2 steps forward, 2 steps back.

When I dropped Mason off at school today, I found out that the integration resource support worker was going to be there observing Mason. Surprise!! This of course, after I had been through the whole spiel with him about being nice to his friends, and listening to his teachers, and being a very good boy today. Figures. :) I mentioned to his teacher that he was starting a new block of speech therapy tomorrow. And that his ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) is coming up soon, on May 14th. She seemed surprised by that, and said, "Oh! Who's doing the ADOS??" I replied, "Dr.K" in a tone that said, "duh, thought you knew that??". And then she said "oh! no no no! Dr. K won't do the ADOS." And I said "Huh??" She said, "No, he is just the pediatrician. Mason has to be accepted as his patient before the ADOS can be done." HUH!?!?! NO ONE TOLD ME THAT!!! Here I'm thinking we're almost done with this shit, and we haven't even started. What if Dr. K decides not to take Mason on?? And seriously!? This is NOT what I was told. I was told, OH! You really want Dr. V for your ADOS ped. She's the best. And then I found out that Dr.V wasn't doing the ADOS anymore. So I got stuck with the Dr they kept telling me I probably didn't want. Crap.

So now I'm so confused. Mason was put on a waiting list with the Pre-school speech and language program for them to do the ADOS on video. The video would then be sent to Dr. J (Who really is the best of the best), who would assess from there. I was also told to get on board with a pediatrician to do an ADOS, because although doubtful, that might be a faster way of getting it done. So, fine, I got screwed around by my family Dr trying to get that referral. And now that I have it, I find out that I may still be up shit creek without a paddle. AND! the resource teacher tells me that one of the speech path's at the pre-school speech program is who will do ADOS!! And then Dr. K will read the results and make the final diagnosis from there. So no matter what, it's the same people doing the same test! WTF??

I'm most worried that he won't be accepted as a patient by Dr.K. Since his surgery, he's shown pretty much ZERO signs of Autism. I still really really really want to do the ADOS. I have a point to prove now. I want his resource teacher, and the supervising speech path to STOP assessing him, and treating him like he has Autism, if in fact he doesn't. I have concerns about Sensory Integration Disorder, but even that is only a small concern. Sorry, sidetracked there... seriously. During Mason's last Speech and Language assessment Mason was so good. However, he was really interested in the lanyard that A was wearing, with her name and picture. Mason has always been interested in those. Not obsessed, interested. In the report I got regarding that assessment, it was 'observed' that Mason invaded A's personal space to fixate on her identification. WHAT!? he's THREE!! At the same appointment, she brought out a puzzle he had never seen before. And as he was absorbed in doing the puzzle, she started talking, randomly, about how she had ridden a horse that weekend, with a wagon, blah blah blah. She was trying to get him to engage in conversation... I get that. But I don't see how that relays back to speech and language... not in the way she worded her report. It was a big fat, this kid has Autism report. And I'm not impressed.

Shoot this is random. Bottom line is, I want the ADOS to prove to these people that they are wrong, and to start focusing on his Speech. But that I am afraid I will never get an official diagnosis (or a negative diagnosis... does that make sense??) because Mason's behaviour is so different now than what it was pre-surgery. Blah. Just more hurry up and wait I guess. Blah.