We took Isabella to a new psychiatrist the other day. Some of you may know about issues with my other doc (see here and here, for example), and we finally had had enough.
The new doc was awesome. She really wanted to talk to Isabella (imagine that), though Isabella wasn’t really in the talking mood, apparently. She was, however, in the listening mood; we know that because she occasionally interjected comments into our conversation as she was playing Dizzy Bee on my phone.
The new doc was less than impressed with the performance of the old doc, and she had some interesting things to say. One was that she thought Isabella was closer to PDD-NOS instead of Asperger’s. You might remember that I recently posted (see the first link above) about her change in diagnosis from PDD-NOS to Asperger’s. I’m not totally surprised, and to be honest, I don’t care that much. I have a letter that says Asperger’s from the other doc, and I can use that diagnosis when trying to get her services if I want. I’ve heard that that diagnosis opens up more services than PDD-NOS for some reason. Anyone else found this to be the case?
In terms of what was put on the medical receipt, that didn’t matter. My insurance won’t pay for any of it, regardless of how it’s written up. I tried to get the doc to put “broken arm” as the diagnosis, but for some reason they wouldn’t do it. They even laughed at me. I don’t get these people.
Anyway, now we’re back to not knowing what to say when asked about a diagnosis. I’ll stick with “on the spectrum” for someone with a general interest in her diagnosis, “Asperger’s” for gaining services, and “my beautiful little girl” for all of the above and everyone else too.
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I have occasionally
I have occasionally struggled with telling people a diagnosis. My daughter Maribel has been diagnosed with Autism but when people look at her they say, "But she doesn't look autistic" (as if there is some kind of 'look' children with autism have). So, whenever I talk about Maribel to someone that does not know her or her dx, I tell them that she is a gorgeous, smart and loving little girl....who happens to have autism!
diagnosis
My daughter was diagnosed with PDD-NOS apparently she has too many facial expressions and is too coordinated to be aspergers. For all intensive purposes she has Aspergers. When ever I deal with the school I say she has Aspergers. She has no social skills, talks too loud, doesn't like to be touched, lacks social skills, can't read between the lines or read body language. She engages in one sided conversation about what interests her (which is dragons) and lacks empathy. She also has an IQ of 150 but does mediocre in school.
She was diagnosed at 7 and is now 11. I could probably get her diagnosed with it now if I had a couple thousand spare dollars to have her retested but it really doesn't matter. I often just say she is on the spectrum or even that she is autistic.
Most people just think she is weird or aggresive. Fortunately I had the gifted IEP in place when we moved to Texas and had the IQ test done at a very reputable institution or else the Texas school would have never identified her as gifted.
It doesn't really matter what anybody calls her just please treat her with respect and get to know her.