The Assessment

Well today was Matthew's psychological Assessment with Kinark.
They are tremendously nice there, and from the moment we walked through the doors, they treated me absolutely like I was the most important person on the planet to them.

A little background on how we got to this place - those who know our story can skip over this long rambling paragraph LOL.
Matthew was born 3 weeks early, and cried from day one. He was colicky and had reflux and was absolutely miserable for the first 8 months of his life, with little flashes of contentment here and there. I attributed this to him being maybe just a little early, low birthweight, and just generally a different personality from his older brother - I mean, I wasn't expecting him to be the exact same as Duncan - the perfect baby - but I at least thought there would be some similarities other than baldness that would indicate that they came from the same genetic mold.
They are about as different as two little boys can be - in personality. People still to this day think they are twins. About the only thing they have in common besides parental lineage is their colouring - both blond with blue eyes, although they do have different shades of eye colour.
Matthew has fantastic eyes - blue with chunks of darker blue and framed in a Navy blue rim.
They are set off with long dark eyelashes, the only dark hair on him. Truly his eyes are some of the most gorgeous I've ever seen, and that's not just my bias talking (OK,maybe it is, but he has nice eyes) When he was about 18 months I figured those chunky blue eyes would come alive with cognition, as he learned about the world around him - instead they appeared to blank out - to get progressivly less alive in terms of understanding. He began to walk on his tiptoes and fixating on fans. By the time he was two, it was enough of a concern to mention to his doctor about the clumsiness, the rocking, and the lack of development. I felt like we had finally made it over the hurdle of his first year, only to discover that the 2nd year didn't progress as much as I thought it should. I felt alone, as nobody seemed to see what I saw.
"Oh he's only 2" everybody said "He'll come around".
But he didn't.
Someone recommended a book to me called The Out-Of-Sync-Child.
What an eye opener that was - it sounded like my son, and I cried as I read it, knowing that there were other parents out there with kids just like my son - exhibiting the same symptoms.
At last I had a diagnosis that appeared to suit him to a T; Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID).
The more I read about it, the more convinced I became that he was indeed, a SID child.
By the time he was 2-1/2 he exhibited enough 'odd' behaviours and was having trouble with eating, and tactile sensations that his doctor recommended him for an assessment at Grandview Children's Centre. In February of 2005 we made the trek to Oshawa for a lengthy assessment.
4-1/2 hours with numerous doctors, and specialists, speech therapists, neurologists etc etc.
The report was basically what I expected it to be, with two additional phrases thrown in there;
Moderate Cognitive delay, and Suspected Autism
I came home and cried.
It made sense I suppose - He did exhibit so many classic red flag symptoms - but why hadn't I seen it earlier? Other things didn't match up, his language skills were not delayed, but exceptional - 15 word sentences with perfect grammar and tenses, that were not at a 2.4 yr old boys level. I began researching online, I began looking for ways to help him. We set aside funds to pay for the occupational therapy that we inevitably faced, and we were instructed to send in a referral letter that they gave us to the Kinark Institute, responsible for CEPAS (Central East Preschool Autism Society) to get Matthew on a waiting list ASAP for treatment. They provide free therapy up to 6 yrs old, but there is a 3 yr waiting list to get in, so if we got on the waiting list, by the time he is accepted he would still qualify for a year of free therapy - anything is better than nothing, so i sent in the referral letter, and a copy of the report from Grandview.
The Head Medical Director at Grandview wanted to meet with Matthew again, sometime after his 3rd birthday to reassess him, and place him on the Pervasive Development Disorder Scale.
We already suspected his condition was mild at worst, but thought that by getting an official diagnosis, he would have better access to Individual help and teaching aides when he started school. Reassessment is to take place sometime between June and September 2005 as there is a 4-8 month wait for that particular test.
Which brings us to today - June 15th - Another psychological assessment conducted by a 3rd party to assess if his needs are severe enough to warrant keeping him on the waiting list.

So, my beautiful boy walks into his assessment today and performs absolutely age appropriate in EVERY category. There were still certain areas that he specifically has some difficulty with, but they can be attributed to his Sensory Dysfunction and we are fairly sure that there is nothing neurologically wrong. I had noticed a HUGE improvement over the last few months and the psychologist said that based on his previous report, he is nothing like she was expecting him to be, so he has shown VAST IMPROVEMENT in every area.
Words cannot describe the relief that has flooded over me today.
My boy is not lost in his own little world - he is a late bloomer.
He is not cognitively delayed - he is stubborn and creative and bright and easily distracted by visual, and audio stimuli. He has an inability to correctly process tactile sensations, but he is not delayed. He understands. And at last, so do I. I understand my boy is not absorbed in a world of non-comprehension, he is simply processing it differently. Doors have opened up. The sun is shining just a little brighter today. Matthew will be able to cope with his sensory issues. He may indeed just surprise us all and be the sharpest knife in the drawer - exceeding all academic expectations. I am feeling good about this assessment. We will get the "official" report in about 3 weeks - but i'm already anticipating that they will take us off the waiting list. This is good news.
We don't need to be on a waiting list. The psychologist said that whatever I have been doing in the past few months has had a marvellous effect - How incredible to be told that you have had a hand in significantly helping your child.She also said he was lovely - more than once. Of course she hasn't seen him spitting on the walls, or pouring chocolate syrup on the carpets or smacking his brother on the head with the handle of the Thomas the Train push toy and then run like holy heck into the living room, throwing toys up in the air in the process.....but he was lovely today.
I couldn't be more proud of him.