Caleb went to his first TEAM Centers appointment in October. We both met with the intake specialist, a student intern who explained the services TEAM offered. She went over the process of getting Caleb tested and that it would be stretched out in appointments through January 2011 when the doctor would meet with me and hopefully give a diagnosis. Each time evaluations were completed the answers were quite interesting.
Across the board the tests performed indicated Caleb was a little over a year behind for his age group. His language was lagging behind causing great difficulty in communicating with others. This is true because this is the one thing that sets him off when he becomes frustrated that people don't understand him.
The physical therapist was the one who noticed Caleb's balance was off. Yet he can ride a bicycle with no training wheels. His posture is also off and he couldn't catch a tennis ball. Interesting enough I also learned that Caleb's eyes were not working together. It was recommended we see a developmental optometrist and an orthotist.
What all the specialists noticed is that Caleb tends to chew on the cuffs of his sleeves and also around the collar. Pretty much all of his shirts are permanently stained in this area. It was the doctor and Physical Therapist who noticed something was going on with Caleb.
At the end of all the evaluations the doctor was stumped as to what is going on with Caleb. While he did show many signs of ADHD some things were not adding up. So, she decided that Caleb needed to see one of the specialists with TEAM whose main focus is Autism. It wasn't what I expected though I was glad to keep going hoping an answer would be given soon.
Two weeks later Caleb and I once again traveled to Chattanooga to meet with Alyce, the specialist. After reviewing all of his evaluations, talking with me and observing Caleb, she was confident he has Pervasive Development Disorder or PDD. Caleb is considered a high functioning Autistic child at the border on the Autism Spectrum. For once in my life I was relieved I finally had an answer instead of feeling lost. Three appointments in February 2011 Alyce would observe Caleb and help me to understand more about PDD and how to work with Caleb.
One thing I learned is that children like Caleb cannot be changed and unfortunately, so many people try to change children. Caleb only sees gray in his own little world. So for now it is up to me to change my attitude, create a stable schedule for him at home to help make things better. I am happy to be on track now with getting Caleb the right help although I am making some decisions about some of the care his receiving that he is not benefiting from. In February 2011 Caleb finally seen the developmental optometrist in Cookeville and he does have vision issues that were not picked up by his vision screenings at school and at the health department. It has been almost a week now that we picked his glasses up and Caleb is happy to have them.
In the mean time Caleb will be going every other week to see Alyce. He sees an Intervention Specialist at his school once a week which is one of his favorites. He has a Case Manager from the mental health center he goes to. And just recently he seen a Child Psychiatrist whom he will see every two months. He is supposed to be starting physical and occupational therapy at his school very soon. According to the doctor at TEAM, once things get going with therapy his behavior should start to get better.
While everything is going into place I am hoping that his behavior will improve soon. Even though things are moving forward it still gets disappointing when he brings home his "Kid Mail" from school everyday and he has those blue and orange card days.
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