Monday, February 28, 2011
Idol Friday Part 2
On Friday evening at dinner, Zachary informed us that he had made is musical debut at Idol Friday in the cafeteria at lunch. He sang a song from music class called (approximately) "Asimba Kawaya Kadoo Kaday." Wow. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Growing Up?
A conversation with Zachary a week or so ago:
Z: When can I stop using plastic cups, mom?
Me: Whenever you can get glass cups out of the cabinet without knocking them all down and breaking them.
Z: So I guess I'll use these plastic cups for ABOUT two more years.
Z: When can I stop using plastic cups, mom?
Me: Whenever you can get glass cups out of the cabinet without knocking them all down and breaking them.
Z: So I guess I'll use these plastic cups for ABOUT two more years.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Another Piece of the Puzzle
Thursday Tim and I had an "information sharing summary" meeting at Children's Hospital. We had enrolled Zachary in a research study in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Before Christmas, I did a parent interview, and on January 27 Zachary took an IQ test and the ADOS (the "gold-standard" for detecting autism spectrum disorders). Why did we get into the study? We really wanted to re-visit the whole issue and get some cognitive testing done. This gave us the chance to do this with no out-of-pocket expense to us (in fact, we got a $100 Kroger gift card in the deal).
To go back just a bit, Zachary had this testing done in the spring of his kindergarten year (2008). At the time, he already had a "school diagnosis" of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That time, when we went to the parent interview, we had a conversation about the fact that his numbers on the ADOS didn't officially reveal an ASD. However, due to the great disparity in his intellectual ability and social/emotional ability, we could "call it" Aspergers. That sounded just right to us, as we had suspected this all along. Much later, when I read the report from that first testing, I noticed that the diagnosis wasn't Aspergers at all, but "Language disorder - expressive." What?!
This time, the woman working with us sat down with us and discussed Zachary's strengths: great language, high IQ across the board, some ability to share his interests and enthusiasm. Then she talked about his weaknesses (very few gestures, some mumbling of speech, some lack of eye contact, social and emotional awkwardness, somewhat flat affect) and concluded that he would be diagnosed as having high-functioning autism. (This is actually what they're calling Aspergers these days. Aspergers will soon be removed completely from the DSM.) It is so funny to see a clinician deliver this news, only to have us shrug and say that we knew that already. I'm sure it is not a typical parental response, but what can I say? We've been there, done that. We've definitely processed this already.
What does this mean for Zachary? Not much, really. She did suggest that we start private speech therapy, stay in karate or some other activity outside of school, and add some more speech and social goals to his IEP. We are in a pretty OK place right now, though I know as adolescence approaches things are bound to get more complicated. He's a good kid who needs to develop a little more self-awareness and learn to deal with his emotions better. I have no doubt that he will grow up to be a successful and productive member of society. He himself believes that someday he will "fall in deep, dark love," get married, and have children. Maybe even great-great grandchildren someday, if he "is very, very lucky and lives to be over 100." See, he entertains me like that every day!
To go back just a bit, Zachary had this testing done in the spring of his kindergarten year (2008). At the time, he already had a "school diagnosis" of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That time, when we went to the parent interview, we had a conversation about the fact that his numbers on the ADOS didn't officially reveal an ASD. However, due to the great disparity in his intellectual ability and social/emotional ability, we could "call it" Aspergers. That sounded just right to us, as we had suspected this all along. Much later, when I read the report from that first testing, I noticed that the diagnosis wasn't Aspergers at all, but "Language disorder - expressive." What?!
This time, the woman working with us sat down with us and discussed Zachary's strengths: great language, high IQ across the board, some ability to share his interests and enthusiasm. Then she talked about his weaknesses (very few gestures, some mumbling of speech, some lack of eye contact, social and emotional awkwardness, somewhat flat affect) and concluded that he would be diagnosed as having high-functioning autism. (This is actually what they're calling Aspergers these days. Aspergers will soon be removed completely from the DSM.) It is so funny to see a clinician deliver this news, only to have us shrug and say that we knew that already. I'm sure it is not a typical parental response, but what can I say? We've been there, done that. We've definitely processed this already.
What does this mean for Zachary? Not much, really. She did suggest that we start private speech therapy, stay in karate or some other activity outside of school, and add some more speech and social goals to his IEP. We are in a pretty OK place right now, though I know as adolescence approaches things are bound to get more complicated. He's a good kid who needs to develop a little more self-awareness and learn to deal with his emotions better. I have no doubt that he will grow up to be a successful and productive member of society. He himself believes that someday he will "fall in deep, dark love," get married, and have children. Maybe even great-great grandchildren someday, if he "is very, very lucky and lives to be over 100." See, he entertains me like that every day!
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