Logan's diagnosis

[one_undone]

We spent the day at Children's Hospital, getting the medical workup for Logan's autism diagnosis. It went okay. First we went to audiology. Basically, he was more interested in the toys than the noise coming out of the speakers. Though I knew he could hear the sounds, he just ignored them some of the time. He was involved with puzzles and

Comments

[mrissa]

I'm glad you have a plan ahead of you, and I'm glad that some more things will be covered. Sounds like it's all for the best for your family in the long-term. Also glad you're done with the long, long day!

[bibliofile]

Yay for insurance coverage! And more information about Logan and what he needs.

Also, it sounds like he's at the mild end of severely autistic. Fine points of difference on a scale of so many possibilities and manifestations.

[one_undone]

Yeah. We're not worried, though. He still knows just as much as he did before he got the score. ;)

[lilirose]

My daughter is considered "severe" on the CARS, too, though her score is lower this year (38) than it was last year (45). (She also tested much, much, much higher when she was seeing the doctor who made her wait in a crowded, toyless waiting room for two hours before he saw her.) They've decided that her speech defecits are "beyond what would be expected for a child with this diagnosis", as well. For me, at least, it's hard not to get hung up on those horribly negative diagnostic terms, but every day I remind myself that she is the child she has always been, and would be the same even if no doctor had pasted a label on her.

I guess I don't need to tell you that this disagnosis tells you nothing at all about Logan's future. He is so lucky to have parents who will never see him as a tragedy or a disaster.

[one_undone]

Hey! So nice to see you around here! ::hugs you

[zwol]

I backtracked to your journal from mrissa's post about social skills after you replied to my comment there.

It happens that, in the department where I'm currently a graduate student, one of the professors researches better therapies for autism. His name is Jaime Pineda. His website is horrifically out of date and broken or I would link to it; anyway, what he's finding is that neurofeedback training can help autistic children exercise the brain systems that appear to be not working correctly, and in particular learn to interact better with others. The New Scientist had a short article about it in 2006.

Pineda's in San Diego so this is probably of no direct use to you, but if you can find someone in your area doing similar research, they probably would be happy to try Logan on it. (I have to caution that this is still research, not proven therapy, though.)

[one_undone]

Interesting article! Thank you for linking it. It sounds rather like science fiction, actually, but I mean that in a very good way. :D We're always open to new therapies for our kids. They've never had ABA, which is the preferred therapy in the state, but we've found a therapist for Logan who employed the Floortime PLAY therapy model with him with great success over the summer. She worked with some professor in California, actually, from whom she's seeking certification for the method. She used Logan as a test subject. Once certified (soon) she will be the only one in the state with certification in this method and she is involved in teaching it to the teachers at Logan's school.

The neurofeedback thing sounds like it would be appropriate for our older son (the one Marissa referred to in her post). His current monomanias are chemistry and physics but I'd bet he would love to try something new like that. I hope the research pans out; it sounds very promising.

[zwol]

As described to me, the neurofeedback technique is for "high functioning autism" rather than Asperger's -- I'm not clear on exactly where the lines are drawn, but I have the impression that Pineda, anyway, was looking for experimental participants more like your younger son.

[one_undone]

Really? Is he still seeking subjects?