Big day today. Elliot has his session with the child development and behavioral specialist just to get some clarification as to exactly what we are dealing with and that he is on the correct treatment/therapy plan. Although his therapists have told me they think it  is Aspergers they are not  able to make a diagnosis just treat the symptoms/ /issues.  He needs to see a specialist for an “official diagnosis”  Although I am not really up for labeling kids I need to get this done as we are having serious issues with the insurance company and struggling to get any help from them any how that’s a whole other issue.

So currently the sessions we have elliot enrolled in are very child friendly and he doesn’t even realise he is doing anything that is benefitting him.  I very naively assume that this session will be the same.  We go into a room and for the next 90 minutes we are both asked lots and lots of questions.  Interestingly Elliot opens up to the therapist right away and really tries to talk to him and have a conversation.  As this isn’t one of Elliot strong points he soon gets stressed out and this in turn affects his speech.  For the rest of the session I am asked lots of questions and Elliot does a few quick tests to determine muscle development etc which are all fine.  The big issue is that Elliot gets more and more what I think is agitated as the session goes and he starts to exhibit some very strange behaviors.  He is throwing him self on the floor on and off chairs, reverts to baby talk and starts licking himself and me.  All things I haven’t even seen before or have I????  I am pretty confused and to be honest quite tired by the time the session finishes.  The therapists sums up and gives me an action plan to best help Elliot.  Here comes the shocking revelation…………. apparently Elliot is quite a complex little boy and has lots of issues that need addressing but before we get started we need to address the anxiety that the therapist has seen.  He thinks the best course of action is ZOLOFT!!!!!!  Being very naive I just say ok as I don’t know hat Zoloft is.  He suggests I go home and speak to my husband and maybe make an appointment to come back without Elliot to discuss Zoloft.  He feels that a lot of Elliots issues are because he is anxious.  If we help him deal with his anxieties a lot of his “issues” should go away.  It is at this stage that the Dr explains that Elliots constant need to take something with him i.e a car or some kind of toy where ever he goes the lack of flexibility and the tantrums and the melt downs that he has are because he is anxious and doesn’t know how to deal with how he is feeling.  This is also how he feels when it comes to socialising with his friends or trying to socialise.  It all seems to make sense so I carry on listening to everything else he has to say.  He suggests to help him we need to have a stricter schedule and to use picture charts to help him visualise how the week is going to work out.  If things need to change then we can adopt a ticket system.  The system involves warning Elliot that something needs to change and to give him a ticket if he deals with it well then he can trade his ticket in for a reward.  The other things we need to look at are the sensory processing he is struggling with he can’t tolerate anything too hot too cold when eating.  We also think that he is getting over whelmed when in large groups because it is just too loud for him.  For this he suggest we continue with the OT to help him with his motor skills and to help desensitise his surroundings.  He also feels that he is having problems taking perspective which is affecting him integrating with his peers he just doesn’t get the natural inclination that most children get to be able to join in play.  He also has a pretty sever language delay he is struggling to initiate conversations, request what he wants and articulate correctly.  These are all quite large issues to address with his gross and fine motor also needing addressing but not as urgently.

Armed with all this information I feel pretty over whelmed and ask for a little clarification and the DR once again suggests that Elliot really needs to get on top of the Anxiety as at the moment it is over shadowing everything else.  He wants the anxiety controlling.  He thinks Aspergers may come closer to the surface but at this stage he has so many issues that he diagnoses PDD Persuasive development disorder or at least I think that is where we got to.  I kind of switched off when he kept pushing the drugs.  I guess I should go home and do some research and work out what these “drugs” are.

I head home in a daze tell Simon what the Dr has said and look up Zoloft on the internet. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! Zoloft is an anti depressant wow is that not a little extreme.  I think it is fair to say that whilst I spend the next few days mulling this over I am going to be on an emotionall roller coaster.