Re: Re: How to get a medical diagnosis?

[Guest guest]

Priscilla, thank you so much! That's very insightful and I'm going to try it. Gladys

We were referred to a pediatric neurologist who made the diagnosis. I had spent a month documenting ALL of the "little things" that we noticed and simply accepted as part of this child. We documented on a simple apple or word program by date. Each incident (even if repeated) was listed as a separate incident. Each incident was described in detail. At the end of the month we had hundreds of incidents listed by several different people. I was shocked at how much we had all ignored or accepted as "normal". It really was mind-boggling. I took a print out of this 20+ page list to regular doctor as part of documentation of problems in school environment. She said 2 things: 1) "Get him out of there", meaning get him out of that school environment; 2) "I want you to see Dr. _____", the pediatric neurologist. When we went to that appointment, I brought along another print out of the list + more incidents that had been added during the month wait for the appointment. This print out was given to the doctor at the time of check in. He read it before seeing us. The appointment was an hour +. After a time, he came back into the room and confirmed our fears about autism.

I believe that the documentation really helped. We were very lucky to have access to a sharp pediatric neurologist.

The point is that wherever you go, bring along documentation and request that this documentation be included in your child's chart/file.

Priscilla

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> > Hi Everyone,

> >

> > Last week I posted a question on how to get a diagnosis for my 3 year old son. Thank you for those who replied.

> >

> > However, I'm coming to the sad realization that it is just not that easy to get one even when the parents, daycare provider, and school psychologist see autistic behaviors. We do want a diagnosis because we want our son to get early intervention before he goes to school and we don't want him to fall through the cracks. We think he has Aspergers or some type of higher functioning form of autism.

> >

> > I've taken this school year off working as an elementary school teacher to be with my son and look for help because he was "kicked out" of daycare due to his tantrums & behavior. I'm getting really frustrated because it seems as all the doctors & psychologists are afraid of helping. I am pretty sure it boils down to money & insurance companies not wanting to offer services once there is a diagnosis.

> >

> > Anyway, I live in Northern California and would like ANY suggestions of doctors or medical professionals that ARE willing to help and diagnose. If anyone knows of a specific doctor that can do this without blowing us off, I'd appreciate it.

> >

> > By the way- we've already gone through the CA Regional Center people and we are NOT happy with their results. They certainly have stricter standards as it is run by the state and funding is limited.

> >

> > Any ideas are welcome. Thank you all.

> > Gladys

> >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much for your advice and willingness to help. Reading this really made my day because I felt like I'm not the only one going through this and I felt the support from you. Thanks!Gladys

Gladys,

I understand your frustration with the Regional Center. We were referred to them by PSD and were not told that they only diagnose Autism, but NOT Aspergers. We wasted time and two days by seeing them. I was told that "No, he does not have Autism. I don't think he is even on the spectrum" by a woman who had spent less than an hour in his presence, although his teacher, school psychologist, speech therapist, my mother AND myself all believed he is. These other people saw him on a regular basis and could observe him in more day to day situations so I trust their judgement more than the Regional center. I have been battling trying to get more help for my son who is undiagnosed but has been put in our school distict's autistic program. I really don't see it beneficial as of yet as he is only spending about 2 hours a day in kindergarten and the rest of the time he is in a form of play therapy. I have a BA in ECE and have also done a research paper on autism so I know that play is beneficial, but my son needs more structure in academics.

I live in So Cal and really wish I could help in referring someone. However, I just want you to know that there are others otthere going through similar problems and I am here to talk to if you need it! I heard that there is a doctor in Upland CA that will do diagnosis in autism and although I am a lot closer than you to her, it is still a drive for us. I spent a lot of time on google and somehow came across a county page that had a ton of resource pages for everything under the sun...if I can locate it again, I will post it. The reason I am mentioning it is because it somehow led me to an Autism related "group" in the Inland Empire that has support and events tailored to autistic kids in their families...Maybe if you can find a group local to you they can also help you with who you need to see. When I find the emails I have regarding all this stuff, I will try to pass it on (I have dial-up which is also on a 10 year old computer and is painstakingly slow...)

>

> Hi Everyone,

>

> Last week I posted a question on how to get a diagnosis for my 3 year old son. Thank you for those who replied.

>

> However, I'm coming to the sad realization that it is just not that easy to get one even when the parents, daycare provider, and school psychologist see autistic behaviors. We do want a diagnosis because we want our son to get early intervention before he goes to school and we don't want him to fall through the cracks. We think he has Aspergers or some type of higher functioning form of autism.

>

> I've taken this school year off working as an elementary school teacher to be with my son and look for help because he was "kicked out" of daycare due to his tantrums & behavior. I'm getting really frustrated because it seems as all the doctors & psychologists are afraid of helping. I am pretty sure it boils down to money & insurance companies not wanting to offer services once there is a diagnosis.

>

> Anyway, I live in Northern California and would like ANY suggestions of doctors or medical professionals that ARE willing to help and diagnose. If anyone knows of a specific doctor that can do this without blowing us off, I'd appreciate it.

>

> By the way- we've already gone through the CA Regional Center people and we are NOT happy with their results. They certainly have stricter standards as it is run by the state and funding is limited.

>

> Any ideas are welcome. Thank you all.

> Gladys

>

> >

>