They ignored everything.

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I'm a little frustrated today. Yesterday was my son's evals with the ASD and Developemental Pediatrician, they both saw him at the same time. My son has communication issues, at 2.5 he wasn't talking and had to start speeth therapy, now at 4 he's behind, they eval'd him at 2 years old in communication. Alot of it has to do with his problems with using consanants, or lack of use. They decided to ignore alot of the issues and red flags, we don't really know why, unless they just don't want to pay for services, it's thru Kaiser. He stimm's, maybe not as much as before but since we started him on Omega 3-6-9 he's hasn't done it as much, but it's still something that happens. He has texture issues, he is a routine nazi, he's hard to discipline, we can call him 10 times before he answers, we know there's no issues with his hearing, he has socialization issues, while he's social or wants to be social, he has issues with personal boundaries and becomes aggressive with kids on the playground, he cann't make friends even tho he wants them. There are more red flags also. But they told us that because he's social and he looks people in the eyes that he has no autism issues, and that basically we are failing in the discipline and potty training areas because we just don't do the right things. Which is BS! Isn't that a major difference between Aspergers kids? The wanting to be social but lacking the ability to do so? It makes no sense, they interacted with him and made him feel comfortable so of course he's not going to act out because they are adults and gave him treats no less, he was happy for all the attention and new toys to play with.

I guess now we just get to play the fight the insurance game with them.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I also wanted to add that the fact that he sleeps 7hrs a day with no naps wasn't an issue either, I got a shrug for it, when I asked about melatonin, I was told to not be shocked if it didn't work. Well last night we tried it and it did work and I think it's my new friend as far as that goes. My son slept 11 hrs and is so much more happier this morning as a result.

Unfortunetly that happens too often. You seem informed and so hopefully if you meet someone decent you'll get what you're looking for but incompetance can ruin the lives of kids and families who are less aware, and when issues are purely blamed on bad parenting and attachment difficulties it can severely effect the relationship between the parents and child even at that age.

Some people with ASDs can make eye contact, according to NAS some make too much or can make fleeting eye contact and so the problem is only noticable in prolongued conversation.

Do proffesionals like these actually read text books on Autism/Aspergers, or do they go fishing around Mailonline and Fox News for their info?

Some proffesionals do spout bull if things don't fit into neat little boxes. I know some people in the field who have close connections with or who work for an institution specialising in ADOS and similar and it's hard for them to contain their feelings on the matter.

Are there any other routes in your country that you can take that has no bias concerning the spending 'their' cash?

I think I may recall Attwood writing something about how in boroughs were the funding for child disability services is high, the diagnosis rates of ASDs tend to higher, and in places where the funding is lower, the diagnosis tends not the exist at all.

Edit: That was meant to be no bias. xD

There are a couple routes open for us and of course there's always going private, but that's money out of pocket. It seems a shame we pay so much for health insurance to only have to pay for a specialist out of pocket. That's the failing of the US health care tho. There is a regional center here, we were told by those quacks that we wouldn't qualify for the assistance, but we are still going to try and get an appt. This isn't something that's just going to 'go away' and we will fight for our son. I just walked away from them yesterday once I realized that thier minds were made up and nothing would change that fact.

Good luck, sounds like you have an uphill battle. It's great that you don't give up though because some parents get really worn down. I suppose it's either going to be a question of do you have the time, or do you have the money. What a shame.

I suppose it'd be naturaly easy for your insurance company to deny something that isn't obvious to the eye. I know I'm not from the US but I think there should be guidelines put in place to prevent this- even if it is hard to prove.

I completely agree. One 1.5 hr session clearly cann't be enough to base an evaluation on. I think there should be at least a few more sessions before basing an Dx or not. There are too many variables that could happen to cause either a wrong Dx or as in this case to not get the right Dx.

It does sound like they are using outdated or incomplete criteria and are trying to avoid the issue. What services are you most specifically interested in? Have you talked to the county education office about the possibility of early intervention?

I went to our school district but was blown off. The Dr did give me a form that would force the issue with the SD with my son's speech issues, so we will follow thru on that route. Basically I just want to make sure that we are utilizing all services that would best help our son, knowing that the SD's around here try to ignore issues, it's really the best thing if you have a hard copy to back up your claims.

I will say that it's easier to get services from the SD if you just push for what your child needs. Our SD doesn't believe that either of my kids have Autism. Instead of trying to drive home the point that they do, I have just pushed for the services the boys need. As well, while we were waiting on the diagnoses, we started speech and occupational therapy with each of them. That's a separate evaluation. As long as there is a medical need to rehabilitate, some insurance companies will cover it without a diagnosis. (And in some states, it's actually easier to get these services if you DONT have a diagnosis.) As well, keep in mind that even if you have a diagnosis, the SD does not have to go by it or the recommendations. They only have to do what's "educationally appropriate." Horrible I know. But until you can get an actual diagnosis, push for appropriate services and just leave the autism out of it.

Melody, thanks so much for that info. It will help us in the future to know that we can still push for services without having the DX. I really didn't know that.

i've been there too.....am going for a 2nd eval for daughter.

Another thought ...

Given the things the insurance co concluded, are they willing to pay for family counseling? The benefit for you, there, may be a more prolonged window by a professional into what goes on with your son, and long term perhaps more back up to your conclusion. Or the opposite - sigh - hard to know. BUT, we did family counseling at the urging of my son's preschool, which insisted it all was a discipline problem, and it actually was a positive experience. First, the counselor affirmed that WE were NOT the problem (she pinned it on the preschool, still missing the ASD, but ...). Second, there had been a lot of family stress and it simply felt good to talk about it. So basically I'm thinking that this may be a "can't hurt, might help" option that the insurance company will actually buy into.