So, we had Owen’s autism re-evaluation today. The results? Not autistic in the least. Not even remotely close to ADHD, either (the only thing that was remotely close to the minor issues he has). So…YAY! The doc said he had obviously just been on the slow end of the curve for social/emotional stuff.
This rough graph is how the doc explained it: The yellow pie-shaped area is considered “normal” (between the 25th and 75th percentile). At age 3 he was below normal; at age 5, he’s jumped up into normal. The “issues” he has now are consistent with typical 5yo kids, but we need to watch the ADHD tendencies. (A specific ADHD questionnaire I filled out gave Owen a score of 1 out of 9—where a 6/9 is a clinical ADHD diagnosis.)
In fact, after testing Owen for a mere 10 minutes, the doc looked at me shaking his head and said “He’s not autistic.” But then he finished out the test just to get some hard (confirming) numbers.
As I expected, towards the end of the 50+ repetitive questions (“Which is the island? Which is the cliff? Which shows annoying? Where’s the mountain? Which one is the electrician? Where is the triangle? Which is the raccoon? Which is the walrus? Which one is the guitar? Which one shows sharing? Show me crying.”) he started to lose interest, wasn’t paying attention, and was staring off outside looking for the squirrel. (If you recall, this was the doctor that feeds a squirrel peanuts through his window—and Owen had remembered that when I initially told him about the appointment this morning…and he had put peanuts out but the squirrel hadn’t come to get them yet.) The doc eventually quit the test as he really already had enough confirmation that Owen was not autistic. He did the calculations and all of the results put Owen square in “normal for his age” range.
Just to put it in some perspective, they plan two hours for testing. The last time I think it took 1:30. Today we were done at 40 minutes.
Waiting for the squirrel:
Showing daddy and Katie how to feed the squirrel:
Katie drawing while we waited for the EFMP paperwork. Since Owen no longer has an autism diagnosis, we’re no longer eligible for the EFMP program.
The Doctor was printing our paperwork and the printer was making typical noises.
Owen: Excuse me? Doctor? Your printer is making funny noises.
🙂
So we’re happy. And relieved because, honestly, all this time since the original diagnosis, we haven’t really thought of him as autistic…and now it’s confirmed he’s just a normal little boy.
Hallelujah! Good to start school without a “tag”………………the only disadvantage I see is that you don’t get to go to the sensory friendly events! All’s well that ends well.
No one ever checks our information—it’s not as if we have a membership card! But we likely won’t attend them anyway since he doesn’t need them.