Welcome from Nims

[Guest guest]

Thanks so much for the warm welcome, Nims! :-)

The reason why was diagnosed with autism in the second grade is because he was in a classroom with a very unflexable teacher. You see, as many autistic kids, he had severe allergies -- among them to molds -- that allergy in particular affected his nervous system, for some reason, so he became super hyper. Previous teachers understood this and allowed him to go to the back of the room and sit under a desk (at home he calmed himself by crawling under the bed) -- but the second grade teacher would grab him by the arm and try to force him to rejoin the class immediately. I say "try to force" because when he was reacting the kid had the strength of a grown man -- actually, it took about 3 adults to subdue him. He absolutely hated going to school and tried to delay it as much as possible. Many a day he got to school shortly before noon! He told the school counselor that he wanted to die (when we asked him why

he said that, he said that if he was dead he would not have to go to school), so the school went on high alert and called us in, and the evaluation started.

When I learned that the school psychologist had given a diagnosis of HDHD without having seen him -- based solely on the school reports -- I talked to his pediatrician. It was a great blessing for us to have in our neighborhood a satelite clinic of New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center because their approach to helping a child with school placement is very thorough. His pediatrician was as disturbed as we had been by the school's careless diagnosis, and referred him for evaluation.

After all the testing, including MRIs, EEGs, genetics, etc. he tested positive for 5 of the 10 soft signs of autism. The diagnosis was Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Childhood Psychosis. We refuted the psychosis diagnosis and, eventually, after the doctors got to know better, they came to agree with us. This was a very smart boy who loved having to miss school in order to go to the hospital, so he did what he had to do to stay out of the classroom he hated so much. AS kids are very smart, as you all know.

I had said that we were blessed to have him evaluated at Weill Cornell Medical Center because they will back the parents up all the way, to insure that the school district places the child in the proper setting. They wrote a letter to the school district detailing the type of classroom setting he needed -- no more than 8 students, 2 teachers in the room -- etc. And ... the psychiatrist attended the meeting at the district office and advocated for the child in person! This was the first time our district had experienced that type of involvement by a doctor.

I was given priceless information by the Advocates for Children organization. They made us aware of our rights when facing the board of education. I must say that our school district has a reputation of making the effort to provide the proper placement for the students. Since New York City could not provide this setting ( was in the top class of his school, and the special ed classes were for children who were lagging behind their grade level), so they paid for him to attend a specialized private school. He has been attending private school programs since the end of second grade, all the way through high school. He is now attending a college that has a small branch in Manhattan, so the classes are small and he is doing very well there, with a 4.75 average.

The reason why I say we were blessed to have a combination of factors come together for 's benefit is because we have some friends whose son is in special education and they had a doctor who was unwilling to do what New York Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center did -- he gave them a letter that was not specific enough as to what type of setting their child required, so his placement was not as successful as our son's.

Sorry to go so long about it, but I thought that sharing our experience may help someone who is starting out on the school placement path. It can be a nightmare! That is why this group is so helpful. Back then we were not on the Internet, so we were totally alone, since we did not know anyone else who was facing the same situation. How I wish I had a support system such as this one back then! :-)

Hugs,

Nertha

<<Hi Nertha!Welcome to the group.I'm impressed that your son is 21 and was diagnosed so early. My son is 16 and wasn't diagnosed until a couple years ago. I've accepted that AS just wasn't to well known when he was younger, so that's why it was never diagnosed.You're right about marriage. It's a lot of give and take and never seldom seems to work out to be 50/50.Nice to have you with us.Mims>>

Micromini Hugs,

Nertha

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited.Imagination encircles the world."

- Albert Einstein

Visit my sites: http://minifan99.tripod.com/nerthasmicrominiatureworld/ "144 Scale In and Out" book -- http://minifan99.tripod.com/MiroMinis/

[Guest guest]

Nertha What a great story! You really were blessed with such wonderful services for your son. We had a terrible time finding doctors/counselors that were knowledgeable in the area, but once we did, things went have gone much better for all of us. I'm glad you shared your story. It will give hope to us all and hope that one day providers everywhere will be so knowledgeable and stand up for the rights of our kids. MimsNertha Gaal <minifan99@...> wrote:

Thanks so much for the warm welcome, Nims! :-) The reason why was diagnosed with autism in the second grade is because he was in a classroom with a very unflexable teacher. You see, as many autistic kids, he had severe allergies -- among them to molds -- that allergy in particular affected his nervous system, for some reason, so he became super hyper. Previous teachers understood this and allowed him to go to the back of the room and sit under a desk (at home he calmed himself by crawling under the bed) -- but the second grade teacher would grab him by the arm and try to force him to rejoin the class immediately. I say "try to force" because when he was reacting the kid had the strength of a grown man -- actually, it took about 3 adults to subdue him. He absolutely hated going to school and tried to delay it as

much as possible. Many a day he got to school shortly before noon! He told the school counselor that he wanted to die (when we asked him why he said that, he said that if he was dead he would not have to go to school), so the school went on high alert and called us in, and the evaluation started. When I learned that the school psychologist had given a diagnosis of HDHD without having seen him -- based solely on the school reports -- I talked to his pediatrician. It was a great blessing for us to have in our neighborhood a satelite clinic of New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center because their approach to helping a child with school placement is very thorough. His pediatrician was as disturbed as we had been by the school's careless diagnosis, and referred him for evaluation. After all the testing, including MRIs, EEGs, genetics, etc. he tested positive for 5

of the 10 soft signs of autism. The diagnosis was Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Childhood Psychosis. We refuted the psychosis diagnosis and, eventually, after the doctors got to know better, they came to agree with us. This was a very smart boy who loved having to miss school in order to go to the hospital, so he did what he had to do to stay out of the classroom he hated so much. AS kids are very smart, as you all know. I had said that we were blessed to have him evaluated at Weill Cornell Medical Center because they will back the parents up all the way, to insure that the school district places the child in the proper setting. They wrote a letter to the school district detailing the type of classroom setting he needed -- no more than 8 students, 2 teachers in the room -- etc. And ... the psychiatrist attended the meeting at the district office and

advocated for the child in person! This was the first time our district had experienced that type of involvement by a doctor. I was given priceless information by the Advocates for Children organization. They made us aware of our rights when facing the board of education. I must say that our school district has a reputation of making the effort to provide the proper placement for the students. Since New York City could not provide this setting ( was in the top class of his school, and the special ed classes were for children who were lagging behind their grade level), so they paid for him to attend a specialized private school. He has been attending private school programs since the end of second grade, all the way through high school. He is now attending a college that has a small branch in Manhattan, so the classes are small and he is doing very well there, with a 4.75

average. The reason why I say we were blessed to have a combination of factors come together for 's benefit is because we have some friends whose son is in special education and they had a doctor who was unwilling to do what New York Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center did -- he gave them a letter that was not specific enough as to what type of setting their child required, so his placement was not as successful as our son's. Sorry to go so long about it, but I thought that sharing our experience may help someone who is starting out on the school placement path. It can be a nightmare! That is why this group is so helpful. Back then we were not on the Internet, so we were totally alone, since we did not know anyone else who was facing the same situation. How I wish I had a support system such as this one back then! :-) Hugs, Nertha <<Hi Nertha!Welcome to the group.I'm impressed that your son is 21 and was diagnosed so early. My son is 16 and wasn't diagnosed until a couple years ago. I've accepted that AS just wasn't to well known when he was younger, so that's why it was never diagnosed.You're right about marriage. It's a lot of give and take and never seldom seems to work out to be 50/50.Nice to have you with us.Mims>> Micromini Hugs, Nertha "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited.Imagination encircles the world." - Albert Einstein Visit my sites: http://minifan99.tripod.com/nerthasmicrominiatureworld/ "144 Scale In and Out" book -- http://minifan99.tripod.com/MiroMinis/

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