The new school year is upon us. I start meetings on Monday. My classroom will take another little bit to be ready for kids on Thursday, which is the first day.
We finally got a diagnosis of Aspergers for Owen. I'm relieved that that part of the process is done. Now we can move on to figuring out the best way to get him what he needs at school. Thankfully, he is high-functioning.
8.27.2010
7.22.2010
It's been a while...
Let's see here. What all has happened since my last post...in December....We don't have an official diagnosis beyond Sensory Integration Dysfunction and have been getting OT to help with that since March or so. We love the OT place and the OT. The specialist we've been seeing is hesitant to diagnose Owen just yet. We go in next month and hopefully, due to things that have happened in the past couple of months, get a definate diagnosis.
Owen is doing quite well otherwise. He is reading up a storm (which is so cool to watch and listen to), and has become fascinated by the states. He can identify all 50, on and off of the map, and knows the capital of each. One of his favorite things to do while we are driving around is to call out the state plates he sees. My favorite mispronounciation is "Hokaloma". He has recently started a collection of postcards from the different states where family and friends either live or visit. He loves getting the mail. My mom started it and it has really taken on a life of its own.
In May, Owen and I were in a car accident. We were stopped at a red light, as was the lady behind us. She was rear-ended and pushed into our car. We escaped serious injury, but I have been receiving PT for whiplash since the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
I will be changing teaching positions this fall. I am sad to leave the school where I have been for the past 8 years, but a change was needed. Owen will continue to be at that school.
I have also taken up running and am trying to get to the point where I can actually run in a 5K. I had signed up for one before the car accident and had to walk it instead of run it due to my injury. I have another one coming up in the middle of August and am hoping to be able to run in that one.
Owen is doing quite well otherwise. He is reading up a storm (which is so cool to watch and listen to), and has become fascinated by the states. He can identify all 50, on and off of the map, and knows the capital of each. One of his favorite things to do while we are driving around is to call out the state plates he sees. My favorite mispronounciation is "Hokaloma". He has recently started a collection of postcards from the different states where family and friends either live or visit. He loves getting the mail. My mom started it and it has really taken on a life of its own.
In May, Owen and I were in a car accident. We were stopped at a red light, as was the lady behind us. She was rear-ended and pushed into our car. We escaped serious injury, but I have been receiving PT for whiplash since the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
I will be changing teaching positions this fall. I am sad to leave the school where I have been for the past 8 years, but a change was needed. Owen will continue to be at that school.
I have also taken up running and am trying to get to the point where I can actually run in a 5K. I had signed up for one before the car accident and had to walk it instead of run it due to my injury. I have another one coming up in the middle of August and am hoping to be able to run in that one.
12.22.2009
Partial Diagnosis
Yesterday Owen had the Vineland Assessment. Basically they interviewed me while Owen was being observed through a one-way mirror (I was also in the room while he was being observed.) Initial findings after the interview are that he definately has sensory processing issues (which I could have told you), and that he seems to be functioning at below a three-year-old level for socialization. The social worker who admisinstered the assessment thinks that Asperger's is definately likely, especially given his low socialization skills. She'll call me either today or tomorrow to let me know how the assessment yesterday ended up scored. I am spending part of today calling around to places that do OT to see who can get Owen in for an eval to start helping him learn to cope with the sensory issues.
12.20.2009
Next steps
Tomorrow we have the Vineland Assessment. It's two hours of somehting. I really don't have a clue what to expect. It is, however, a step toward possibly getting services for Owen at school, if he qualifies. We also have to make this appointment if we want to keep our PedPsych appointment in a month. I programmed tomorrow's appointment into my cell with an alarm an hour before. We should be in good shape. I'll post tomorrow and let you all know what went on. I don't anticipate having any answers until we go to see the specialist next month.
11.26.2009
Thanksgiving
Today is Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for this year? I have so many things to be thankful for:
I am thankful for a healthy family this year (Thanksgiving last year was spent in the waiting room at the hospital while Jeff's dad had emergency brain surgery.)
I am thankful for the wonderful school where I teach and Owen is a student.
I am thankful that we are pull-up free all day long.
I am thankful for my family, both immediate and extended.
I am thankful for my friends.
I am thankful right now that Owen was able to be quiet and calm from 4:30-7:30 this morning so we could get a little more sleep. (He fell asleep at 5 last night, so waking up at 4 this morning was not a surprise -that's 11 hours of sleep.)
I am thankful for a healthy family this year (Thanksgiving last year was spent in the waiting room at the hospital while Jeff's dad had emergency brain surgery.)
I am thankful for the wonderful school where I teach and Owen is a student.
I am thankful that we are pull-up free all day long.
I am thankful for my family, both immediate and extended.
I am thankful for my friends.
I am thankful right now that Owen was able to be quiet and calm from 4:30-7:30 this morning so we could get a little more sleep. (He fell asleep at 5 last night, so waking up at 4 this morning was not a surprise -that's 11 hours of sleep.)
11.23.2009
progress
I am happy to report that we have an appointment scheduled for Wednesday, January 20 at 10:00 a.m. to see the specialist. Hopefully, this will give us answers.
I'm also looking forward to having a little bit of time off. Mom and Jim (aka Dude) are coming up for Thanksgiving. They get here Thurs. afternoon and leave very early Tues. morning. I'm going to be glad to have them here as this week starts tree season.
I'm also looking forward to having a little bit of time off. Mom and Jim (aka Dude) are coming up for Thanksgiving. They get here Thurs. afternoon and leave very early Tues. morning. I'm going to be glad to have them here as this week starts tree season.
11.07.2009
Confereneces and steps forward
It's a new year in Owen's life, so that means a new color for my posts.
Conferences were a couple of weeks ago and my conference with Mrs. Savage (O's teacher) was very enlightening. Over the last three years I had noticed things about Owen that made me kinda sit up and go, "Hmmm." I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was normal (or within normal) or if there was something else there. Things like his ability to very quickly master puzzles, the sensory issues he seems to have, his mastery of number recognition (100) and counting ability (120+) six months ago, his inability to be still, how he verbally obsesses on certain subjects (My touch my piggie's belly, for example). Mrs. Savage mentioned to me that due to his very low fine motor skills (mentioned also by his day care teacher last year) and the verbal obsession thing, in addition to other things, she was suspicious that he may be high functioning Aspergers. Remember that I said that I had noticed things? This thought had occured to me before she said anything. I had no basis for comparison, though, so I decided to let it go until he got into a formal school setting. Other people I know agree that this is a definite possibility.
One of the benefits to Owen's birthday being in the middle of October is that conferences also fall at the middle of October. He turned 4 four days after the conference, and our annual check-up with the doctor was 11 days after the conference. In that time, I put together a list of things which lead me to be concerned about Asperger's. The list ended up being 2 pages long. The pediatrician (who is fresh out of her residency - his appointment was the first time we met her) agreed that it was worth digging into a bit more so she gave us a referral to a specialist. As it stands now, I have received and distributed a stack of surveys to each of five different people (two family friends, Mrs. Savage, the PE teacher at school, and Owen's day care teacher from last year) plus filled out my own stack. The parent surveys (done my the family friends and me) are in to the specialist as I hand-delivered them on Tuesday. I have the PE teacher's survey to hand deliver this week and Mrs. Savage put hers in the mail the day I got it to her. I am just hoping that his day care teacher from last year has hers finished and in the mail. I guess it can take up to two weeks for the office to get the mail once it's been delivered to the hospital due to the routing and filtering.
I talked with the intake nurse for this same doctor's office (the specialist) yesterday for 20-30 minutes and she sorta got a feel for Owen and my concerns regarding him. She also suggested that we do a speech eval since people have some difficulty understanding Owen at times due to mumbling.
When I dropped off the parent surveys this week, we at least got some sort of an appointment set up for him. Because he does not have and IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and is not receiving any services at this point, we have an appointment for an assessment to be done on December 21. This appointment will take 2 hours. Hopefully the appointment with the specialist won't be too long after that, though it could take anywhere between 6 and 8 weeks after they get all of the paperwork (surveys) in for us to get an appointment...they'll call us once everything is in to schedule the actual appointment with the doctor.
Conferences were a couple of weeks ago and my conference with Mrs. Savage (O's teacher) was very enlightening. Over the last three years I had noticed things about Owen that made me kinda sit up and go, "Hmmm." I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was normal (or within normal) or if there was something else there. Things like his ability to very quickly master puzzles, the sensory issues he seems to have, his mastery of number recognition (100) and counting ability (120+) six months ago, his inability to be still, how he verbally obsesses on certain subjects (My touch my piggie's belly, for example). Mrs. Savage mentioned to me that due to his very low fine motor skills (mentioned also by his day care teacher last year) and the verbal obsession thing, in addition to other things, she was suspicious that he may be high functioning Aspergers. Remember that I said that I had noticed things? This thought had occured to me before she said anything. I had no basis for comparison, though, so I decided to let it go until he got into a formal school setting. Other people I know agree that this is a definite possibility.
One of the benefits to Owen's birthday being in the middle of October is that conferences also fall at the middle of October. He turned 4 four days after the conference, and our annual check-up with the doctor was 11 days after the conference. In that time, I put together a list of things which lead me to be concerned about Asperger's. The list ended up being 2 pages long. The pediatrician (who is fresh out of her residency - his appointment was the first time we met her) agreed that it was worth digging into a bit more so she gave us a referral to a specialist. As it stands now, I have received and distributed a stack of surveys to each of five different people (two family friends, Mrs. Savage, the PE teacher at school, and Owen's day care teacher from last year) plus filled out my own stack. The parent surveys (done my the family friends and me) are in to the specialist as I hand-delivered them on Tuesday. I have the PE teacher's survey to hand deliver this week and Mrs. Savage put hers in the mail the day I got it to her. I am just hoping that his day care teacher from last year has hers finished and in the mail. I guess it can take up to two weeks for the office to get the mail once it's been delivered to the hospital due to the routing and filtering.
I talked with the intake nurse for this same doctor's office (the specialist) yesterday for 20-30 minutes and she sorta got a feel for Owen and my concerns regarding him. She also suggested that we do a speech eval since people have some difficulty understanding Owen at times due to mumbling.
When I dropped off the parent surveys this week, we at least got some sort of an appointment set up for him. Because he does not have and IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and is not receiving any services at this point, we have an appointment for an assessment to be done on December 21. This appointment will take 2 hours. Hopefully the appointment with the specialist won't be too long after that, though it could take anywhere between 6 and 8 weeks after they get all of the paperwork (surveys) in for us to get an appointment...they'll call us once everything is in to schedule the actual appointment with the doctor.
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