My daughter (15yrs old) might be on the spectrum. I'd like to get her tested. There are a ton of providers in Colorado Springs, and I have no idea how to choose one. Any experience or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Printable View
My daughter (15yrs old) might be on the spectrum. I'd like to get her tested. There are a ton of providers in Colorado Springs, and I have no idea how to choose one. Any experience or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Children's hospital, referral from doc might be needed.
UC Health probably has the most comprehensive health care system in the state right now.
https://www.uchealth.org/locations/u...rapy-services/
Her pediatrician could probably do the preliminary screening and establish the appropriate care plan. But if you want the comprehensive answer, and/or screening for other issues, a neurodevelopment center is what you should be googling.
Be not surprised if the return diagnosis is ADHD, which goes way under reported in girls and has some overlapping symptoms at the shallow end of the autism spectrum. When we did the assessment for my son, it was six fairly extensive test and evaluation sessions over four weeks, and they tested for a lot of conditions.
I'm up north but the one thing that helped us when we tested our daughter was the practice we used offered us the option of the med student (under the guidance of the main Dr) doing the testing instead of the Dr. It cut the cost in half. Which is huge because it's extremely expensive. Count on a couple days. They try not to push the kiddos too hard because it can mess up the results. So if the kiddo gets fatigued during testing, which can be common, they will extend to multiple days. Although our daughter was much younger (9) so it may be different for teens.
Make sure they explain what reports they will give you. You will need extensive reports in order for her to get any accomodations at school.
OP- If you don't mind sharing, what symptoms have you witnessed that makes you think testing is needed?
Tim, this is who helped us with our boys. I can't confirm he's still practicing, sadly.
John L. Kucera, M.D.
1304 North Academy Blvd, #209
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
tel: 719-596-1118
fax: 719-573-9774
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
I'll PM that to you. I want to protect her privacy (not that she knows any different).Quote:
Originally Posted by .455_Hunter
Her behavior and symptoms don't fit an Autism diagnosis particularly well, but there seems to something going on. At this point, we're just trying to confirm or deny that Autism might be a possibility. If she is on the spectrum, I'd guess it's very mild if there is such a thing. What we're really after is some guidance to help her navigate high school next year.
What aggravates me the most is when a MD decides you have a psychiatric (neurologic) disorder when it really is a a physical problem. Doctors in pain management recently tried to treat me with epileptic medication for pain (headaches). I finally figured out it is a fungal sinus condition. Post COVID treatment with steroids and antibiotics long term, made conditions right for a fungal infection. I see a ENT clinic tomorrow. No MD ever mentioned a fungal infection. They all basically ignored all the evidence I presented. This has been going on 30 months now...
I am not a doctor. I was trained in electronic warfare. You can see my work in Ukraine.
It is a spectrum, and there are plenty of people who are on the mild end of it. I told my son that whatever he's got, I had it too, it just didn't have a name or diagnosis when I was in school.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim K
My son also had peripheral vestibular disfunction (PVD) which effected his balance and motion, so he didn't learn to ride a bike until he was 10. He also had a lot of anxiety that came from not being able to hear or do things on the first few takes, and not responding to people unless he was looking at them. His school was actually pushing the autism diagnosis, but when we had him tested, he came back as having ADHD. I was surprised, because he is the opposite of hyper and about as physically active as a house plant without external motivation on my part. I was loathe to put him on medication, but he came home one day very upset with himself because he knew he needed to be focused on math but just couldn't stop thinking about Pokemon. One week on low-dose ADHD and he was noticeably happier without any other changes in his mood or behaviors. He went from failing all of his core classes to two consecutive years on the school honor roll, in middle school. He's got total control over when he takes his meds, knows what they do and their limitations, and only takes them when he needs them. Having seen what they have done for his quality of life, I am now a believer that they at least worked for him. Some of that comes from a very different structured learning style that I inflict on him - he once told his teacher that I teach math the Navy way, which is repetition and yelling. But it worked, and in conjunction with the medication, he has become much more resilient and capable of doing unpleasant and hard things when called upon.
All of which is to say whether it's autism or any other issue, there is a lot of support available and every parent wants their kid to be reasonably happy and successful. So kudos to you for trying to nail things down and set her up for success during some of the most difficult years of adolescence.
You guys are quite a supportive bunch. It's appreciated. Kids are hard.
The greatest thing about getting a diagnosis is then you can do whatever research you want to know what you can do to help. When my 13 year old daughter was diagnosed with Non-verbal Learning Disorder in 2nd grade (NVLD) my wife and I took a deep dive to learn what that meant. We learned about how our daughter learned.
We learned that was the reason she simply couldn't understand sarcasm or couldn't pickup on subtle social queues. Which, when you're actually looking for them, turns out are incredibly common in classroom lessons and not just in the halls. This disorder means she doesn't pickup on most of the non-verbal queues that the rest of us understand naturally. Everything is literal to her. She struggles with metaphors and all abstract concepts. If the dog shit on the floor and I said "I'm going to kill that dog" she literally thought I was going to kill the dog. We learned not to say things like that around her. Once we understood that we were able to adapt the way we parented her, how we taught her and develop a plan for how her school should teach her.
She had a classroom helper taking notes for her and teaching her how to take notes. She didn't know what to write down for notes and was trying to literally write EVERYTHING the teacher said. She couldn't identify what was important even if the teacher winked or changed the inflection of their voice...something other kids pickup on. Now she takes notes on her own.
Her teachers break down abstract concepts into black and white for her. She struggles to memorize anything so she gets to use notes for tests. She draws worse than my 5 year old because the NVLD affects fine motor skills big time. So she doesn't have to draw diagrams in class. She'll get a printed diagram that she has to label. She gets pulled out for individual help for just the areas she needs it and is with the main student body for everything else. And with that support, the stuff she needs extra help with continues to be reduced.
She can't ride a bike, so we gave up and got her a scooter. Her fine motor skills are so bad she still can't tie her shoes... elastic laces it is.
But knowing a clear explanation for her struggles saved us so much heartache and frustration. She's slowly learning sarcasm. I have no doubt she'll tie her shoes and ride a bike one day. She's old enough that she's reading books on her condition and how to work through her challenges and can advocate for herself and even learns to adapt by herself. She went from failing everything class to thriving. And when that stress of failure was removed she became a nicer person.
Every day that goes by she beats some challenge. She doesn't think I'm literally going to kill the dog anymore. She's starting to identify sarcasm...and will ask if we're being sarcastic before she gets upset. She's found friends that know she doesn't pick up on social queues so they will explain social stuff and girl drama to her.
Bottom line, you're doing the right thing. Your kiddo is going to be so relieved to know that challenges can be beat with the right techniques.
Especially teens in todays environment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim K
If you're unarmed, you are a victim.
My oldest is 6. We are lucky to have an Autism specialist and an OT in the family. Those two people saw some red flags for possible issues and told us about them early, so we got screenings and intervention/help early. For both kids. We're aren't dealing with anything as severe as several of you have mentioned, be we are dealing with, and getting past, some developmental issues.Quote:
Originally Posted by buffalobo
Kids are hard, but I think it's mostly because we want them to be reasonably happy and set-up for success. I'm not looking forward to social media and whatever else comes along when they get to their teen years. My 6 year old is already taking more queues from the butt-heads in his class than I'd prefer.
Bottom line though, I'm glad you all are looking into any potential issues. Intervention appears to have helped my kids a lot, and I hope it does for you as well.
Edit - The kindergarden teacher contacted us about a potential behavorial issue she was starting to see a few weeks ago. I'm glad she did. I can't correct what I don't know about.
The preschool teacher was/is great about sending out messages about behavorial issues any kid was having in class that might spread to other kids as well. Biting, spitting, etc. It was greatly appreciated. Thankfully none of those were coming from my kids...
Having some support on this stuff helps a ton.
I was going to say this is part of what I do (not the testing) but I am with the CCB/CMA for Adams county, my intake team receives calls like this all the time from parents and we have a list of providers that do testing, we even have a provider that is on retainer for families that dont have insurance or money to do testing.
BTW the school district should also do it, they are ON THE HOOK, but if in CO Springs TRE; The Resource Exchange is the CCB/CMA in your catchment area, you can always reach out to them for referral or advice. They also may help in aligning potential waiver or other services to help if there is some needs there.
TRE – The Resource Exchange