on an airplane
The past eighteen months have been rough. We knew Fluffy had inattentive issues, we went ahead with ADHD meds. That took us on a wild ride on the emotional roller coaster. Stimulants had the opposite effect on her.
Concerta trial turned the month of July gloomy. We were very worried that she was becoming bipolar. We took her off of it and her anxiety level skyrocketed as third grade appoached. My husband and I were worried she was becoming bipolar (it runs in both of our families). She didn’t want to go back to a classroom, so she went to school online last year.
That’s when her learning troubles became very apparent. Removing the distractions of a busy classroom allowed me to see that reading comprehension was difficult and multiplication felt impossible. We completed 62% of the third grade curriculum. The experience, plus becoming more confident after switching to Intuniv, had her begging to go “back to real school,” as she put it.
Throughout this entire tribulation, we have been in and out of the developmental pediatrician’s office. He has noted more than once that her combination of symptoms does not gel within the ADHD diagnosis. She is the definition of emotional lability, which fits, but her “stubbornness” does not. In his wisdom, he referred us across the hall to neuropsychology.
It took months and months and months to get in.
Waiting lists are torture! We meet the new doc last week. It looks like autism, folks. She fit the trifecta of social interaction, language and behavior dysfunctions, but being a girl held up the process of getting it on the chart. I take her in in a few weeks for the (cue suspense music) ADOS.
What was your experience with the process of your child’s diagnosis?
Related Articles:
- “Why autism is different for girls?” The Independent
- “Doctors are ‘failing to spot Asperger’s in girls’” The Guardian
- “Autism and Asperger syndrome underdiagnosed in women, researchers say” The Times