well blow me down...

[leoniedelt]

Pumpkin has just finished with the child development clinic, day 2.

Pumpkin has semantic-pragmatic disorder, as defined by the speech-language pathologist today, who said she is definitely on the spectrum and was talking high functioning autism.

We'll have a big meeting on 18 Sept in the morning, with all the professionals she's just seen these last two mornings, and pool the information into one big report, which we can then take to schools and make sure that they can help her when she gets there.

She has problems understanding the nuances of what is said to her, she has social impairments (ie she cannot understand what kids are doing or why, or indeed relate to kids at all), and she has little/no imagination, cant imagine people or relate to them.

Every professional we've talked to AGREED with us today. We were gobsmacked, stunned really, at how receptive they were, instead of being fobbed off as we have been for so long by health visitors etc, told pumpkin was normal, etc. The CDC didnt think she was normal, oh no.

*aims this at the entire planet Earth*

I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!

I've been saying it for 3+ years, the kid is autistic. I've known it from birth - she was never 'normal.' She's 'disabled.' She's 'special.' She's different.

My god, the relief and vindication are almost palpable.

Comments

[leoniedelt.livejournal.com]

Once the 18th comes and we have our big meeting, we can put to them that we think she fits the criteria for HFA even moreso than just semantic pragmatic because the social side of pumpkin is still impaired, as well as the imaginative side, and together with semantic pragmatic, those are the 'triad of impairments' that define HFA.

Plus HFA will be a much more useful label to have because people have heard of it - no one's heard of semantic pragmatic, at least not in the benefits agency. If they label her HFA, then she can get financial help which we cn use to send her to the gym class they recommend to help her weird gait and unstability on her feet and inability to pedal a trike.

Soooooo, yes, we're on the road to getting help! AT LAST! Horray for the NHS doing their jobs for a change, eh? :)

Thanks so much for your support. There's a reason parenting her has been so hard, so intense. Thank god someone else recognises it.

[gorkonslady.livejournal.com]

I´m sorry for you, really. Hopefully you and your better half are able to get help for Pumpkin.

[leoniedelt.livejournal.com]

Thanks - i'm sure we're on the right track now, making the right connections with people, etc.

*hugs*

[gorkonslady.livejournal.com]

Don´t worry. Pumpkin will be all right. I know, it´s horrifying, when the own kids are getting ill or anything isn´t ok with them. You cannot sleep, you are nervous the whole day a.s.o. My little Junior has got his first surgery, when he was 1 1/2 years old! Do you imagine, how i felt?