Saturday 10 June 2017

Where to next?

Sooooo ...... last week we received the phone call from O's psychologist that we have been eagerly awaiting since mid-February - the psychologist's report from O's Autism assessment was finally ready to be collected.


We'd also been able to collect the report from O's speech assessment so we're now headed back to the paediatrician this coming Tuesday for the final diagnosis. Both reports strongly indicate that a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder is on the cards for O.

We had an inkling as to what the two reports would say but still it is never easy to read about your child's deficits. It is incredibly disheartening to read all the areas in which O is struggling.

There were phrases such as "level of severity - 3" mentioned numerous times throughout the reports, level 4 is the most severe on the scale that was being referred to. Other phrases that leapt off the page were -
  • "Indicating the presence of an autistic spectrum disorder within the severe range."
  • "The adaptive functioning level is in the moderately low range."
  • "Rated as clinically significant."
  • "Shows impairment in social emotional reciprocity and deficits in non-verbal communication."
  • "Current severity on the DSM-5 is level 2, requiring substantial support.
  • "O meets part A, meets part B, meets part C...."

And then there phrases such as "visual spatial is high average" and "working memory and processing speed is high average."

All of these phrases confirmed what we had already suspected, that O is in fact on the spectrum.

Both reports also confirmed what an amazing job O has been doing at masking her Autism traits and the huge effort that she has been putting in to successfully mimic the actions of her peers. The reports confirmed that only trained medical professionals who know what to look for were able to see through O's mask and see her actions and behaviour for what they are, Autism traits.


While it was so very disheartening to read through the reports, there was also a huge sense of relief as now we can move forward.

We already know that O is capable of achieving great things and these reports are just the next step in obtaining the assistance that O needs to navigate this world of ours.

We don't view these reports in a negative way, they are written that way for a reason. We view the reports as the next step in O's autism journey.

The reports are the next step in O writing her own story.

6 comments:

  1. I understand the issue, but at the same time, O has lot of capability to achieve. I am sure with the best assistance and care she will be able to make it.

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  2. This Story was Awesome thanks to Share

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  3. Keep your spirit high. O is lucky to have you as a parent! God Bless you

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  4. I am glad that you got the report. She's going to be successful

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  5. Good luck to O and her growth and development. Thank you for sharing part of her journey. I trust that its going to be a great one

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  6. You're doing an awesome job...welldone and your little super hero will do just fine

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