The Visit to the Autism Center
So for the first time ever, I didn't break down into sobs while talking to a specialist. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that we met a great therapist last Friday and I feel pretty confident about the future.
The Kid is sick again. This is getting a little too Munchausen by Proxy for me. Jeebus. Give us a break with the sicknesses. He has stayed home the last couple of days. This morning he woke up and promptly threw up on me.and he had a fever which led to me kicking the Husband awake and yelling "RED ALERT! RED ALERT!" I threw some Parkemed down his gullet and took his temperature after 30 minutes and finally felt safe enough to head to work.
He hasn't had a fever all day but his cough is a mess. He is currently asleep on the sofa beside me, grunting like a Gremlin. The poor little guy. Hopefully he will be back to his old self in a couple of days. Today we had another appointment at the Autism center. This is the same place that we had an appointment with in December. This is also the same place that called on the same day of the appointment and moved the time up by 3 hours. I couldn't leave work so I was ticked but the Husband went with his mother. When I got home, the Husband told me that it was a nice place. He then proceeded to tell me they sat in a room with a one way mirror and microphone and that they asked if people could watch from the other side and listen. This annoyed me and I had visions of a police station interrogation room.
We have been to a lot of therpists/specialists. Here is a bit of a timeline and list of who we have seen this past year and a half:
Summer of 2013 - Met with a child therapist that I talked to and then asked to visit the daycare because we were getting complaints. She didn't see a problem at the time and she is now my therapist. She's great!
Fall of 2013 - met an autism specialist and she didn't have time for a new client and based on the information I provided, the Kid didn't seem like he had a concrete problem.
Later Fall of 2013 - Speech therapist came to our apartment and declared the Kid to be severely autistic.
December of 2013 - March of 2014 - Signed up to a diagnosis center and saw the following specialists over 3 months:
Pediatrician - said he seemed fine
Speech therapist - said he seemd to be a bit of a lovable jerk
Child therapist .- four sessions and at the end there was no firm diagnosis but definitely some autism
April 2014 - Started ergotherapy for 20 sessions
May 2014 - met with district psychologist to apply for the integration kindergarten
October 2014 . ended ergotherapy and met with district psychologist again
December 2014 - Autism center.
February 2015 - hospital psychologist
February 2015 - new child therapist
February 2015 - Autism center
It has been a long journey. Last week we were back at the hospital for an EEG and an MRI and for an appointment with the hospital child pyschologist. When we were in the hospital a couple of weeks ago because of the seizures, the head doctor had suggested we meet with the psychologist on our next visit. Because we were literally brain dead after a week in the hospital, we said "Sure, why not?"
So last Wednesday we checked in and at 1 we had our meeting with the psychologist. She wore socks and Birkenstocks and seemed quite nice. And I braced myself for the same set of questions that we get every.single.time:
How was the pregnancy?
How was the birth?
Did you breastfeed?
Did you bond with your baby?
Did you notice anything wrong with him?
It's exhausting and invasive but it is what it is and I try hard not to be defensive.
After we chatted for a little while, she realized that we are doing everything that we can at this point. The Husband told her that we have another meeting coming up at the autism center and she gave us a bit of a look. She suggested the other autism center in Vienna that we had looked into as well.
"But if you go there, you can't mention you have been to the other one. They hate each other. There was a big schism in the 80s"
I responded with "Really? That's pretty ridiculous."
"If you even mention the other place, they won't see you." she warned and I chuckled. "But, I really think you should try the other place. The woman who runs it is amazing. Sure, there are rumours she is too strict with the kids and there are whispers about her locking them in closets." At this point she probably saw our faces.
"I'm pretty positive that isn't true but I will tell you one thing. She does get them to speak." All I could think was: I bet she does and I bet their first sentence is LET ME OUT! Yeah, no thanks. I think we will stick to the place we are at now. After that weirdness, we had our great appointment with our possible new therapist on Friday. And today I finally got to see the autism center for myself. I actually thought it was pretty good. There isn't much they can offer us at this point but they are a good resource and once we pay the whopping 50 euro annual membership, we will probably get faster access to an intern for the kindergarten (this was mentioned in a round about way). I scratch your back you scratch mine - so Viennese. And so, I feel a lot better in general and I cannot wait to get started! Nighty night!
The Kid is sick again. This is getting a little too Munchausen by Proxy for me. Jeebus. Give us a break with the sicknesses. He has stayed home the last couple of days. This morning he woke up and promptly threw up on me.and he had a fever which led to me kicking the Husband awake and yelling "RED ALERT! RED ALERT!" I threw some Parkemed down his gullet and took his temperature after 30 minutes and finally felt safe enough to head to work.
He hasn't had a fever all day but his cough is a mess. He is currently asleep on the sofa beside me, grunting like a Gremlin. The poor little guy. Hopefully he will be back to his old self in a couple of days. Today we had another appointment at the Autism center. This is the same place that we had an appointment with in December. This is also the same place that called on the same day of the appointment and moved the time up by 3 hours. I couldn't leave work so I was ticked but the Husband went with his mother. When I got home, the Husband told me that it was a nice place. He then proceeded to tell me they sat in a room with a one way mirror and microphone and that they asked if people could watch from the other side and listen. This annoyed me and I had visions of a police station interrogation room.
We have been to a lot of therpists/specialists. Here is a bit of a timeline and list of who we have seen this past year and a half:
Summer of 2013 - Met with a child therapist that I talked to and then asked to visit the daycare because we were getting complaints. She didn't see a problem at the time and she is now my therapist. She's great!
Fall of 2013 - met an autism specialist and she didn't have time for a new client and based on the information I provided, the Kid didn't seem like he had a concrete problem.
Later Fall of 2013 - Speech therapist came to our apartment and declared the Kid to be severely autistic.
December of 2013 - March of 2014 - Signed up to a diagnosis center and saw the following specialists over 3 months:
Pediatrician - said he seemed fine
Speech therapist - said he seemd to be a bit of a lovable jerk
Child therapist .- four sessions and at the end there was no firm diagnosis but definitely some autism
April 2014 - Started ergotherapy for 20 sessions
May 2014 - met with district psychologist to apply for the integration kindergarten
October 2014 . ended ergotherapy and met with district psychologist again
December 2014 - Autism center.
February 2015 - hospital psychologist
February 2015 - new child therapist
February 2015 - Autism center
It has been a long journey. Last week we were back at the hospital for an EEG and an MRI and for an appointment with the hospital child pyschologist. When we were in the hospital a couple of weeks ago because of the seizures, the head doctor had suggested we meet with the psychologist on our next visit. Because we were literally brain dead after a week in the hospital, we said "Sure, why not?"
So last Wednesday we checked in and at 1 we had our meeting with the psychologist. She wore socks and Birkenstocks and seemed quite nice. And I braced myself for the same set of questions that we get every.single.time:
How was the pregnancy?
How was the birth?
Did you breastfeed?
Did you bond with your baby?
Did you notice anything wrong with him?
It's exhausting and invasive but it is what it is and I try hard not to be defensive.
After we chatted for a little while, she realized that we are doing everything that we can at this point. The Husband told her that we have another meeting coming up at the autism center and she gave us a bit of a look. She suggested the other autism center in Vienna that we had looked into as well.
"But if you go there, you can't mention you have been to the other one. They hate each other. There was a big schism in the 80s"
I responded with "Really? That's pretty ridiculous."
"If you even mention the other place, they won't see you." she warned and I chuckled. "But, I really think you should try the other place. The woman who runs it is amazing. Sure, there are rumours she is too strict with the kids and there are whispers about her locking them in closets." At this point she probably saw our faces.
"I'm pretty positive that isn't true but I will tell you one thing. She does get them to speak." All I could think was: I bet she does and I bet their first sentence is LET ME OUT! Yeah, no thanks. I think we will stick to the place we are at now. After that weirdness, we had our great appointment with our possible new therapist on Friday. And today I finally got to see the autism center for myself. I actually thought it was pretty good. There isn't much they can offer us at this point but they are a good resource and once we pay the whopping 50 euro annual membership, we will probably get faster access to an intern for the kindergarten (this was mentioned in a round about way). I scratch your back you scratch mine - so Viennese. And so, I feel a lot better in general and I cannot wait to get started! Nighty night!
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