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Posted
Posted

We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

lasted for 3 years with them. :(

>

> Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> story with y'all.

>

> The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

>

> --- Tom Marking

>

>

*********************************************************************

> **

>

> Meyer Center Trip Report

> Thursday, November 9, 2006

>

> ************************************************************

>

> Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> 6701 Fannin St.

> Houston, Texas 77030

> Phone:

> (appointments)

> Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

>

> Patient: Zachary

> Age: 3 years, 11 months

>

> The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> after the initial referral.

>

> Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

>

> Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

>

> Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> 37 lbs.

>

> Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> most of the answers we had already provided in the

> paperwork.

>

> Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

>

> Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> her stuff.

>

> There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

>

> So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> old. :)

>

> Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

>

> Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

>

> I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> communication skills.

>

> Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> some kind of fasting beforehand.

>

> So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> it up and on page 2 it says the following:

>

> " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> within the average range. "

>

> How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

>

> Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

>

> MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> Freshness Rating: 10%

>

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Posted
Posted

I don't want to be all gloom and doom. There are other options out

there. After the fiasco we had with the Meyer Center of Texas

Children's Hospital we looked around for another place to do a

developmental assessment.

We found one:

W. on, M.D.

4500 Bissonnet, Suite 350

Bellaire, Texas 77401

http://www.childrenslearninginstitute.org/our-programs/program-

overview/children-neurodevelopmental-clinic/location.html

We had an appointment with Dr. on this March. It was night

and day in terms of the comparison between the Meyer Center and

on. Finally, I had found someone who knows sh__ (a word

beginning with sh) from shinola. This guy really knows his stuff and

he will give you the straight dope on your kid. He still said that

Zachary was autistic but he has a way of breaking it to you that's

not like hitting you with a ton of bricks.

He answered all of my questions. If he didn't know something he said

so. He didn't pretend to be the omnipotent Oz like they do down at

the Meyer Center. He's actually heard of ABA therapy and knows

something about it, unlike the cretins down at the Meyer Center. So

it was a good experience all the way around. I would highly

recommend Dr. on for an developmental evaluation for any

parent who might be suspecting his kid is on the spectrum. Even

though he was outside of my insurance (which covered a ludicrous 10

percent of the bill), it was still worth it.

So my recommendation to all you folks in other cities is this. Avoid

the big children's hospital complexes and clinics associated with

them like the plague. Try to find someone who is in independent

practice, preferably an older person who has decades of experience in

the field of developmental or neurological pediatrics. If you can

get some good word of mouth info that's priceless. If you're close

enough to Houston you might want to give on a shout.

His reputation has spread so he has a long waiting list. You might

have to wait 2 months or so to get in for an appointment. I hope

this information helps.

--- Tom Marking

>

> We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

>

> In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> lasted for 3 years with them. :(

>

>

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Posted
Posted

I don't want to be all gloom and doom. There are other options out

there. After the fiasco we had with the Meyer Center of Texas

Children's Hospital we looked around for another place to do a

developmental assessment.

We found one:

W. on, M.D.

4500 Bissonnet, Suite 350

Bellaire, Texas 77401

http://www.childrenslearninginstitute.org/our-programs/program-

overview/children-neurodevelopmental-clinic/location.html

We had an appointment with Dr. on this March. It was night

and day in terms of the comparison between the Meyer Center and

on. Finally, I had found someone who knows sh__ (a word

beginning with sh) from shinola. This guy really knows his stuff and

he will give you the straight dope on your kid. He still said that

Zachary was autistic but he has a way of breaking it to you that's

not like hitting you with a ton of bricks.

He answered all of my questions. If he didn't know something he said

so. He didn't pretend to be the omnipotent Oz like they do down at

the Meyer Center. He's actually heard of ABA therapy and knows

something about it, unlike the cretins down at the Meyer Center. So

it was a good experience all the way around. I would highly

recommend Dr. on for an developmental evaluation for any

parent who might be suspecting his kid is on the spectrum. Even

though he was outside of my insurance (which covered a ludicrous 10

percent of the bill), it was still worth it.

So my recommendation to all you folks in other cities is this. Avoid

the big children's hospital complexes and clinics associated with

them like the plague. Try to find someone who is in independent

practice, preferably an older person who has decades of experience in

the field of developmental or neurological pediatrics. If you can

get some good word of mouth info that's priceless. If you're close

enough to Houston you might want to give on a shout.

His reputation has spread so he has a long waiting list. You might

have to wait 2 months or so to get in for an appointment. I hope

this information helps.

--- Tom Marking

>

> We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

>

> In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> lasted for 3 years with them. :(

>

>

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Posted
Posted

I don't want to be all gloom and doom. There are other options out

there. After the fiasco we had with the Meyer Center of Texas

Children's Hospital we looked around for another place to do a

developmental assessment.

We found one:

W. on, M.D.

4500 Bissonnet, Suite 350

Bellaire, Texas 77401

http://www.childrenslearninginstitute.org/our-programs/program-

overview/children-neurodevelopmental-clinic/location.html

We had an appointment with Dr. on this March. It was night

and day in terms of the comparison between the Meyer Center and

on. Finally, I had found someone who knows sh__ (a word

beginning with sh) from shinola. This guy really knows his stuff and

he will give you the straight dope on your kid. He still said that

Zachary was autistic but he has a way of breaking it to you that's

not like hitting you with a ton of bricks.

He answered all of my questions. If he didn't know something he said

so. He didn't pretend to be the omnipotent Oz like they do down at

the Meyer Center. He's actually heard of ABA therapy and knows

something about it, unlike the cretins down at the Meyer Center. So

it was a good experience all the way around. I would highly

recommend Dr. on for an developmental evaluation for any

parent who might be suspecting his kid is on the spectrum. Even

though he was outside of my insurance (which covered a ludicrous 10

percent of the bill), it was still worth it.

So my recommendation to all you folks in other cities is this. Avoid

the big children's hospital complexes and clinics associated with

them like the plague. Try to find someone who is in independent

practice, preferably an older person who has decades of experience in

the field of developmental or neurological pediatrics. If you can

get some good word of mouth info that's priceless. If you're close

enough to Houston you might want to give on a shout.

His reputation has spread so he has a long waiting list. You might

have to wait 2 months or so to get in for an appointment. I hope

this information helps.

--- Tom Marking

>

> We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

>

> In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> lasted for 3 years with them. :(

>

>

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Posted
Posted

I wouldn't say to avoid all big clinics. This past Feb. we took our

ds to the MIND Institute in CA. They're associated with UC . I

have to say that was the best medical experience we have ever - EVER -

had. They really know their stuff and they get a lot of the experts

in the field there.

> >

> > We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

> >

> > In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> > lasted for 3 years with them. :(

> >

> >

>

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Posted
Posted

I wouldn't say to avoid all big clinics. This past Feb. we took our

ds to the MIND Institute in CA. They're associated with UC . I

have to say that was the best medical experience we have ever - EVER -

had. They really know their stuff and they get a lot of the experts

in the field there.

> >

> > We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

> >

> > In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> > lasted for 3 years with them. :(

> >

> >

>

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Posted
Posted

I wouldn't say to avoid all big clinics. This past Feb. we took our

ds to the MIND Institute in CA. They're associated with UC . I

have to say that was the best medical experience we have ever - EVER -

had. They really know their stuff and they get a lot of the experts

in the field there.

> >

> > We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

> >

> > In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> > lasted for 3 years with them. :(

> >

> >

>

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We have been seeing Dr. Madurri but have been very pleased. They do

have a strict cancellation policy, but we were told that well ahead of

time and left over two hours early just to be safe (we are in the

Alvin area). Due to the volume of patients they see I don't think

this is unreasonable. It's also worth noting that although we were on

a waiting list that wouldn't get us an appointment 'til 2008, they

called us when they had a cancellation and got us in the system way

earlier than that.

Within minutes of being there she had our son doing things we didn't

know he could and gave us what we thought was a fair and acccurate

diagnosis/evaluation. We already knew he was autistic, but she told

us where he was and also brought the social worker in to help us.

We were thrilled to finally have someone sit down with us and help us

in a way our pediatrician couldn't with our 4 yr old son. We just so

happen to be returning to the Meyer Center this morning for more tests.

> >

> > Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> > story with y'all.

> >

> > The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> > be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> > there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> > BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >

> > --- Tom Marking

> >

> >

> *********************************************************************

> > **

> >

> > Meyer Center Trip Report

> > Thursday, November 9, 2006

> >

> > ************************************************************

> >

> > Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> > Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> > Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> > 6701 Fannin St.

> > Houston, Texas 77030

> > Phone:

> > (appointments)

> > Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> > carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

> >

> > Patient: Zachary

> > Age: 3 years, 11 months

> >

> > The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> > a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> > of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> > to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> > which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> > the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> > An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> > was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> > after the initial referral.

> >

> > Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> > schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> > appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> > week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> > the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> > not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> > move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> > attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> > they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

> >

> > Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> > a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> > paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> > rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> > us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> > Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> > there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> > lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> > traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> > the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> > situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> > or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

> >

> > Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> > again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> > Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> > elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> > garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> > have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> > where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> > She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> > inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> > 37 lbs.

> >

> > Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> > desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> > will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> > Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> > training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> > she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> > It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> > already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> > fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> > most of the answers we had already provided in the

> > paperwork.

> >

> > Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> > hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> > But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> > after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> > us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> > So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> > didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> > from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> > a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> > stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> > which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

> >

> > Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> > etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> > it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> > pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> > puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> > inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> > say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> > paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> > rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> > After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> > him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> > he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> > blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> > he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> > her stuff.

> >

> > There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> > running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> > started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> > us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> > sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> > with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> > interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> > play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

> >

> > So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> > we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> > to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> > the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> > spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> > here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> > child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> > (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> > is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> > suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> > of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> > old. :)

> >

> > Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> > me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> > had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> > actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> > the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> > anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> > my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> > from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> > days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> > institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> > flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

> >

> > Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> > sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> > card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> > Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> > local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> > of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> > be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

> >

> > I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> > Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> > heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> > about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> > ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> > that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> > communication skills.

> >

> > Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> > findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> > some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> > I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> > disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> > ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> > Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> > They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> > test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> > also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> > sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> > through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> > some kind of fasting beforehand.

> >

> > So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> > little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> > contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> > is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> > back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> > it up and on page 2 it says the following:

> >

> > " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> > within the average range. "

> >

> > How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> > range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> > has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> > don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> > positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> > navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> > at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

> >

> > Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> > web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

> >

> > MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> > Freshness Rating: 10%

> >

>

>

>

>

>

>

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We have been seeing Dr. Madurri but have been very pleased. They do

have a strict cancellation policy, but we were told that well ahead of

time and left over two hours early just to be safe (we are in the

Alvin area). Due to the volume of patients they see I don't think

this is unreasonable. It's also worth noting that although we were on

a waiting list that wouldn't get us an appointment 'til 2008, they

called us when they had a cancellation and got us in the system way

earlier than that.

Within minutes of being there she had our son doing things we didn't

know he could and gave us what we thought was a fair and acccurate

diagnosis/evaluation. We already knew he was autistic, but she told

us where he was and also brought the social worker in to help us.

We were thrilled to finally have someone sit down with us and help us

in a way our pediatrician couldn't with our 4 yr old son. We just so

happen to be returning to the Meyer Center this morning for more tests.

> >

> > Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> > story with y'all.

> >

> > The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> > be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> > there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> > BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >

> > --- Tom Marking

> >

> >

> *********************************************************************

> > **

> >

> > Meyer Center Trip Report

> > Thursday, November 9, 2006

> >

> > ************************************************************

> >

> > Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> > Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> > Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> > 6701 Fannin St.

> > Houston, Texas 77030

> > Phone:

> > (appointments)

> > Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> > carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

> >

> > Patient: Zachary

> > Age: 3 years, 11 months

> >

> > The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> > a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> > of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> > to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> > which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> > the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> > An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> > was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> > after the initial referral.

> >

> > Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> > schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> > appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> > week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> > the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> > not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> > move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> > attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> > they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

> >

> > Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> > a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> > paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> > rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> > us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> > Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> > there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> > lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> > traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> > the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> > situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> > or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

> >

> > Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> > again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> > Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> > elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> > garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> > have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> > where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> > She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> > inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> > 37 lbs.

> >

> > Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> > desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> > will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> > Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> > training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> > she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> > It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> > already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> > fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> > most of the answers we had already provided in the

> > paperwork.

> >

> > Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> > hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> > But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> > after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> > us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> > So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> > didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> > from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> > a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> > stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> > which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

> >

> > Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> > etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> > it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> > pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> > puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> > inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> > say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> > paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> > rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> > After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> > him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> > he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> > blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> > he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> > her stuff.

> >

> > There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> > running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> > started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> > us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> > sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> > with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> > interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> > play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

> >

> > So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> > we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> > to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> > the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> > spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> > here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> > child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> > (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> > is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> > suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> > of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> > old. :)

> >

> > Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> > me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> > had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> > actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> > the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> > anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> > my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> > from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> > days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> > institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> > flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

> >

> > Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> > sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> > card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> > Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> > local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> > of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> > be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

> >

> > I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> > Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> > heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> > about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> > ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> > that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> > communication skills.

> >

> > Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> > findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> > some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> > I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> > disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> > ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> > Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> > They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> > test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> > also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> > sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> > through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> > some kind of fasting beforehand.

> >

> > So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> > little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> > contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> > is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> > back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> > it up and on page 2 it says the following:

> >

> > " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> > within the average range. "

> >

> > How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> > range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> > has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> > don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> > positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> > navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> > at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

> >

> > Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> > web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

> >

> > MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> > Freshness Rating: 10%

> >

>

>

>

>

>

>

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Are you sure this is Nirupama Madduri you're talking about? In

regards to ABA the only thing she told us is that it's expensive.

She never recommended it. I still have her report. Let me find

it.... Hmmm.... Now I'm transcribing directly from Dr. Madduri's

report dated November 29, 2006:

" RECOMMENDATIONS:

..

..

..

3. Therapy: We have requested that the school increase his speech

therapy to at least 2 sessions per week. Ten sessions per 6 weeks

is probably not going to be very effective. He has not met any of

his goals at this time and it is necessary to re-evaluate and see

how he can better be assisted. "

That is her only therapy recommendation. There is no mention of ABA

at all. Seems strange for a supposed " ABA expert " . To see how

moronic this person is, consider that an increase from 10 sessions

per 6 weeks to 12 sessions per 6 weeks of speech therapy is a 20

percent increase. And she thinks that's supposed to help our boy?

ROTFLMAO if it wasn't so serious.

>

> We also see Dr. M at the Meyer Center. We don't agree with

everything she says but we found her very helpful. She not only

knows a lot about ABA but highly recommends it as a priority

therapy. She is young but experienced ---she has a brother who has

autism.

>

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Posted
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Well. That sucks. I'm so emotionally drained and numb right now, don't

mean to be a whiner but I'm so sick of asking everyone around here

where we live, everyone I meet, all the folks at school, all the

doctors at our drs office, MHMR where her eval was done..etc...and I

really thought that out of all these people, SOMEONE maybe could pass

on the name of a dr or clinic that maybe they'd heard good things about.

What I totally cannot believe is that NOBODY can tell me even what

" kind " of dr to take her to! I mean, come on, it's not like she's the

ONLY autistic kid in southeast TX for crying out loud!

I love our dr, trust him totally, and really expected better info, and

if he didn't have knowledge of who or where to take her, I figured

he'd find out. Nope. Nothing, so I said " well, the only thing I know

to do is make the 3 hr drive to TCH " . That really sucks.

sorry, I didn't mean to whine about my probs or " thread-jack " (if I did)

> >>

> >> Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> >> story with y'all.

> >>

> >> The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> >> be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> >> perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> >> there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> >> experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> >> BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >>

> >> --- Tom Marking

> >>

> >> *********************************************************************

> >> **

> >>

> >> Meyer Center Trip Report

> >> Thursday, November 9, 2006

> >>

> >> ************************************************************

> >>

> >> Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> >> Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> >> Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> >> 6701 Fannin St.

> >> Houston, Texas 77030

> >> Phone:

> >> (appointments)

> >> Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> >> carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

> >>

> >> Patient: Zachary

> >> Age: 3 years, 11 months

> >>

> >> The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> >> a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> >> of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> >> to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> >> which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> >> the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> >> An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> >> was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> >> after the initial referral.

> >>

> >> Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> >> schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> >> appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> >> week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> >> the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> >> not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> >> move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> >> attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> >> they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

> >>

> >> Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> >> a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> >> paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> >> rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> >> us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> >> Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> >> there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> >> lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> >> traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> >> the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> >> situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> >> or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

> >>

> >> Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> >> again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> >> Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> >> elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> >> garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> >> have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> >> where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> >> She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> >> inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> >> 37 lbs.

> >>

> >> Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> >> desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> >> will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> >> Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> >> training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> >> she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> >> It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> >> already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> >> fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> >> most of the answers we had already provided in the

> >> paperwork.

> >>

> >> Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> >> hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> >> But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> >> after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> >> us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> >> So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> >> didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> >> from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> >> a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> >> stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> >> which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

> >>

> >> Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> >> etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> >> it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> >> pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> >> puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> >> inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> >> say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> >> paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> >> rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> >> After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> >> him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> >> he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> >> blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> >> he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> >> her stuff.

> >>

> >> There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> >> running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> >> started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> >> us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> >> sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> >> with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> >> interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> >> play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

> >>

> >> So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> >> we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> >> to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> >> the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> >> spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> >> here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> >> child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> >> (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> >> is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> >> suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> >> of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> >> old. :)

> >>

> >> Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> >> me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> >> had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> >> actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> >> the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> >> anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> >> my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> >> from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> >> days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> >> institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> >> flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

> >>

> >> Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> >> sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> >> card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> >> Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> >> local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> >> of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> >> be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

> >>

> >> I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> >> Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> >> heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> >> about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> >> ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> >> that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> >> communication skills.

> >>

> >> Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> >> findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> >> some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> >> I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> >> disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> >> ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> >> Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> >> They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> >> test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> >> also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> >> sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> >> through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> >> some kind of fasting beforehand.

> >>

> >> So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> >> little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> >> contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> >> is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> >> back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> >> it up and on page 2 it says the following:

> >>

> >> " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> >> within the average range. "

> >>

> >> How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> >> range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> >> has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> >> don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> >> positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> >> navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> >> at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

> >>

> >> Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> >> web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

> >>

> >> MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> >> Freshness Rating: 10%

> >>

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Texas Autism Advocacy

> > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> >

> > Texas Disability Network

> > Calendar of Events

> > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> >

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Posted
Posted

Well. That sucks. I'm so emotionally drained and numb right now, don't

mean to be a whiner but I'm so sick of asking everyone around here

where we live, everyone I meet, all the folks at school, all the

doctors at our drs office, MHMR where her eval was done..etc...and I

really thought that out of all these people, SOMEONE maybe could pass

on the name of a dr or clinic that maybe they'd heard good things about.

What I totally cannot believe is that NOBODY can tell me even what

" kind " of dr to take her to! I mean, come on, it's not like she's the

ONLY autistic kid in southeast TX for crying out loud!

I love our dr, trust him totally, and really expected better info, and

if he didn't have knowledge of who or where to take her, I figured

he'd find out. Nope. Nothing, so I said " well, the only thing I know

to do is make the 3 hr drive to TCH " . That really sucks.

sorry, I didn't mean to whine about my probs or " thread-jack " (if I did)

> >>

> >> Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> >> story with y'all.

> >>

> >> The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> >> be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> >> perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> >> there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> >> experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> >> BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >>

> >> --- Tom Marking

> >>

> >> *********************************************************************

> >> **

> >>

> >> Meyer Center Trip Report

> >> Thursday, November 9, 2006

> >>

> >> ************************************************************

> >>

> >> Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> >> Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> >> Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> >> 6701 Fannin St.

> >> Houston, Texas 77030

> >> Phone:

> >> (appointments)

> >> Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> >> carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

> >>

> >> Patient: Zachary

> >> Age: 3 years, 11 months

> >>

> >> The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> >> a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> >> of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> >> to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> >> which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> >> the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> >> An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> >> was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> >> after the initial referral.

> >>

> >> Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> >> schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> >> appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> >> week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> >> the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> >> not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> >> move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> >> attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> >> they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

> >>

> >> Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> >> a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> >> paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> >> rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> >> us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> >> Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> >> there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> >> lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> >> traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> >> the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> >> situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> >> or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

> >>

> >> Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> >> again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> >> Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> >> elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> >> garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> >> have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> >> where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> >> She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> >> inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> >> 37 lbs.

> >>

> >> Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> >> desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> >> will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> >> Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> >> training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> >> she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> >> It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> >> already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> >> fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> >> most of the answers we had already provided in the

> >> paperwork.

> >>

> >> Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> >> hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> >> But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> >> after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> >> us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> >> So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> >> didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> >> from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> >> a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> >> stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> >> which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

> >>

> >> Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> >> etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> >> it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> >> pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> >> puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> >> inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> >> say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> >> paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> >> rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> >> After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> >> him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> >> he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> >> blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> >> he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> >> her stuff.

> >>

> >> There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> >> running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> >> started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> >> us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> >> sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> >> with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> >> interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> >> play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

> >>

> >> So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> >> we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> >> to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> >> the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> >> spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> >> here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> >> child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> >> (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> >> is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> >> suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> >> of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> >> old. :)

> >>

> >> Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> >> me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> >> had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> >> actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> >> the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> >> anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> >> my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> >> from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> >> days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> >> institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> >> flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

> >>

> >> Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> >> sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> >> card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> >> Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> >> local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> >> of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> >> be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

> >>

> >> I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> >> Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> >> heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> >> about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> >> ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> >> that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> >> communication skills.

> >>

> >> Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> >> findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> >> some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> >> I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> >> disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> >> ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> >> Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> >> They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> >> test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> >> also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> >> sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> >> through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> >> some kind of fasting beforehand.

> >>

> >> So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> >> little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> >> contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> >> is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> >> back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> >> it up and on page 2 it says the following:

> >>

> >> " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> >> within the average range. "

> >>

> >> How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> >> range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> >> has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> >> don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> >> positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> >> navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> >> at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

> >>

> >> Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> >> web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

> >>

> >> MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> >> Freshness Rating: 10%

> >>

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Texas Autism Advocacy

> > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> >

> > Texas Disability Network

> > Calendar of Events

> > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> >

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Posted
Posted

Like I posted before, I would highly recommend:

W. on, M.D.

4500 Bissonnet, Suite 350

Bellaire, Texas 77401

http://www.childrenslearninginstitute.org/our-programs/program-

overview/children-neurodevelopmental-clinic/location.html

You are not likely to get a better medical diagnosis anywhere. He

does a very thorough job and you will have to fill out many, many

forms. Also your daughter's teacher will have to fill out many,

many forms. He will give your child a thorough physical exam

looking for symptoms of many biomedical problems (skin, face, head,

tongue, etc).

Assuming that he agrees with your school's diagnosis he will most

likely prescribe ABA therapy and in heavy doses. So if you feel you

need a medical diagnosis before proceeding with whatever therapy you

decide is best, I would go with on.

Also, you do not have to wait for a referral. You can call him up

and set up an appointment yourself. There will probably be a

waiting list of several months but it will be faster than getting

into the Meyer Center.

--- Tom Marking

> > >>

> > >> Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little

true

> > >> story with y'all.

> > >>

> > >> The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is

supposed to

> > >> be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > >> perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience

down

> > >> there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > >> experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip

report.

> > >> BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> > >>

> > >> --- Tom Marking

> > >>

> > >>

*********************************************************************

> > >> **

> > >>

> > >> Meyer Center Trip Report

> > >> Thursday, November 9, 2006

> > >>

> > >> ************************************************************

> > >>

> > >> Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> > >> Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> > >> Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> > >> 6701 Fannin St.

> > >> Houston, Texas 77030

> > >> Phone:

> > >> (appointments)

> > >> Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> > >> carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

> > >>

> > >> Patient: Zachary

> > >> Age: 3 years, 11 months

> > >>

> > >> The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> > >> a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> > >> of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> > >> to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> > >> which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> > >> the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> > >> An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> > >> was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> > >> after the initial referral.

> > >>

> > >> Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> > >> schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> > >> appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> > >> week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> > >> the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> > >> not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> > >> move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> > >> attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> > >> they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

> > >>

> > >> Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> > >> a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> > >> paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> > >> rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> > >> us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> > >> Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> > >> there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> > >> lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> > >> traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> > >> the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> > >> situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> > >> or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

> > >>

> > >> Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> > >> again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> > >> Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> > >> elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> > >> garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> > >> have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> > >> where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> > >> She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> > >> inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> > >> 37 lbs.

> > >>

> > >> Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> > >> desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> > >> will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> > >> Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> > >> training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> > >> she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> > >> It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> > >> already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> > >> fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> > >> most of the answers we had already provided in the

> > >> paperwork.

> > >>

> > >> Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> > >> hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> > >> But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> > >> after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> > >> us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> > >> So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> > >> didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> > >> from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> > >> a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> > >> stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> > >> which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

> > >>

> > >> Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> > >> etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> > >> it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> > >> pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> > >> puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> > >> inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> > >> say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> > >> paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> > >> rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> > >> After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> > >> him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> > >> he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> > >> blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> > >> he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> > >> her stuff.

> > >>

> > >> There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> > >> running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> > >> started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> > >> us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> > >> sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> > >> with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> > >> interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> > >> play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

> > >>

> > >> So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> > >> we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> > >> to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> > >> the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> > >> spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> > >> here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> > >> child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> > >> (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> > >> is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> > >> suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> > >> of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> > >> old. :)

> > >>

> > >> Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> > >> me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> > >> had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> > >> actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> > >> the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> > >> anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> > >> my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> > >> from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> > >> days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> > >> institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> > >> flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

> > >>

> > >> Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> > >> sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> > >> card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> > >> Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> > >> local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> > >> of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> > >> be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

> > >>

> > >> I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> > >> Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> > >> heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> > >> about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> > >> ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> > >> that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> > >> communication skills.

> > >>

> > >> Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> > >> findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> > >> some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> > >> I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> > >> disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> > >> ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> > >> Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> > >> They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> > >> test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> > >> also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> > >> sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> > >> through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> > >> some kind of fasting beforehand.

> > >>

> > >> So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> > >> little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> > >> contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> > >> is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> > >> back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> > >> it up and on page 2 it says the following:

> > >>

> > >> " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> > >> within the average range. "

> > >>

> > >> How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> > >> range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> > >> has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> > >> don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> > >> positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> > >> navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> > >> at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

> > >>

> > >> Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> > >> web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

> > >>

> > >> MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> > >> Freshness Rating: 10%

> > >>

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > Texas Autism Advocacy

> > > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> > >

> > > Texas Disability Network

> > > Calendar of Events

> > > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> > >

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Posted
Posted

Wow, I'm completely stunned to hear this.

Well, first, thank you all for the advice, I do so appreciate

everyone's suggestions and taking time to respond. And it's not even

my thread, so I'm sorry for that :o)

Her diagnosis wasn't a surprise to me, I knew something was going on,

and used " slightly developmentally delayed " to explain why she

wouldn't answer people when they'd talk to her.

A close family friend is the speech teacher at school, so I took her

there for an informal " what do you think is going on? " meeting, and

she agreed with me. She set her up for a few more evals w/other school

personnel and they agreed as well.

They did put her in PPCD for a speech problem because that was the

only thing they could put her in under w/o dx, but I knew she needed

an " official " dx to get more services.

I took her to the local MHMR Burke Center and they did all the evals &

gave the " official " dx of autism.

She is on Medicaid and receives SSI as well. (I've never heard

anything about her aging out of Medicaid so please fill me in.)

Nobody around here has any experience with or knowledge about autism,

and especially young children.

She's considered " high functioning " (which I hate describing it that

way - it is what it is, it isn't going away tomorrow, and it's damn

hard on all of us, you know what I mean?)

I thought that if I could get her to see someone really good, someone

who has a lot of experience with these young children, maybe

they could give us & the school recommendations that might help

her, while she's so young, and receptive...I just feel like I'm

wasting soooooo much time that we can't ever get back.

Of course, I know getting a recommendation doesn't mean the school

will do anything different for her...they want to help, but none of

them know what to do.

AND it's a really small rural school, so there's nothing in place

right now for kids like her, who are academically too ahead of PPCD,

NOT going to be able to sit in mainstream kinder (I already know they

won't do the aide for her) and the only alternative they have in place

right now is Life Skills.

So, in a nutshell, her options are: PPCD - Life Skills (here it's like

glorified babysitting). Makes me wonder where the hell all the rest of

the kids like her are. I know she's not the only one who is sort of

" in between " , but that's all my school has in place right now, and

they aren't going to be adding any other classes or programs.

Sorry this is so long, everyone, please bear with me. Been a rough

summer :o)

> >

> > Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> > story with y'all.

> >

> > The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> > be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> > there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> > BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >

> > --- Tom Marking

> >

> >

> Recent Activity

> a.. 11New Members

> b.. 1New Photos

> Visit Your Group

> Yahoo! Groups

> Having cancer is hard

>

> Finding help

>

> shouldn´t be.

>

> Healthy Eating

> A Yahoo! resource

>

> for families on

>

> how to eat healthy

>

> Beauty Groups

> on Yahoo! Groups

>

> A great place to

>

> connect and share.

> .

>

>

>

>

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Posted
Posted

Wow, I'm completely stunned to hear this.

Well, first, thank you all for the advice, I do so appreciate

everyone's suggestions and taking time to respond. And it's not even

my thread, so I'm sorry for that :o)

Her diagnosis wasn't a surprise to me, I knew something was going on,

and used " slightly developmentally delayed " to explain why she

wouldn't answer people when they'd talk to her.

A close family friend is the speech teacher at school, so I took her

there for an informal " what do you think is going on? " meeting, and

she agreed with me. She set her up for a few more evals w/other school

personnel and they agreed as well.

They did put her in PPCD for a speech problem because that was the

only thing they could put her in under w/o dx, but I knew she needed

an " official " dx to get more services.

I took her to the local MHMR Burke Center and they did all the evals &

gave the " official " dx of autism.

She is on Medicaid and receives SSI as well. (I've never heard

anything about her aging out of Medicaid so please fill me in.)

Nobody around here has any experience with or knowledge about autism,

and especially young children.

She's considered " high functioning " (which I hate describing it that

way - it is what it is, it isn't going away tomorrow, and it's damn

hard on all of us, you know what I mean?)

I thought that if I could get her to see someone really good, someone

who has a lot of experience with these young children, maybe

they could give us & the school recommendations that might help

her, while she's so young, and receptive...I just feel like I'm

wasting soooooo much time that we can't ever get back.

Of course, I know getting a recommendation doesn't mean the school

will do anything different for her...they want to help, but none of

them know what to do.

AND it's a really small rural school, so there's nothing in place

right now for kids like her, who are academically too ahead of PPCD,

NOT going to be able to sit in mainstream kinder (I already know they

won't do the aide for her) and the only alternative they have in place

right now is Life Skills.

So, in a nutshell, her options are: PPCD - Life Skills (here it's like

glorified babysitting). Makes me wonder where the hell all the rest of

the kids like her are. I know she's not the only one who is sort of

" in between " , but that's all my school has in place right now, and

they aren't going to be adding any other classes or programs.

Sorry this is so long, everyone, please bear with me. Been a rough

summer :o)

> >

> > Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> > story with y'all.

> >

> > The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> > be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> > there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> > BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >

> > --- Tom Marking

> >

> >

> Recent Activity

> a.. 11New Members

> b.. 1New Photos

> Visit Your Group

> Yahoo! Groups

> Having cancer is hard

>

> Finding help

>

> shouldn´t be.

>

> Healthy Eating

> A Yahoo! resource

>

> for families on

>

> how to eat healthy

>

> Beauty Groups

> on Yahoo! Groups

>

> A great place to

>

> connect and share.

> .

>

>

>

>

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Share on other sites
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Posted
Posted

One more thing...I've never heard about the issue with girls & autism,

clue me in?

Autism does run in my family, not my husband's, though. I have four

relatives, all on my mother's side, all male, who are on the spectrum.

Funny thing was that I had totally forgotten about this until I took

her to the speech friend at school and that was one of the first

things she asked me...

> >

> > Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> > story with y'all.

> >

> > The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> > be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> > there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> > BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >

> > --- Tom Marking

> >

> >

> Recent Activity

> a.. 11New Members

> b.. 1New Photos

> Visit Your Group

> Yahoo! Groups

> Having cancer is hard

>

> Finding help

>

> shouldn´t be.

>

> Healthy Eating

> A Yahoo! resource

>

> for families on

>

> how to eat healthy

>

> Beauty Groups

> on Yahoo! Groups

>

> A great place to

>

> connect and share.

> .

>

>

>

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest guest

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Posted
Posted

One more thing...I've never heard about the issue with girls & autism,

clue me in?

Autism does run in my family, not my husband's, though. I have four

relatives, all on my mother's side, all male, who are on the spectrum.

Funny thing was that I had totally forgotten about this until I took

her to the speech friend at school and that was one of the first

things she asked me...

> >

> > Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> > story with y'all.

> >

> > The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> > be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> > there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> > BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >

> > --- Tom Marking

> >

> >

> Recent Activity

> a.. 11New Members

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> Visit Your Group

> Yahoo! Groups

> Having cancer is hard

>

> Finding help

>

> shouldn´t be.

>

> Healthy Eating

> A Yahoo! resource

>

> for families on

>

> how to eat healthy

>

> Beauty Groups

> on Yahoo! Groups

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> A great place to

>

> connect and share.

> .

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Posted
Posted

One more thing...I've never heard about the issue with girls & autism,

clue me in?

Autism does run in my family, not my husband's, though. I have four

relatives, all on my mother's side, all male, who are on the spectrum.

Funny thing was that I had totally forgotten about this until I took

her to the speech friend at school and that was one of the first

things she asked me...

> >

> > Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little true

> > story with y'all.

> >

> > The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is supposed to

> > be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience down

> > there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip report.

> > BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> >

> > --- Tom Marking

> >

> >

> Recent Activity

> a.. 11New Members

> b.. 1New Photos

> Visit Your Group

> Yahoo! Groups

> Having cancer is hard

>

> Finding help

>

> shouldn´t be.

>

> Healthy Eating

> A Yahoo! resource

>

> for families on

>

> how to eat healthy

>

> Beauty Groups

> on Yahoo! Groups

>

> A great place to

>

> connect and share.

> .

>

>

>

>

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Posted
Posted

Hey Tom, they don't take Medicaid, do they?

> >

> > We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

> >

> > In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> > lasted for 3 years with them. :(

> >

> >

>

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Posted
Posted

Hey Tom, they don't take Medicaid, do they?

> >

> > We also had a horrible experience at Meyer Center.

> >

> > In our case, it was with Dr. Vinson (chief of staff). Our ordeal

> > lasted for 3 years with them. :(

> >

> >

>

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Posted
Posted

> > > >>

> > > >> Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little

> true

> > > >> story with y'all.

> > > >>

> > > >> The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is

> supposed to

> > > >> be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > > >> perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience

> down

> > > >> there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > > >> experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip

> report.

> > > >> BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> > > >>

> > > >> --- Tom Marking

> > > >>

> > > >>

> *********************************************************************

> > > >> **

> > > >>

> > > >> Meyer Center Trip Report

> > > >> Thursday, November 9, 2006

> > > >>

> > > >> ************************************************************

> > > >>

> > > >> Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> > > >> Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> > > >> Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> > > >> 6701 Fannin St.

> > > >> Houston, Texas 77030

> > > >> Phone:

> > > >> (appointments)

> > > >> Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> > > >> carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

> > > >>

> > > >> Patient: Zachary

> > > >> Age: 3 years, 11 months

> > > >>

> > > >> The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> > > >> a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> > > >> of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> > > >> to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> > > >> which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> > > >> the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> > > >> An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> > > >> was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> > > >> after the initial referral.

> > > >>

> > > >> Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> > > >> schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> > > >> appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> > > >> week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> > > >> the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> > > >> not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> > > >> move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> > > >> attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> > > >> they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

> > > >>

> > > >> Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> > > >> a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> > > >> paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> > > >> rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> > > >> us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> > > >> Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> > > >> there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> > > >> lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> > > >> traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> > > >> the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> > > >> situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> > > >> or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

> > > >>

> > > >> Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> > > >> again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> > > >> Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> > > >> elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> > > >> garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> > > >> have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> > > >> where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> > > >> She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> > > >> inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> > > >> 37 lbs.

> > > >>

> > > >> Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> > > >> desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> > > >> will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> > > >> Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> > > >> training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> > > >> she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> > > >> It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> > > >> already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> > > >> fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> > > >> most of the answers we had already provided in the

> > > >> paperwork.

> > > >>

> > > >> Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> > > >> hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> > > >> But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> > > >> after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> > > >> us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> > > >> So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> > > >> didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> > > >> from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> > > >> a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> > > >> stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> > > >> which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

> > > >>

> > > >> Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> > > >> etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> > > >> it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> > > >> pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> > > >> puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> > > >> inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> > > >> say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> > > >> paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> > > >> rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> > > >> After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> > > >> him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> > > >> he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> > > >> blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> > > >> he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> > > >> her stuff.

> > > >>

> > > >> There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> > > >> running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> > > >> started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> > > >> us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> > > >> sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> > > >> with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> > > >> interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> > > >> play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

> > > >>

> > > >> So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> > > >> we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> > > >> to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> > > >> the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> > > >> spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> > > >> here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> > > >> child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> > > >> (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> > > >> is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> > > >> suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> > > >> of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> > > >> old. :)

> > > >>

> > > >> Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> > > >> me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> > > >> had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> > > >> actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> > > >> the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> > > >> anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> > > >> my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> > > >> from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> > > >> days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> > > >> institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> > > >> flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

> > > >>

> > > >> Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> > > >> sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> > > >> card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> > > >> Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> > > >> local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> > > >> of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> > > >> be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

> > > >>

> > > >> I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> > > >> Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> > > >> heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> > > >> about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> > > >> ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> > > >> that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> > > >> communication skills.

> > > >>

> > > >> Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> > > >> findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> > > >> some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> > > >> I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> > > >> disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> > > >> ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> > > >> Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> > > >> They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> > > >> test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> > > >> also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> > > >> sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> > > >> through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> > > >> some kind of fasting beforehand.

> > > >>

> > > >> So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> > > >> little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> > > >> contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> > > >> is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> > > >> back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> > > >> it up and on page 2 it says the following:

> > > >>

> > > >> " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> > > >> within the average range. "

> > > >>

> > > >> How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> > > >> range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> > > >> has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> > > >> don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> > > >> positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> > > >> navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> > > >> at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

> > > >>

> > > >> Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> > > >> web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

> > > >>

> > > >> MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> > > >> Freshness Rating: 10%

> > > >>

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > > Texas Autism Advocacy

> > > > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> > > >

> > > > Texas Disability Network

> > > > Calendar of Events

> > > > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> > > >

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Posted
Posted

> > > >>

> > > >> Hi, I'm new to the group. I thought I would share a little

> true

> > > >> story with y'all.

> > > >>

> > > >> The Meyer Center (part of Texas Children's Hospital) is

> supposed to

> > > >> be the premier developmental pediatrics center in Houston and

> > > >> perhaps Texas. Nevertheless, we had a very bad experience

> down

> > > >> there last November. I thought I would share some of our

> > > >> experiences visiting the Meyer Center so here is my trip

> report.

> > > >> BTW, Dr. X is Dr. Nirupama Madduri.

> > > >>

> > > >> --- Tom Marking

> > > >>

> > > >>

> *********************************************************************

> > > >> **

> > > >>

> > > >> Meyer Center Trip Report

> > > >> Thursday, November 9, 2006

> > > >>

> > > >> ************************************************************

> > > >>

> > > >> Name: Meyer Center for Developmental Pediatrics

> > > >> Affiliation: Texas Children's Hospital

> > > >> Address: Clinical Care Center, 16th Floor

> > > >> 6701 Fannin St.

> > > >> Houston, Texas 77030

> > > >> Phone:

> > > >> (appointments)

> > > >> Web Site: http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/

> > > >> carecenters/DevelopmentPediatrics/Default.aspx

> > > >>

> > > >> Patient: Zachary

> > > >> Age: 3 years, 11 months

> > > >>

> > > >> The Meyer Center at Texas Children's Hospital performs

> > > >> a variety of diagnostic and evaluation services in the area

> > > >> of developmental pediatrics. We first received a referral

> > > >> to the Meyer Center from our pediatrician back in May 2006

> > > >> which would be 6 months ago. We received paperwork from

> > > >> the Meyer Center sometime in the June to July time period.

> > > >> An initial appointment was scheduled for February 2007 which

> > > >> was the earliest available. This would have been 9 months

> > > >> after the initial referral.

> > > >>

> > > >> Due to cancellations we were able to move up our

> > > >> schedule although up until the last week we thought our

> > > >> appointment was going to be on November 22. Anyway, last

> > > >> week Texas Children's Hospital called and informed us that

> > > >> the doctor (which we shall refer to here as Doctor X) would

> > > >> not be available on the scheduled date and we would have to

> > > >> move the appointment up to November 9. Despite numerous

> > > >> attempts to get them to return my calls at my work number

> > > >> they kept on calling my wife at our home number.

> > > >>

> > > >> Anyway, today we had an appointment from 8:30 to 10:30

> > > >> a.m. We were told to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out

> > > >> paperwork. Since we don't actually live in Houston but

> > > >> rather Katy, this should have been about an hour commute for

> > > >> us. To play it safe we left the house at 7:00 a.m.

> > > >> Unfortunately it just happened to be one of those days where

> > > >> there was an accident on the HOV (high occupancy vehicle)

> > > >> lane which were taking. We were stuck there with the

> > > >> traffic being stalled for about 30 minutes. We called

> > > >> the Meyer Center at around 8:00 a.m. to tell them the

> > > >> situation. They told us that we had to arrive by 9:00 a.m.

> > > >> or the appointment would be considered cancelled.

> > > >>

> > > >> Somehow we got lucky and the traffic started moving

> > > >> again. We got to Texas Children's at around 8:40 a.m. The

> > > >> Meyer Center is up on the 16th floor but you need to change

> > > >> elevators on the 3rd floor if you're coming from the parking

> > > >> garage. We filled out the insurance paperwork and we didn't

> > > >> have to wait very long before being ushered into a room

> > > >> where the nurse proceeded to measure Zack's vital statistics.

> > > >> She recorded his weight as 32 lbs. This was my first

> > > >> inkling of things to come since he actually weighs close to

> > > >> 37 lbs.

> > > >>

> > > >> Anyway, shortly thereafter we met Dr. X. Anyone who

> > > >> desires her real name can send me an e-mail offline and I

> > > >> will tell you. Her card says M.D., Department of Pediatrics,

> > > >> Assistant Professor. I'm not sure what kind of special

> > > >> training a developmental pediatrician receives. Anyway,

> > > >> she basically began by asking me and my wife about our son.

> > > >> It seemed that a lot of the questions we were asked were

> > > >> already included in the voluminous paperwork that we had to

> > > >> fill out months before. She didn't seem to be familiar with

> > > >> most of the answers we had already provided in the

> > > >> paperwork.

> > > >>

> > > >> Of course, our son Zack is notorious for giving us a

> > > >> hard time when we take him to new places, especially indoors.

> > > >> But this time he actually calmed down and stopped crying

> > > >> after about ten minutes. We brought his favorite food with

> > > >> us which is dried mango and he began to happily munch it.

> > > >> So this was a major improvement in his behavior only Dr. X

> > > >> didn't see it that way. We had brought a couple of items

> > > >> from home in order to calm our son down. One of them was

> > > >> a metal attachment from a cake mixer, the part that actually

> > > >> stirs the cake mix. The other was a little plastic turtle

> > > >> which we bought as a floatable bath toy.

> > > >>

> > > >> Dr. X brought out an assortment of blocks, puzzles,

> > > >> etc. It was all made of wood except for a plastic cup and

> > > >> it looked pretty banged up and old. There were some round

> > > >> pegs that could be inserted into a board and some cutout

> > > >> puzzle shapes like a square, circle, etc. that could be

> > > >> inserted into a board with the same shapes. Needless to

> > > >> say, Zack was entirely unimpressed with any of her

> > > >> paraphernalia. He ignored it completely and proceeded to

> > > >> rotate the cake mixer blade back and forth on the table.

> > > >> After a few minutes she suggested that we take it away from

> > > >> him and hide it so he would concentrate on her stuff. Well,

> > > >> he got pretty upset and was looking for both the cake mixer

> > > >> blade and the plastic turtle all over the room. Even when

> > > >> he could not find them he still had no interest in any of

> > > >> her stuff.

> > > >>

> > > >> There was a PC in the room and a screen saver was

> > > >> running. Zack now shifted his attention to it and he

> > > >> started playing with the mouse. I asked Dr. X if she wanted

> > > >> us to show her what Zack could do with the computer. I'm

> > > >> sure I could have found some screen savers he was familiar

> > > >> with so he could select the one he wanted. Dr. X wasn't

> > > >> interested. As far as Dr. X was concerned if he wouldn't

> > > >> play with her wooden blocks then nothing else mattered.

> > > >>

> > > >> So this went on for about a half hour or so. I think

> > > >> we were all getting a little bored including Zack. So, cut

> > > >> to the chase: Dr. X's diagnosis was delivered to us which is

> > > >> the following: Moderate to Severe Autism, no talk of the

> > > >> spectrum here, this is full-blown autism we're talking about

> > > >> here. Zachary has the language capability of an 8-month old

> > > >> child. Somehow this translated into an IQ of around 20

> > > >> (if you do the math, 8 months divided by 47 months times 100

> > > >> is 17). He will always have an IQ of about the same. I

> > > >> suppose I should be happy for him since at the ripe old age

> > > >> of 100 he should be chasing young women like he's a 20-year

> > > >> old. :)

> > > >>

> > > >> Well, I must admit that actually hearing this said hit

> > > >> me like a direct blow to the solar plexus. Even though I

> > > >> had been expecting some sort of diagnosis on the spectrum,

> > > >> actually hearing it firsthand, particularly the part about

> > > >> the IQ of 20, was still shocking. I don't think there is

> > > >> anything that can prepare you for such a thing. Suddenly,

> > > >> my son's whole future flashed before my eyes - no graduation

> > > >> from high school, no college, no wedding, finally ending his

> > > >> days like Rain Man in some government funded mental

> > > >> institution after his parents have passed away. That all

> > > >> flashed through my mind. What a terrible feeling that is!

> > > >>

> > > >> Well, after this crushing news was delivered to us they

> > > >> sent in a Social Worker whom we shall refer to as Y. Her

> > > >> card says LMSW which I have no idea what that means. Miss

> > > >> Y gave us voluminous documentation on government programs,

> > > >> local support groups, etc., etc. concerned with autism. All

> > > >> of our specific questions about what types of therapy would

> > > >> be appropriate were never really answered definitively.

> > > >>

> > > >> I did ask Dr. X if she was familiar with the work of

> > > >> Dr. Mac's Communicating Partners. She said she had

> > > >> heard of him but I could tell she was pretty much clueless

> > > >> about his approach to late-talking children. I asked about

> > > >> ABA therapy and pretty much the only thing I was told is

> > > >> that it is very expensive and it doesn't focus on

> > > >> communication skills.

> > > >>

> > > >> Well, that's about it. Dr. X will write up her

> > > >> findings and send them to us within three days. We did do

> > > >> some blood work for some genetic screenings before we left.

> > > >> I guess they are going to look for Fragile X and other

> > > >> disorders. I don't know why they didn't do this two years

> > > >> ago when we had a lot of blood work done by the Genetics

> > > >> Department at Texas Children's Hospital, but they didn't.

> > > >> They are recommending an ABS (Auditory BrainStem) hearing

> > > >> test for Zack but it would require sedating him. They are

> > > >> also recommending a MRI brain scan which would also require

> > > >> sedation. We haven't decided if we want to put our son

> > > >> through the ordeal of sedation since it seems to involve

> > > >> some kind of fasting beforehand.

> > > >>

> > > >> So anyway, perhaps some folks will feel I am being a

> > > >> little unfair in my comments on Dr. X. But one undisputable

> > > >> contradiction in her evaluation versus the school district

> > > >> is this. My son had a FIE (Full and Independent Evaluation)

> > > >> back in March 2006 before he was admitted to PPCD. I looked

> > > >> it up and on page 2 it says the following:

> > > >>

> > > >> " Zachary's intellectual functioning appears to be

> > > >> within the average range. "

> > > >>

> > > >> How can his intellectual functioning be within the average

> > > >> range and his IQ be 20? Direct contradiction unless he

> > > >> has dropped 80 IQ points in the last 8 months. Also, I

> > > >> don't know too many 8-month old kids who can memorize the

> > > >> positions of all the songs on about 20+ CD's and who can

> > > >> navigate the Windows Explorer directory structure stopping

> > > >> at favorite directories and launching favorite applications.

> > > >>

> > > >> Therefore, in the spirit of the Rotten Tomatoes movie review

> > > >> web site, here is my rating of the Meyer Center:

> > > >>

> > > >> MEYER CENTER, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

> > > >> Freshness Rating: 10%

> > > >>

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > > Texas Autism Advocacy

> > > > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> > > >

> > > > Texas Disability Network

> > > > Calendar of Events

> > > > www.TexasAutismAdvocacy.org

> > > >

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