My daughter, 7, is just about to start the ASCA process, and I'm feeling completely overwhelmed. Long story short, about 6 months ago, I took my daughter to a pediatrician appointment for seizures she had been having since she was a baby, the dr asked me how everything else was, and before I knew it I had blurted out all my concerns out about my daughters behaviour.
At first it felt like a relief getting it off my chest, but then the dr started asking her lots of questions, and she wouldn't look at him, would refuse to answer any questions that made her look bad (like "why do you hit your dog?" etc) and after speaking to her for 30 minutes, he said he was referring her for a psychiatric evaluation. I had no idea what for at the time, as I had never really spoken about her behaviour to anyone except my husband and her teacher, and the dr only said something wasn't quite 'right', and he didn't want to second guess a diagnosis.
A couple of months later I got another appointment with her dr, and he told me that after sending a questionaire to the school, the psych hospital had declined to see her, even though he showed me the school report which detailed all the issues I had said about. And that to get a referral we needed 2 professionals and a parent agreeing. So he contacted the school and they agreed to be the other professional. I only found out what she was being assessed for when the letter came explaining the ASCA process to us.
This letter came 2 weeks ago, and since then I have been reading a lot about ASD and seen so many stories that sound like my baby (ok she's 7 but she's still my baby..lol) I've done a lot of crying lately, some happy because she's NOT just being naughty, some because I'm not alone, and some because.. Well.. There's just so much going on. Even just taking her shopping with me can be troublesome.. Not to me, but the comments and stares I get when she goes into a meltdown.
I have no idea what to expect from all the meetings we've got coming up, and I'm trying to explain to her, but how can I when I have no idea myself? She needs to be told all the details before she goes... down to how we're going to get there, the names of the people she will see etc. She has her first meeting on 31st july, and I'm dreading it. Not the meeting itself, but the fact that it's in a community clinic which she has had bad experiences in. (There's a dentist in the building too, and the last time she went there was for a filling, we'd prepared her for it, but then the dentist decided at the last minute to pull her tooth out, and she wigged out completely, and refused to go back, so I have to take her to a new dentist further away now). She already doesn't want to go because she knows what bulding it is... UGH I'm rambling now.
