Ethan update

We took Ethan to see the specialist in the middle of July,
Can I just say, Where the crap was she from the get go?!!!!!!!!
I Loved her! she was aggressive! and was willing to explore all area's.
She WORKED with HIM, not just stared at him and listened to me.

She took him in her big office full of different toys and immediately started talking to him and playing "games"with him. It was amazing how many thing she caught with in the first 5 min of working with him. she had him, color, throw/catch a ball, do a somersault, asked him questions,
and invited him to just play with the toys while we talked, but never really took her eyes off him.

She encouraged us to have him see a Opthemologist since she noticed his eyes seemed to wonder a bit and cross when she had him touch his two fingers together. She wondered if he was seeing double or something and that could be causing a reading delay and his struggle with writing and coloring.( he is always a 1/8 inc off from the line, he doesn't go outside the line but never gets right next to it, same with writing.) He saw an optometrist when he started kindergarten and all they said was his vision was excellent.
We did take him to see a opthemologist she recommended, he said his eyes do wander out a bit as things get closer, but it is VERY mild, and it could or could not be causing a reading problem, he gave us an exercise to do with him every day for 5min to help strengthen his eye muscles. We are going to do this, If it works and helps great, if not at LEAST we know it's not the problem.
She would also like us to see and Audiologist, to see what he is hearing. We had his ears tested every year for speech, we know he hears fine, but she wants to know WHAT he is hearing. ( how words and sound REALLY sound to him.)that could be effecting his speech a bit. SO we still need to schedule an appointment in that.

We talked for quite awhile, she explained quite a bit, asked ALOT of question about Ethan.
And said she had ways that she could help him and US with his focus,attention.
She does want to rule out any possibility of a disorder so we do have lab work to do. ( dreading that)
Like I said, she covers all the bases and wants to rule out anything it could be medically!
She also stated she would like to be on a conference call with his teachers discussing what would be best for him in the class room, and talk about his IEP scores etc. ( so nice to feel like We have our own personal advocate!)

We discussed his original diagnosis of A.D.D, I told her I was sort of unhappy with it, not because I was sure it was something else, but felt the doc. just sort of guessed and didn't seem sure of it herself. And if I need to work with him, I need to know exactly what we are doing and ensuring we working with him in the very best way.

She actually thinks he has P.D.D( pervasive, developmental, disorder) which basically means he can go into a few area's of disorders. She also stated he also COULD be in the Autism spectrum,
Although she made it very very clear that she did NOT think he was Autistic, but does have a few of the minor symptoms.( I hate using the word symptoms.) that autistic children have but not the MAJOR ones. That is the same with A.D.D he has quite a few of the symptoms that qualify him, but is not severely ADD nor is he SEVERELY Autistic.( heck she said if he was autistic it would the mildest of the mildest cases, which is why she did not think it necessary to classify him as autistic.) which is why she qualified him with P.D.D.( with more emphases on A.D.D)

She had no fears for him or his future, She thinks all his symptoms are pretty mild, it's just a matter of working with him and leading him down a path that will be best suited for him.

I was in tears as I nodded in full agreement with her, grateful that someone finally gets my concerns and I felt better with her answers like I knew it was something, I just didn't have a name for it!!!!
I love that she is a fearless Dr. who seems to have answers and solutions and tricks!( and clearly has been working with kids for a very long time.)
She gave such nice compliments about him. She said he is very well behaved. Very good manners. And she said unless people are working with him directly they would never know what he struggles with. ( I told her he was on his medication which helps alot!)
She did not change his medication thus far. and stated she would like to see him off his meds to see the difference and how big a difference it really is.

So I deem this a good news visit!

I read this amazing book, Called Super Parenting your ADD kids. I absolutely loved it and it's attitude towards ADD. It talked about it not being a disorder, but a gift. And our job as parents is to help our kids "unwrap" their gift so it actually works in their favor. I also loved the fact that it talked about how all the professionals in the world could never mount up to the knowledge of an in tuned parent. And that WE the parent know our children, know what they need, and know when something isn't working right. And to not doubt ourselves and our instincts even when it's our own well intentioned family members, friends, or doc. I gave such great insight for me. And a whole different outlook on working with Ethan. I would recommend this book to even parents with kids who don't have A.D.D but are just more difficult to work with.( I had to find this book on tape for Paul since he hates to read.)

The bad news.( isn't their always something? )No, I don't want to deem it bad, Lets call it the NEW CHALLENGE will be figuring out how to pay for all the visits and the tests. I am hoping to up our insurance at the beginning of the year so it will cover and we won't have to meet such a damn high deductible. ( cursed insurance, or the lack their of.) I haven't even looked to see what they cover for specialist and if they even cover her.( out of fear I guess.) But since we are s'posed to be seeing her either mo. or bi-mo. I better find out and quick. specialist don't come cheep ya know! But the attitude I have towards it, is we will do what we can do and often as we can do it.
oh, and prayer! oh and lots of reading and self educating!I'm not as stressed about this as I was at the beginning. It will work out as it needs to.We will do what we think NEEDS to be done. Slowly but surely!

I'm pretty sure this is going to become my new soap box subject! just so your warned.