Latest Diagnosis

[katiekat]

I got a copy of the summary from the psychiatrist. Here's what it says for the provisional diagnosis:
Mood disorder NOS-Very likely Bipolar Spectrum
Dysthymic Disorder
Anxiety Disorder NOS
ADHD
Possible Reactive Attachment Disorder of infancy
Possible Aspergers

Sounds about right to me. Although between the RAD and AS I would go with the Aspergers. One good thing is he sent a copy of it to the school and said he strongly urges them to do a complete CST evaluation, including a psychiatric eval.

[jj]

So he hasn't ruled out aspergers. I thought he had. Anyway, I think you are almost there knowing exactly what is going on with Sean. And there is a lot.

Since you are fairly happy with this report will you or will the psych continue to work with Sean? Are you still planning on a nueropsych as well, just to be sure and I think that would be a good idea.

I'm really glad you are getting somewhere.

[katiekat]

He did say to us that he did not think he had Aspergers. Maybe he spoke to the therapist? Since he no longer takes our insurance I am looking for someone else but in the meantime I will go to him for a med. check.
I am still going to fill out the paperwork and have Sean put on the waiting list.

[charliegirl]

It sounds to me like he couldn't rule it out completely in the time he had so he didn't dare say Sean didn't have it. I think you are smart to continue looking for someone who can do a complete evaluation on him and spend more than an hour or two with him total.

At least you have something official going to the school so they can't continue to pretend he doesn't have any issues and doesn't need the evaluations you have requested and been illegally denied.

I'm so glad you are finally getting some answers. Yahoo!

I just realized that everything he listed except the RAD is something you have considered in the past and is on your short list of possibilities. Good detective work Mom!

[lillian]

I think those dxs are bizarre, after only seeing the child for an hour. Sorry, I don't mean to be pessimistic, but those are a lot of labels to put on a little kid, and how can anyone tell all of that in such a short period of time? The good news is that he did not rule out Asperger's.

[charliegirl]

Remember the diagnosis is provisional. By making it provisional he was saying "From what I have observed and learned about him so far, I strongly suspect this is what is wrong but its impossible to make an accurate, firm diagnosis without follow up."

He recognized enough symptoms to come to the same hypothesis as KK has in her research, so she knows she was on the right track but he hadn't observed or tested enough to nail it down as the official diagnosis.

Then he stated that Sean needed further testing and a psych eval.

This should go a long way in getting the school to either do the testing they have been refusing or a paper trail to prove they didn't even attempt to follow IDEA law if she ends up filing for due process.

[lillian]

Charliegirl,

True, this should help with the school, and I'm very happy about that aspect of the dx. What bothers me is when six, seven, eight dxs are given, many of which can overlap. Maybe, by saying "provisional", what the doc is saying is that any of these are a possibility? I don't know, but I see this a lot with autistic kids. They have tons of dxs. They'll have like: PDD-NOS, Receptive/Expressive Language Disorder, Anxiety, OCD, Dyspraxia, ADHD. Well, doesn't PDD-NOS pretty much cover all the ones that follow?

Again, I don't know. I've had bad experiences with my son and psychiatrists, and I've been more than disappointed by most of my clients' psychiatrists and by my sister's psychiatrists, so I'm tainted. It took me five years to find a good psychiatrist for my son, and I don't think my sister has found one outside of the hospital, where they actually stayed around and observed their clients for an extended period of time, before making dxs and prescribing meds.

[carol]

My son's psychatrist observed my son for 4 hours on two differenct occasions. His initial feelings about Gage had changed after he observed him. After the parent interview and reading all the school reports he was potentially going to dx Gage with about 3 different disorders and place him on about 3 meds. We were frightened and overwhelmed. My husband has a good grasp on who Gage is and articulated this to the doctor. He advoated for Gage not to have all the dxs. After the doctor observed Gage, he conveyed that based on our reports which were all school related and the evals, he was expecting a far worse child. After observing Gage, he had a very different impression. Initially, we were upset with this doctor, but he ended up being Gage's biggest advocate in placing his problems in part at the mistreatment and negligence by the school in ignoring his dyslexia and frustration due to it. I think we just got lucky, but he gave Gage a dx of Adjustment Disorder providing him with a chance to improve his academics, emotional disturbance and behavior with the proper help. I am just relaying my experience in the hopes it will assist you on your journey with Sean. Just be careful. With proper help, Sean may religuish some of these dxs because his needs are being met.

[katiekat]

I do agree that a couple of these diagnoses could actually be symptoms of another but since they are not definite I guess he just included them all. Like the DX of depression is a symptom of BP and the DX of anxiety is a symptom of Aspergers. But since he is not 100% sure about anything at this point he wrote them all down. It's all a matter of opinion anyway. I am certain that he has ADHD and BP. Although there are many disorders with similar symptoms BP really has some distinct ones which Sean displays. Not to mention the overwhelming family history. I feel pretty certain about the Aspergers as well but definitely think we need an expert in that field to determine that.

[kellyh]

Well, for your sanity, I hope you find a great specialist SOON! And by the time he's actually dxd, you should go for your PhD!