Wednesday, March 3, 2010

It's all starting to make sense now...





February was a tough month for our house. I received the new OT report for Munchkin which showed up areas that she had problems in that I hadn't realised. There were deficits in her gross motor functions that I as her mother, should have noticed already, but hadn't. Then we had the assessments in Solas...

Almost a year ago, Yani was diagnosed with ADD and Clinical Depression and the HSE put her on Prozac. Nothing improved over time and her symptoms of the "traits" of OCD and ODD were getting worse. Every visit with the clinical psychologist there were queries over Aspergers. I didn't buy it but decided that it needed to be ruled out or it would keep popping up like an unwanted guest, demanding that some attention be paid as it wasn't going away. So I took her to Solas to get answers once and for all.

There we met the lovely Marissa who did a full OT assessment on Yani. I must say, it didn't come as a huge surprise to me to find that she actually had very similar results to Munchkin. Gross motor skills were poor, balance and coordination, pen skills and attention. She had problems with auditory and visual processing. I was told that she met the criteria for SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder). After Marissa explained how this effected Yani, it all made sense. The crying, tantrums, temper, and emotional outbursts over simple things that others don't notice suddenly became clear.

What did surprise me was that they didn't believe that she was depressed, rather that her body energy levels were very low and that her "motor" ran on a very sedentary level. Its not that she's lazy, or tired or not bothered, rather that her body works on a different level to others. It really did make a lot of sense and we were relieved to find there were answers at least to some of our questions.

In the psychology assessment, at first I felt once again that I was "looking" for problems until I spelled out that we were there to rule aspergers out, not in. During the assessment process, as Yani answered the psychologists questions, I realised why the HSE psychs kept mentioning aspergers. Certainly there are things that could raise a flag or two, but on the whole I seriously and honestly didn't think we would get a diagnosis. They ran a cognitive test and did the Vineland Assessment. Unfortunately, her school had not returned their assessment forms in time for our appointment, so we couldn't get feedback at the end, however the psychologist did say that she couldn't rule it out at this time. I was told though, that regardless of the outcome of the assessment, my eldest daughter required a host of therapies including emotional regulation therapy, anger management, mind reading skills etc. I guess I'd better start looking for a second job to pay for those as know that the HSE won't be providing them to her! I'm very angry with myself that I let them just stick my little girl on meds and I as her mother didn't persue her problems sooner.

So we wait as the school was closed for half term and when I chased them up when the school opened afterwards, they hadn't done them, despite having had the paperwork for a week before the break. So we sit in a kind of Limbo til we put the pieces into the final jigsaw to get the full picture...

8 comments:

Popsie said...

wow
my niece is presenting with all of that tantrums and all and her mum is t=hinking its teenage out of control stuff but i dont know. if the doc heard her case he would prescribe meds, she isnt going to school now. she was in my house for a weekend and was as happy as a pig in shit, but very unmotivated. im gonna show this to my sis thanks for posting petunia and i hope you get some help with her. you never know who you are helping by posting xxx

Jen said...

We had Marissa too, she was lovely. I hope you get answers soon Petunia, the waiting is so hard, much worse than 'knowing'. Big hugs to you and Yani. Jen xx

Clive said...

Hope the school comes up with the report soon! Waiting around is not easy particularly when you have done so much at your end getting assessments. Hoping things start working out for you and Yani.

Una said...

Petunia please don't be angry with yourself, you didn't know about SPD etc and how it can effect someone (and why would you?)...be angry at them alright.
Hugs to you and I hope the wait is not too long before you get answers ...and stop being hard on yourself, you are a great Mother to all your kids, they are lucky to have you fighting their corner.

Maddy said...

Yes the assessments take for ever and when they come I find them difficult to read - all those harsh statistics. Then again, once you have them, then comes the strategizing and the plan of action and the implementation.... I feel tired just thinking about it! Buzzing you lots of positive energy.

Unknown said...

oh hun, you know i hear ya, i have been there and am still there, brick wall, blame, everything
hun you did all you could, its not something you did wrong, the hse did this, not you
do not go down the blame road, you know where it put me, i really hope your not waiting too much longer
no blame, no guilt just onwards and upwards hun xxxx

Truf said...

Did the ot come up with any suggestions? I believe things like joint compression and deep pressure massage can be great for sensory regulation, and Yani could do them herself? At least they got to the root of the problem - imagine how many people spend all their lives undiagnosed and medicated for non-existing conditions! You did great pursuing it.

Casdok said...

Glad its all begingin to make some sort of sense. Dont be too harsh on yourself as you are getting there now. Hope you dont have to wait to long.

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