Autism?

Wow! So much going on. I have to remind myself to take a breath sometimes.

When McKenna was released from her IEP in 1st grade, we hoped she would not need one again. But as time went by, we saw that her issues were still impacting her on a daily basis. So last week, we had an ARC meeting with the school to discuss an evaluation for another IEP. While this breaks my heart, I am also pleased with the progress that was made.

McKenna was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder when she was very young. She was also diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years later. I admit that I have had moments of skepticism about her diagnoses, but something always brings me back to reality - like the way she struggles to look me in the eye or pushes me away when I try to hug her at night when I tuck her in. I see her walking on lines in a parking lot and it is hard to know it is not some sort of child's game but a desperate, uncontrollable need for her - often without regard to her own safety. I also feel helpless when I see her spending so much time lining up and organizing certain things. Even when she is exhausted and needs to sleep, she often cannot relax until she carefully arranges everything on her bed. This began when she was a toddler. She would spend 30 minutes arranging and rearranging her blankets before she'd even attempt to fall asleep. There are just so many other things too - things that may seem so small but have such a tremendous impact on every aspect of life for McKenna and for Jason and I. Some days are better than others.

For years, we have suspected Asperger syndrome and McKenna was unofficially diagnosed with it via a telephone conference with a leading local child psychologist a few years ago. Our pediatrician recommended an in-depth evaluation by the Weisskopf center in Louisville at the time. We tried to make that happen but found out insurance would not cover it. The evaluation is very thorough and involves several days of lengthy testing. The bill would have been VERY high. So, we could not proceed. Now, with a different insurance and also the suspicion of OCD by McKenna's current therapist, our insurance SHOULD cover most of the evaluation. We have discussed this with McKenna's pediatrician and are just waiting on her referral to a developmental pediatrician. Once we see the developmental ped., we should be able to get on the list for an eval. at the Weisskopf center. The current waiting list time is 8-9 MONTHS. So, this is going to take a while. But we are hopeful that a thorough eval. will help us know how to proceed with treatment.

In the meantime, the school will do their own evaluation and hopefully McKenna will once again have an IEP and be able to get the help that she needs at school. Academically she is doing very well. Her reading scores are in the 97th percentile overall (99th in many areas), and this is quite impressive since she is the youngest 3rd grader in her school. McKenna is also well-behaved and well-liked at school. But all of this does not come without struggle. In fact, her high scores may be yet another indicator of Asperger syndrome, as it is a "high-functioning" form of Autism. Hopefully the interventions that the school system is working on will help McKenna struggle less and enjoy school more. With all that we've had going on over the last year and a half, we have not been able to give McKenna's issues the attention they needed. We're trying now to make up for that and be sure that McKenna gets the treatments she needs. Watching her struggle isn't easy for us, so I can only imagine how it must be for McKenna.

Please keep McKenna in your prayers.