Hi, I'm new here

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I would like to say hi to everyone on this forum. I'm a new member and still finding my way around.

A bit about myself. I am 32, married and a father of 2 girls, ages 8 and 5. My children are from my first wife, who left me almost 5 years ago now. My girls split time equally between my house and their mother's house. I remarried this past summer to a wonderful woman I had been dating for quiet a while. We live in a small (as in so small it almost doesn't exsist) town near Madison, WI.

My eldest daughter has asperger's, or at least that is what I'm told is the likely diagnosis by several professionals including her school psychologist. A formal diagnosis from a specialist is still forthcoming and has proven harder to get than I would have thought. My HMO has been bucking paying for such an evaluation for sometime. One of their evaluators has wanted to treat her as ADHD and that has blocked any forward progress. Her IEP team strongly thinks that there is much more going on than simply ADHD though. They see ADHD kids all the time and they tell me what they see from her is much different from those children. Of course they spend a lot more time with her than an evaluator who met her once for less than an hour so I generally put a lot of stock in their opinions. My daughter from everthing I read seems to fall well within the diagnostic guidelines for Asperger's. Looking at her through that light has proven beneficial both in understanding her and helping her with through life. She's a wonderful little girl but is often rather challenging and exhausting to raise. I've come to this web site because I want to know more about this disorder so as to better understand and help my daughter. I've recently come to realize that even when we do manage to get help from professionals, if ever, that they can only do so much. I'm going to be the one providing her the most support and care and hence I need to be the one in charge of her treatment and care.

So, thats why I'm here. Just another puzzled parent trying to help a child I love but have difficulty understanding.

Nice to meet you, dad2rose.

Hi!

Welcome to Wrongplanet!

I hope you enjoy posting here!

Welcome dad2rose!:)

Welcome to WP!

Welcome dad2rose, I really like your username

To WrongPlanet!! !

Hi dad2rose

welcome to WP.

It's great to read that you are so devouted to your daughters.
From being here i'm sure that you'll get lots of support and advice from other parents.

Hi dad2rose

Welcome to the right Planet...

Great you want to understand, the best advice I can give you is read as much as you can a few bookmksuggerstions that may help:
Kids in the Syndrome Mix of ADHD, LD, Asperger’s, Tourette’s, Bipolar, and More! and
ADHD – Living Without Brakes - both By Dr. Martin Kutscher

Hi dad2rose
I'm a "mom2rose" (her middle name is rose)
I'm a single parent of a 6 year old autistic daughter who has taught me SO much about not only myself, and the way the world REALLY functions. But has also enriched my life w/ pure, untainted joy, and made me live again.
Good luck fighting the HMO's. I don't have insurance so I'v never had to deal w/ them. (After watching "Sicko" through, I REALLY want to move to England or want Universal Health Care, but not an HMO, they sound horrid.)
Saddle up for the ride and Hang on, and don't forget that YOU will have to advocate for her and fight for her against the HMO, cause NOONE else is going to.