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Back from first np session


Tiramisu
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What did you do? I put puzzles together.

What was easy for you? She held up pictures and I said what they were.

What was difficult? I don't know.

What was interesting? I don't know. I zoned out after a while. (Okay....that's not very reassuring of my hopes for reliable test results.)

 

Under normal circumstances, I'd be psyched about finally getting this done, but my grandfather passed away last week and I'm in a funk.

 

I finished up the EF questionnaire and I could write the report myself. "EF...really bad" and that would about cover it.

 

Next session tomorrow.

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My DD came out of day one and announced that she had intentionally thrown the attention test because "it was boring and stupid." I was horrified, but later found out that her reaction was actually what they were looking for. Don't worry about your kid's performance. If anyone can get accurate measurements, it is the NP team.

 

I'm so sorry about your loss. What lousy timing. Take care of yourself.

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This second day of testing was long. The np said it was because she was doing some achievement tests and dd knows a lot so they kept going on and on. Dd seemed pretty confident about that part. The it sounds like they did some memory tests and visual processing tests. The last test was a computer-based ADHD test. It was good that it was last because it made her cry. 

 

While that was going on the np had me fill out yet another questionnaire, this time Asperger related.

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Oh I hate those questionaires.  I've filled them out till my mind blurs and I can't think straight enough to know anything.  And the whole time you're like *if I answer this up or down a point am I screwing everything up??*.  Ugh.  

 

So you got through it?  Good.  Sounds like your dd liked the psych, and at least the psych is taking you seriously.  

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:grouphug:

I hope the testing is really helpful. How many days does she have?

 

Two days total. She's done. 

 

I meet with the psych next week and go over things verbally and she'll have a chance to clear up any questions that she has before writing up the report.

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Oh I hate those questionaires.  I've filled them out till my mind blurs and I can't think straight enough to know anything.  And the whole time you're like *if I answer this up or down a point am I screwing everything up??*.  Ugh.  

 

So you got through it?  Good.  Sounds like your dd liked the psych, and at least the psych is taking you seriously.  

 

That's exactly it. She told me to feel free to write down any notes about any question, and I did so liberally. After she had read my answers, the second day she told me commented on my thoroughness and said I was like a teacher. I think she meant it positively, but looked at another way, you might think ocd.

 

On most of the questionnaires I was able to answer easily but there were some sections that were hard because I didn't know exactly what they were talking about. "Is your parenting strict?" Well, dd would certainly say yes, and in some ways we probably are strict, but in other ways, not very much. Because we have learned we have to pick our battles if we're going to get survive this parenting journey. So how do you answer that question? 

 

And repetitive, ritualistic behaviors? Ummm. How repetitive is repetitive? And I don't think ritualistic has anything to do with that. It seems like an ocd thing, but I picture altars in my mind when I read that and it's hard for me to get beyond that.

 

And then you have subsections of the same diagnostic questionnaire. Some subsections were filled with "always" and others were nearly all "nevers" but they are supposed to diagnose the same thing.

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They mix the things up in the questions to sort of confirm and go at it different ways.

 

Don't belabor the questions but go with your gut and your most instinctive, obvious answer.  When in doubt, share more, not less, and let the psych sort out if the thing you described applies.  If they read your description and think your mark was incorrect, they could tweak it.  

 

Repetitive is hard for me, because I think *I* wasn't noticing them.  Ds' tend to be very complex, and they sort of cycle.  Like people are like oh he rubs his legs, right? because they heard (or know from others) that rubbing legs is The Thing.  No, with ds it is often weird little things with his fingers.  Like if you just saw him do it once and weren't really watching, you might not realize he does it All The Time.  Sort of inocuous little things until you add it up.  Even the flicking he used to do a lot, I thought oh that's just what he does, kwim?  Then I met a kid with much more severe autism (like level 3), and this kid came RIGHT UP TO ME and did it right in my face!  Well then I caught it, lol.  So level 1 and level 3 are a pretty big spread.  You might be seeing the things but they're so quiet they aren't the things you're focused on in the midst of all you're dealing with.  Ds also has weird things he seems compelled to do.  Like when he still needed to be wiped  (as in up till a year ago, literally), he would UNTIE MY SHOES *every* *single* *time*.  This was SO off the charts aggravating.  Then he went through a tickle your belly stage.  Like if you would stretch, bam he'd be there tickling you.  Now he does this gig where he scoots forward in the car (out of his seat) when we get to our driveway.  It's dangerous and he's not complying when I try to get him to sit back down.  But it's like this really strong, drive, this thing for him, and it's every single time.  

 

Well good, hopefully that makes you feel better that she's encouraging you to make notes and talking through things.  The psych we used is in my Little Black Book because he was such a jerk about not listening.  All this horror we're going through now, having to go back and beg for help, get a behavioralist, etc., all because he wouldn't listen.  So listening is good.  

 

It's a hard process.  You're getting through it.  Then the next steps, when you finally have the labels, the what to DO with this information steps!

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OhE, I'm dying about the shoelaces. I am trying to think of some of those instances around here. The one that comes to mind is that my son would pour out a bottle of bubbles every single time he had them. He might blow one or two bubbles with the wand, and then he'd dump the whole thing. We'd always ask if he was going to dump them, and of course, he said he wouldn't. I wonder if they made shiny puddles or something that intrigued him.

 

Tiramisu, we annotated all the surveys because they didn't make a lot of sense to us for all the same reasons.

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Last night I was obsessing about a question over changing one's behavior (or something) in different environments. I think I wrote the wrong thing because I was imagining it in my mind as acting inappropriately in public and she doesn't act inappropriately but that's because she's anxious in some social situations and becomes very subdued. I guess I could think this to death and not know what to answer. 

Edited by Tiramisu
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Same here Tiramasu.

Mine does the same thing. Send my otherwise very active child , cuz of social anxiety , into very subdued mode.

Tho they are quiet. It's hard to watch as a mom.

I do it too. Obsess over that.

And I do this too....the next day say...ah. It's not as bad as I was thinking last night.

( I lose sleep over my kids issues right now. Racking my brain to figure a good solution . even if its to just one small area)

 

Hugs :)

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Last night I was obsessing about a question over changing one's behavior (or something) in different environments. I think I wrote the wrong thing because I was imagining it in my mind as acting inappropriately in public and she doesn't act inappropriately but that's because she's anxious in some social situations and becomes very subdued. I guess I could think this to death and not know what to answer. 

 

Just put that on the paper. Really. That's what we did.

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