Update on Cameron

[Guest guest]

So here's the update:

We went to his eval with Kaufmann today. She was great. She

spent about 45 minutes with him. I got to watch in a small room with

a two way mirror. He was tired because it was naptime, but he did

really well considering.

So here is what he's doing now. He no longer fits the apraxia

profile. That's a good thing. He may have presented with that at

Beaumont, but he's articulating so well now that he isn't presenting

with apraxia anymore. There is however still a problem with his

consonants. The is vocalizing the un-vocalized consonants, such

as " t " " ch " " p " etc. Also he doesn't speak with a lot of influction

so when you combine the two, it can be very hard to understand him,

although we now know he has great language and is very very smart.

The big thing now is that he is having a problem with receptive

language--which is what I figured for quite a while, but was never

brought up before even though I asked about it many times. He has

trouble with the what, where, who, how, when. He is basically a

memorizer. He memorizes what he needs to say and is very good at it.

So good in fact that he fooled his SLP at Beaumont that he was just

fine and she discharged him. But when you get under all that, when

asked questions in certain situations, he has trouble processing the

auditory information. He's a sight learner and memorizer and

processes that way. The problem with that is that while he will do

amazingly well academically, he can't communicate or tell stories or

interact without visual help. He needs visual cues to find the words.

So we are looking at therepy again 2x per week and perhaps an hour of

OT for DSI for about an hour per week. Probably for another 2

years. UGH.

While I am happy that we now know what needs to be done and how to

fix it and that it CAN be fixed, the thought of driving all the way

out there 3X a week is killing me. AND, it's going to be $500 a

month JUST for the speech therepy alone, that doesn't include the OT

for the sensory stuff. Insurance does not cover any of this. We

still owe Beaumont $4000.00.

It has to be done. I know that. It's killing me though. I keep

thinking how in the hell am I going to do all this with a new baby

and older brother? And for the next two years? OMG.

One good thing about this is that I have been thinking he had a

spectrum disorder, namely Asperger's, but today she said although he

has some tendencies that look that way, she doesn't think it is

Asperger's. He is compulsive about some things, but she thinks it is

due more to the auditory processing and SI. So that is a load off my

shoulders.

I have a lot to think about and figure out now.

Bisel