[no.1wonderwoman]

I went to a therapist appointment with my 8 year old son a couple of days ago. The therapists said some things that I don't really agree with. I was wondering in anybody had any thoughts or comments about the therapists at Hurley Mental Health Associates.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Further detail would be useful.

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by no.1wonderwoman

I went to a therapist appointment with my 8 year old son a couple of days ago. The therapists said some things that I don't really agree with. I was wondering in anybody had any thoughts or comments about the therapists at Hurley Mental Health Associates.

If you disagree with the diagnosis, then get a second opinion.

[Cliffie]

One therapist's opinions are not going to represent the whole clinic, if that's what you're after. Ask for a different counselor if you can't work it out with the person you're already working with -- preferably over the phone, out of your child's hearing. There should be a Recipient's Rights officer there or at least a customer-service person geared to straightening out complaints.

[no.1wonderwoman]

My son was diagnosed with autism some years ago. His case manager claims this new therapist specialize in autistic children and that she is highly recommended. When we went to his appointment she told me that my son doesn’t know what any of the words that he says means and he only repeats what he hears. So my impression of what she said was that my son has no more comprehension than a parrot, he just repeats words or sounds just like a parrot would.

I have never gotten the impression from my son that he can not understand what I say to him. He follows directions regardless of was I ask him to do. When he was three he surprised me, although he had difficulty with his verbal development, by showing me he could read by reading “Department of Education” from a document I had receive in the mail. So I start working with him to discover how much he read and further develop his reading skills. To my amazement, I discovered he was attempting to sound out the words he didn’t know. Recently I’ve started to teach him addition and subtraction since his school either can’t or doesn’t want to acknowledge his potential. Personally I believe they can’t because I know they have to accommodate the lowest scores of the other children and since it’s a special education school I sure the lowest scores are pretty low. But they don’t want to refer him back to the public school system to meet academic needs which I’m sure they could. But they tell me I need to slow down his academic progress. My son immediately grasped the concept of the addition and subtraction. He expresses appropriate feelings when someone starts teasing him and making fun of him.

When I expressed all of this to the therapist she started telling me her grandson is autistic and autism is her life because of it. My cousin is also autistic and he is now in twenties and other people who have been diagnosed with autism who I have read about or met personally have never given me the impression that they couldn’t understand what they said during conversations. So am I wrong for feeling that my son can understand what is being said in a conversation or possibly overreacting?

[Cliffie]

This is a real hazard with so-called specialists; they get blinkered and forget that any mental illness or disability is on a spectrum. This is even worse when the specialist has that issue somewhere in his or her own life. They can fall into thinking that the case(s) they've known for so long encompass everything there is to know about the issue. Sorry, Charlie, even tuna with mental health diagnoses are still individuals!

Your son may not be autistic at all, in fact, with such good verbal skills. Did he speak and read on time? He could have what they call Pervasive Developmental Disorder NOS, or just a bad case of Asperger's Disorder. Conceivably, he's not on the spectrum at all although I hope your team of experts isn't THAT far off the beam.

I strongly advocate getting him into a program at school that challenges him, if you can. He'll do so much better! Some parents I know, especially families from the Far East who have a very different concept of schooling, consider it absolutely necessary to teach their kids more material at home than American schools do with their dumbed-down course materials and lightweight demands. He may do better in an EI class or he may just need to bring a book to read and an assignement from home to work on when he's done with the classwork.

[no.1wonderwoman]

He was diagnosed by the Intermediate School District with autism when he was four and he's eight now. He still struggles verbally but his reading level varies be second and third grade levels.

For the first year I was in complete denial because I thought he was too intelligent. He has continued to go to school through the Intermediate School District.

I started reading about autism and observing the other kids in his classroom. He engages in may of the characteristics of autism. So I evenually excepted it. But he isn't as severe as some of the other kids.

During the 2006 - 2007 school year his teacher commented on his reading skills and tried to accommodate him. This last school year he was transfered to a different building within the Intermediate School District because of his age. This school doesn't want to be as willing to allow him to progress as his previous teacher did. In fact they said he needs to slow down.

Now that we are in the middle of summer vacation I been trying to read with him more every day. Instead of wanting to read the books he makes noises like "raa raa raa" until he get to phrase or a words he likes to say like "Ka-pow!" or "Good work!"

My daughter is a couple of years older than my son. She's in a regular classroom although she has been put into special education to help her with her reading and writing. She has been wanting to be homeschooled for a few years now. I been reading about it and researching the state laws about it because I didn't want to jump into it without knowing what I was getting myself into. However I'm starting to feel my son will progress better with homeschooling that going to the Intermediate School District.

[Rapunzll]

I agree that you should get a second opinion. Normally I would say sometimes the best therapist isn't the one who tells you what you want to hear, but if you are noticing that your child does understand things and the therapist says no, then talk to someone else who will be of more use to your son and your family in general.

Good luck.