Eval Tomorrow but DD has made progress Dezarae's evaluation (part 1) is tomorrow and I am really getting nervous. When we got on the waiting list 6 months ago, dd was way behind her peers in talking, had major meltdowns, and there was no doubt in my mind really that she would eventually be dx'd with Autism. However, since that time she has had an evaluation with the school system (dx'd Autism) and started Special Needs Pre-school and private speech therapy. She has made huge strides, way more than I expected this soon. Her speech has really improved, and at 3 1/2 she is finally starting to say some broken 2 word phrases. Her meltdowns have decreased a bunch and overall she has just really improved. Of course, I am thrilled with her progress! But...what is going to happen with the evaluation now? DD has made a lot of progress, but I still believe that she is on the spectrum. Maybe PDD-NOS, not Autism like I originally thought, but she still has the stimming, occassional meltdowns, lots of quirky and odd behaviors, and the speech issues, etc. But a lot of what I stated about her on the checklists and parent eval. forms does not hold true to the degree that it did when I filled them out over 6 months ago. So, just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Did your ds or dd make progress in the time between you requesting the evaluation and the time when it actually took place? What happened as a result? I am just afraid that the doctors will think that since she is making progress that she will be ok as long as we keep doing the little bit that we are doing, and that they won't dx her properly. I know that if the signs are there they should see them, but what if they miss things? I will do my best to give them a clear picture of what my dd's life is really like, but I am just afraid that in a system so overloaded with potential ASD kids that they will sweep my dd's issues under the rug since she is improving. Is that completely irrational? If not, how do I prevent that from happening? I am on my way out the door, but wanted to quickly respond. If you have access to a camcorder - I would tape her when she is stimming, having meltdowns - whatever quirky behavior you can capture on film. And bring that to the appointments. They need to see her in a non-clinical setting and often that is the only way to accomplish that. I would also make a list of all of her behaviors that concern you and have her teachers do the same - anyone that helps her for that matter. So it shows that it is not just you seeing these issues. Good luck on this and keep us posted! We've had the same experience.  Between figuring out what was going on w/DS and getting him in for an eval, we started biomed, ST, OT, and preschool, and he is a completely different child, though still firmly on the spectrum.  The eval should include a developmental and medical history, so they'll know that she was different not long ago and needed the therapies to get her where she is.  I really doubt they'll dismiss anything - but definitely write everything down and take in videos if you can.  If nothing else, they'll help the psychologist pin down her strengths and weaknesses. Congratulations on the progress!!! Hi Mom, when my son was 2 1/2 he was dxd with autism (at that time he had already started using 2 words sentences) but still was dxd with classical autism. Just last month we did an other evaluation  (last month at 3 and 5 months old,at another hospital) and the  doctor dxd him with HF autism, even though he has no stimmings at all but his communication and his eye contact is still somehow affected. He talks in long sentences but not so often. he can say his wants. take turns, can wait when i tell him to, but he does not really ask questions. He has no metdowns anymor. His areas that needs improvements are: mostly language he does not ask questions apart from Where once , that when he asks for things or persons (he is looking for). I think that the doctor diagnosted him with hf autism based only on the forms that we filled ten months ago. I don't know why he was not dxd as PDD_NOS either. I hope that i could help in any way. Good luck Did your ds or dd make progress in the time between you requesting the evaluation and the time when it actually took place? What happened as a result? I think most kids I know on the spectrum do make continuous progress with therapies so I think to the parents you can look and think they are no longer autism or on the spectrum, but based on what you are saying it sounds like ASD.  So, good news is you are making speech strides but 3 1/2 is very late to start marking 2 word phrases.  KWIM?  I think if you are honest as you have been in your post, then you will be on the right track. I do think kids who are diagnosed late kind of get the short end of the stick with services.  This is based on my experience with my dd who didn't get her PDDNOS dx until age 5.  She was in speech since 2, but I think she would have presented way worse at 3 and might have gotten regional center services had she been dx earlier.  My other two kids I initiated their evaluations.  With my youngest he got a PDDNOS dx at 2 but lost it after a year of services.  His situation is now deemed to be mainly articulation, but he wasn't saying much at 2 and with two other siblings on the spectrum the psychologist wanted to err on the side of caution.  As he is getting older it is easy to see, when I compare him to the other two, that he is not ASD. My 4  year old had an evaluation a year ago and had 4 marked areas on the DSM-IV.  He went back to the same people a month ago and had 3 and he scored better on his adaptive in 9 out of 10 of the areas on the ABAS.  So, we are seeing big improvement with him, but they are still calling him PDDNOS.  They said if he had 2 marked areas they would consider dropping the dx, but they want to see him back after he has started K before they do that because they want to see more social progress. Thanks so much for the replies everyone! I have been waiting so long for this evaluation (seems like a lifetime when you suspect ASD and need a dx for services), but now that it is here I am just so nervous!! I just want them to get it right and I want to help my dd be the best she can be and achieve all that she can. Thanks again, and wish us luck tomorrow!
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