The Specialist

So just a recap on how the diagnosis went down on January 31st.  The doctor starts the appointment with gross motor skills tests. Asking G to hop, skip and do a jumping jack, all of which he can’t do very well and it is actually quite awkward.  I immediately felt like a failed mother for not knowing that my child couldn’t do those simple things.  I had never asked him to do a jumping jack so I didn’t know.  The next part of our appointment was spent in the doctors office where we went through all off G’s medical and social history. We discussed how school was for him and how he handled friendships.  After an hour, I was asked to leave the room so that the doctor could do some academic testing.  Thirty minutes later I am brought back  in for the recap and plan moving forward.  I am told that my child is extremely smart, gifted in many subjects. Which is very exciting but also worries me that boredom could be or could become a major issue.  I am also told that he is quirky, that certain behaviors allow the doctor to check boxes.  Boxes in the ADHD world and boxes in the autism world.  While he does not have Asperger’s, he appears to be on the Spectrum, with something called PDD-NOS.  I sat across from the doctor as she rattled all this off and felt like I was getting lost in all her words.  Scribbling notes and trying to keep up.  So finally she tells me her plan. Karate to help with the gross motor skills, increased dosage of medication, continued social skills training and a follow up in 2 months.  That’s it. Nothing more.  Not that I wanted mountains of information, just a pamplet or something telling me what this Spectrum was would have been helpful.  So I left not knowing what to expect in our future but knew that I would not settle for just another dosage of medication.  I have learned a lot in the last month, learned quite a bit.

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