I needed time to process that...

Mason's speech assessment didn't really go very well. Not that I am at all surprised that the assessor thinks he has a speech delay, because hey, that's why I took him right? But the way he reacted, and the way the assessment was done, and the way the assessor acted just threw me for such a loop that I needed time to step out of the situation and readdress my feelings on it.

So, here's how it went. We were, unfortunately, a few minutes late for his appointment, which always gives me anxiety, which Mason is Very good at picking up on. So already, both he and I were nervous. We get there, and the receptionist was on the phone (not her fault, I know) but we had to wait for about 10 minutes for her to finish, and by that time, Mason was ready to go explore, or leave, or do anything else. And once we were registered, we had to go out and wait in the hall. At the hospital. Which is rather big, and exciting for a 3 year old who loves to explore. And full of people, most of whom were nice enough to acknowledge his rather exuberant "HI! iiii'm Mason!! ("Matin"). And then of course he wanted to follow the people who responded to him, because he was bored out of his mind waiting.

So, we finally get called in by Carmen, and he was deep in conversation with a seriously sweet woman who was halfway up the hall :) He didn't want to leave :) Drag him into the most boring room Ever. Small table, 4 chairs, a couple pictures of cartoon kids on the bulletin board, and 2 cupboards. So now my very spirited boy is over stimulated by the small room, with nothing in it for him. (In his opinion)

The first thing she wanted to do was talk to me. While Mason had Nothing to do. Uh uh lady. good luck. So I gave him a pen and a piece of paper from my purse. Once he was bored with that, he moved on to explore the room. Climb on a chair, pull on the blind string, flick the lights on and off. (Note, she wrote down that he's obsessed with light switches..after I said he loves turning the lights on and off at home too. **He does it appropriately at home, on in the dark, off at bedtime etc**) Typical for Mason, perhaps my fault, because I believe children deserve the opportunity to explore. Thus creating a child who won't sit and wait for much of anything. I should have brought a snack :( Hindsight.

So, once Carmen was fully annoyed with his behaviour. She decided to start assessing him. She pulls out her book. sets it up, and starts talking with me again. UGH! now he's back at the table, with the pen. Trying to draw in her book (Crap!!). She says "Well, usually we would do a formal assessment for a child over three, but since he's only just three, we'll stick with the informal testing." ya think!? You've totally lost his interest lady!! Ugh!!! Fine, so she Finally pulls around the cupboard with the toys in it. He was SO happy!! And he played perfectly!! Fed the baby, shared with Carmen, put the play food on plates, knew what the milk was, put the animals in the barn, changed his voice for each animal. It was beautiful watching him!! But once he got playing, Carmen went back to talking to me. Every couple minutes she would try to ask Mason a question, and sometimes he would answer, and sometimes he wouldn't. In his defense, she never left her chair. Never got down to his level. IMO, as someone who worked with Autistic children for years, and someone who works with children now, you HAVE to get in a 3 year old's face sometimes!!! He was playing with toys that are new to him, of course those are going to be more interesting to him than an adult he's never met, and who was bossy (In his opinion) about the lights and the chair and the pen!

So, we got through our hour. And she says to me, "I didn't get a very good assessment, I don't think his receptive language is very good (She's on crack, his receptive language is awesome!), I want to do a second assessment of him at home." Which is perfectly fine with me. I know he'll give her a better grasp on his abilities, and disabilities when he's on his home turf.

In my opinion, being able to look back and reflect on how the process was handled, I don't think we got a fair assessment. I think Carmen got an opinion of Mason when he was running around flicking the lights on and off, and she wasn't willing to waiver from that opinion. And that opinion is that my Son has Autism. I disagree. I fully admit that he is a quirky kid. I fully admit that he is a handful, and a ball of electric energy, and that he is very spirited. But I don't believe that he has Autism (Though I also admit to wondering in the past, and if you had been in that room with him, you maybe would have questioned it too.) But he's not. He's social, and he's receptive, and he doesn't flap his hands (unless he's pretending to be a bird, which he did during the assessment UGH!!), he makes eye contact, he doesn't line up his toys, and he plays appropriately. He's smart, but he's not a Savant. So there. :) His hearing is hampered by fluid in his ears, and we are trying different, less intrusive, although slower, methods to stimulate the drainage, and that impairment hinders him in a lot of ways. His speech delay or disorder, whatever it turns out to be, hampers him in a HUGE way, because instead of saying leave me alone, he screams...because he can't get the words out to tell you you're pissing him off. And there you have it. Mama Bear is out, and the claws are going to follow if I don't get a fair assessment!

In a side note, from talking with another Mother who has had both of her children assessed at the same place, the assessment of Mason was done very differently. Carmen was supposed to go behind the 2 way glass and observe him playing. Had she done that, she would have been able to get a much better picture of Mason. Would have seen that he understands everything said to him, can follow instruction, can make eye contact.

So. That's that. I'm still waiting for the phone call to set up the home visit. I'm still waiting on an answer as to what is wrong with my son. And I am still waiting to figure out what the next step is. I hate waiting.