things he wants to study, which is wonderful because we will be going back to the Unit Study approach that we started our initial homeschooling year with. We got side-tracked with trying to do character education with him, and I got stuck in a rut with having him do worksheets and things that were not very hands on. It made for a tough time for me as a teacher, but more importantly, for him as a student.
He's going to a YMCA camp for 2 weeks (just during the day) for kids like him, and they will have lots of fun and learn about social skills (this will be his 3rd time doing something based on social skills...maybe this time some of it will stick!). I'm hoping to use that time to get my curriculum mapped out and put together, as well as catching up on making jewelry. I'm also going to be figuring out a reward program for my younger son (going into 3rd grade). It's tough for him because he has homework to do when he gets home and M doesn't, because M does all his schoolwork during school. So our therapist suggested doing something for him to show him that the work he does for school is recognized and just as important as what M does at home for his school. To show him that even though things may seem unequal, in reality they are different.
Ah...there's that word again. d i f f e r e n t
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