My older son had been in the mental health system since he was 3, and misdiagnosed several times. He had major problems in every grade in school, problems at home, problems at day care.
During grade 4, I started to see some very negative changes in his behaviour at school, due to the way the school counsellor was handling him. At the time, he had several diagnoses, including Oppositional Defiant Disorder. The school handled his behaviour issues by using a mixture of negative reinforcement and force (insisting on certain behaviours) and restraint when he would not comply.
I know, I know, it was awful for him, traumatizing even. But as Oprah says, when we know better, we do better, and I did the best I could with the knowledge I had.
During grade 4, I started to see some very negative changes in his behaviour at school, due to the way the school counsellor was handling him. At the time, he had several diagnoses, including Oppositional Defiant Disorder. The school handled his behaviour issues by using a mixture of negative reinforcement and force (insisting on certain behaviours) and restraint when he would not comply.
I know, I know, it was awful for him, traumatizing even. But as Oprah says, when we know better, we do better, and I did the best I could with the knowledge I had.
I started to notice that when I was patient with my son at home, when he was having a meltdown or just unable to handle life, he calmed down faster. At school, he would just escalate, and get worse every day. I asked his psychiatrist and therapist to have testing done for Aspergers. The testing was one-on-one with a psychologist, for two days of 4 hours, as well as parent and teacher surveys. The outcome turned out as I expected.
From asking for testing to getting a diagnosis took less than 6 months. In that time we also moved to a new apartment and moved his school. So the school did their own testing as well, a necessity for the district to determine special education needs. An while we didn't see immediate progress, and there was certainly years more research and therapy ahead of us, it was a swift move in the right direction. I only wish I had known to do testing sooner.
~ Adrienne
From asking for testing to getting a diagnosis took less than 6 months. In that time we also moved to a new apartment and moved his school. So the school did their own testing as well, a necessity for the district to determine special education needs. An while we didn't see immediate progress, and there was certainly years more research and therapy ahead of us, it was a swift move in the right direction. I only wish I had known to do testing sooner.
~ Adrienne