D-Day

(Re: June 30, 2010)

D-Day is how I refer to the day Liam was given a shiny name for his issues.  We loved the neurologist that we chose because she had the earliest appointment.  Liam loved her, and I truly think he knows about people, even if he can’t always show it.  We all talked for a long while, and she watched Liam be Liam.  She kept saying “these kiddos”.  I finally asked her what she was going to do, diagnosis-wise.  She rattled off several official and scary sounding disorders and explained what they all meant.  I asked if they were on the spectrum.  She said that they weren’t technically on the spectrum, but that there was definitely plenty there to put him there.  She said that she doesn’t like to simply give one of the spectrum diagnoses because they encompass SO MUCH.  She said all of the other big words she gave him and more descriptive of Liam specifically.  She said its not about the diagnosis, its about what will help Liam.  She then recommended and prescribed ABA therapy.  I told her that I had been researching and I knew that without a diagnosis on the spectrum, we didn’t have a shot in hell of paying for ABA therapy.  So, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) it is.