Waisman Center Part 2

Almost a year later, Aiden was finally reassessed at the Waisman Center today....

I observed as the psychologist assessed Aiden for 2 hours today.  Aiden surprised even me!  He has made more progress in the past year than I realized, and I was SO proud of him!  The labeling criteria in the United States (not Europe) is changing.  There will no longer be labels such as PDD or Asberger's.  The label for all people on the spectrum will be ASD--autism spectrum disorder.  This is because practitioners can vary in their assessments so greatly.  To me, autism is autism no matter how you label it.  We know that Aiden is mild.  In fact, I watched as a little boy (maybe a year younger than Aiden) lost control in front of us, and I thought about how blessed we truly were.  How different our lives would be if Aiden wasn't going to have some sort of functional capacity, or failed to make great strides in his development.  I would dedicate my life to making Aiden's life a quality one if he struggled more than he does, and there definitely would be no more children in our family.  My heart went out to that father.  

Aiden was assessed at a 3-3 1/2 year old level for cognition and fine motor skills (he just turned 4).  His speech however, is at a 2 1/2 year old level.  I expected that.  The prognosis for someone with Aiden's level of function is very good.  In fact, children like Aiden are usually those that do the best in Behavioral Therapy.  This is what we were told today.  So, now the only thing we can do is wait for the Waiver Program to go through.  It will take another year for that, but given Aiden's success and progress with Early Childhood alone (and a lot of love and support from us), I'm confident Aiden will continue to make great strides without intensive therapy.  I only wish for more help with potty training!  Who knows, by some miracle he could decide to talk on his own one day, and potty train soon after!  I KNOW the words are in there!