Riding round Nashville in Lorreta Lynn's Lincoln

Okay, not really. It was actually a little Kia we rented from enterprise.

I really hate evaluations. In the evaluations Austin had in the past, he was at his worst, wouldn't look, wouldn't point, and then there was always the fun of hearing about all the things he CAN'T do that every other kid his age can.

I knew the people we were going to see were very good at doing evaluations, and I wanted to know how we could help Austin, but I wasn't looking forward to the part where he didn't do what he was supposed to.

He didn't, of course, cooperate for the IQ test, at all. Just wouldn't do it. He's like that with so many things. He doesn't like to do puzzles with me, he doesn't like to match, with the things he DOES do, it's hard for me to think he's cognitively impaired, but sometimes it's so hard to teach him things. Not because he couldn't do it, but because he's not interested. When he IS interested in something, he picks it up quickly and remembers it well.

It's interesting seeing my friend's daughter. She is very social. She likes people she knows and is interested in whatever they're doing just because they're doing it. It's very easy to teach her new things because of this, and I really enjoy it. I enjoy Austin too, of course, but with him it's much different. Austin likes us, but is only interested in what we're doing if it's something HE likes. For my friend's daughter, it's the people that make something interesting. For Austin, it's the thing that makes the person interesting.

Anyway, Mary Camarata didn't make him do a thing, and therefore, he liked her quite a bit :) Not enough to do the IQ test, but quite a bit.

He did a few puzzles and other things, and I finally found out why when doing a new puzzle, he'll try to put the second piece on top of the first piece (he goes to where he was successful before)
The Camaratas then showed me how to do therapy with Austin, and it was a total 180 from his previous therapist. Mary Camarata had him saying "up" within a minute, seriously. I couldn't believe it. I've been saying "up" to him for months, every time we go up the stairs at home, every time he goes up the stairs for the slide, but he never tried to say it back. They didn't make him play with only one thing, they let him go back and forth and he was looking at them,touching them, and making quite a bit of verbal attempts.

I can't say how nice that was to see. I really wanted to cry.

After the session, we sat down to talk about Austin's diagnosis, and what we should do. We know for sure he has a phonological disorder, which means he doesn't understand how the system of sounds makes words. He uses very few consonants, mostly vowels. I think there's a receptive issue as well, he doesn't understand language as well as he should. He definitely has some understanding, but not as much as he should for his age. I know for sure the only "diagnostic" type word I heard is phonological disorder, but I think they also think there could be some other going on, but either they didn't want to say for sure without the IQ test or they didn't want to overwhelm us. I know they're straight shooters, so I don't think they'd deliberately hold back, but if they also felt they didn't have significant evidence to diagnose something, they wouldn't diagnose based on pure speculation.

The funny thing was: we were trying to talk about all this, and Austin kept taking Dr. Camarata's hand and leading him back to the toys to play. He'd never done that to anyone before. I think that amazed me so much that it was hard to concentrate on the conversation.

What I did get for sure was that this isn't a delay, it's a disorder that he won't outgrow. I remember Dr. Camarata saying he wouldn't outgrow this, not that he wouldn't mature but that he wouldn't outgrow this.

What I wish I asked now was whether he was just telling us that this was definitely a disorder and not a delay, and it will be a long road with lots of therapy, or whether he was saying Austin's language will never "normalize" I'm not sure which he meant, and it's more than a little disconcerting.

We'll hopefully get the written report in not too long, and if that doesn't answer all my questions, I'll email.

The Camaratas agreed with me that preschool wouldn't be the best place for Austin right now, and he should stay home for at least another year. I'm doing my best to do therapy the way they showed me twice a day for 20 minutes (and trying to model language all day long) We're also trying to find a speech therapist who will work with Austin just like the Camaratas did and like I'm trying to do.

At the end of the appointment, Austin actually gave Mary Camarata a hug, like ran into her arms, another thing I was amazed about because Austin does that to my husband and I, but not to other people.

We're
All in all, it was great. We had a direction and knew what would help, and why what the SLPs had tried so far hadn't worked. He doesn't like people dictating what he can and can't play with, and he doesn't like people taking away his toys. he'll refuse to cooperate when that happens. We have to get creative and find ways to enter into his play without withholding or dictating what he plays with. Some SLPs we had were close to this, but insisted he only have one toy out at a time. That made Austin not cooperative, but as I saw with the C's, if Austin could freely move between 2 or 3 toys, he stayed with one toy longer. Also, it was no big deal to move between 2 or 3, I just would move with him. It's so funny, but if Austin KNOWS he doesn't HAVE to play with just one toy, he'll stay with a toy for a long time.

The C's also confirmed what I already knew: no ADD, no sensory issues. He's not at all hyper, and definitely can stay with one task when he wants to stay with it.

Honestly, I wouldn't be that surprised if Austin did end up with a PDD disorder diagnosis at some point, just because he isn't as socially motivated as a lot of kids BUT for now, I don't think we really need it. He doesn't have major behavior problems...well other than ignoring people. That one's pretty major, but for now, I'm working on the speech thing and hoping that might help the people thing. I think part of his ignoring people is that he doesn't understand what they're saying half of the time, and he honestly is shy and a little wary of people. If this doesn't improve, we'll try working on it when he's older. He's also trying to get a little picky in eating but nothing major) I'm hoping my working with him at home (and the SLP when we find him or her) will help him. I know preschool wouldn't help him for now, because he wouldn't be motivated for the teacher (unless she or he just happened to know exactly how to work with a child like Austin, and that seems unlikely. Forget about the social aspect of preschool helping Austin either, he needs one on one, and he would just do his own thing and ignore the other kids.) We'll cross that PDD disorder diagnosis bridge if and when we need to.

In fact, we're going back to Nashville next year for a follow-up. We'll see what things look like then, and we'll get new advice about what else we need to be doing at that time.

I was soo happy to find the Camaratas. They were the first and only professionals I've found who gave me hope that other people actually understand Austin and know how to help him. Now, I just hope I can find an SLP here who knows how to help him. I'm doing therapy for now, but it's hard not to have an actual professional guiding us and working with him as well. If we can't find one, we might have to move to Nashville. That wouldn't be bad, it's a nice city. Haha, hubby wouldn't go for it though, he was complaining the whole time that he was the only brown guy there.

I have to confess, I still cried that night in the hotel room after the guys were asleep. We had direction now, but it's still hard not to feel sad sometimes for Austin, not to wonder what this all means, why it happened, wish I could just transfer my ability to communicate to him. He's not sad right now, but when I think about how it will be when he gets older, it's scary. I have to remind myself to just take a day at time and do all that we can to help.