We took Sarah Hazel to meet with the same psychiatrist who did the first portion of Cameron's Autism evaluation, in hopes of getting some answers on her meltdowns and other odd behaviors. We fully expected to hear that she had OCD, or ADD, or Aspergers or even all 3 of those but instead the only concrete diagnosis we got is that she is indeed gifted. I knew she was smart, but every mom thinks their child is smart. Right? When she first started OT for her SPD, the therapist kept telling me that Sarah Hazel is "exceptional" and "bright" for her age. And then her preschool teacher pulled me aside to tell me that she had scored well above where she should have on their recent evaluations. I guess it took today's official evaluation for me to really understand that yes, she is one smart cookie. Just a funny little thing her Dr said; He told us that they wait their whole careers to see a child this smart.
I should have looked to see what system was used for the evaluation but I forgot. After looking at the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, I am thinking it was that one or one very similar as the format list is almost identical to the tests she took today. She did several brain teaser type puzzles involving patterns and shapes. She did very well at every task put in front of her. As the Dr was scoring the tests, he got a big smile on his face and said that everything was starting to come together. Meaning, there were some possible explanations for her behaviors. Apparently it's not uncommon for gifted children to have behavior issues.
He then gave us the scores in all areas she was tested as well as an overall score. The rating scale is as follows:
| below 70 is Extremely Low, |
| 70-79 is Borderline, |
| 80-89 is Low Average, |
| 90-109 is Average, |
| 110-119 is High Average, |
| 120-129 is Superior, |
| 130+ is Very Superior. |
Without saying the exact score, I will say that she fell into the Very Superior category overall and somewhere in the way beyond Very Superior category for her visual skills. Her verbal and listening skills were High Average, which is still above where a child her age normally is. The difference in her listening skills vs. her visual skills tells us that she learns better by being shown what to do as opposed to being told what to do. We were introduced a little more to using social stories (which I just learned about on Tuesday for Cameron! More about that in a later post) and using objects as transitional cues. We also came away with some ideas about how to handle her auditory stimulation (humming) by using quick hand signals as a reminder that she is doing it. As for those meltdowns, we learned a game called "blowfish" which is basically just controlled deep breathing. Anytime we see that one of those meltdowns are about to occur, we play "blowfish". To help her remember to do this, we will cue her with fish stickers and small plastic fish. Usually this technique is not successful with children her age but the Dr. felt that she was "bright" enough to understand. He also gave us a bunch of other ideas that I am going to have to go back and review to make sure I understand. It was a ton of information in a short period of time.
We also heavily discussed her social skills. Sarah Hazel is a preformer by nature however, she really only will preform for adults. With a few exceptions, she really does not enjoy being with children her age but instead prefers the company of school aged children. She has no social problems when interacting with older children or adults. Her eye contact is great and she loves back and forth play. She demonstrated all of this for the Dr. today so he ruled out Aspergers, at least for now. He speculates that she may not enjoy being with other preschool children for two reasons. 1. Her SPD kicks in when the other kids get too close to her or become rowdy. She is fearful of other children, especially those who get in her space so this makes total sense to me! She also does not like little boys because she said the "push her around and are loud". Reason 2. She simply cannot relate to the other children because she is gifted. There really is no way to say that and it not sound bad but I totally understand and have speculated it for quite some time, as have other people who have watched her around other children. To help her, we have to show her how to play with children her age once she is able to get over the fits they cause her to have when in sensory overload. We were given some ideas how to slowly acclimate her to a more appropriate age level but it's going to take time.
He also ruled out Anxiety disorder (which we never suspected anyways). He could not say for sure whether or not she has ADD and/or OCD. Only time will tell. I still have a rating scale to fill out and one for her teacher's to fill out. That will give him a better idea if there are any other diagnosis that need to be explored. We will also take her back in the fall so he can see how she is doing socially.
Looks like I have a lot of new research to do and things to create (social stories). I have yet to even really get started on Cameron's picture exchange cards that we have begun implementing into therapy. So much to do...
I forgot to mention that he told us to start switching her over to organic foods and filtered water. Looks like we were on to something with the red food dye elimination.
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