A New Stage Begins...

Well, maybe it's time to come back to the blogosphere.  It's been a while since we were here, and much has happened.  It may take a few posts to get us all up to date, so I'll just launch into the latest stage in Max's journey.

At the beginning of the year, aged 5, Max started school.  Up until about six months prior, we were still in two minds about whether we'd start school at five, or whether we'd wait a year and let him start at six.  In the end, though, we realised he needed the stimulus school would bring - socially and intellectually. He took to it very well indeed, and we knew it was the right call.  He enjoyed school, in all its aspects, and was left exhausted every day.

However, some things were not quite right.

In November 2011, we had Max assessed by the Children's Assessment Team at Flinders Medical Centre.  Basically, previous assessments (of which he's had several periodically over the years because of his prematurity) put up a few red flags with the therapists and they recommended we have a specialist assessment as they suspected all was not quite right.  This CAT assessement consisted of a number of tasks and checklists by a psychologist, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist.
This assessment concluded that while Max didn't quite "meet the criteria" for Asperger Syndrome, he was very close.  They suggested that we see how he went at school, and perhaps have a second, supplemental, assessment the following year if we felt things were getting more significant.

And they were, so we did. 

In conjunction with the school and Max's teacher, another evaluation (with an observation, more tasks and questioning) tookplace.  This time, it was clear that Max did "meet criteria", and was given a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome.

It's always odd when someone else points out something that you've already been aware of in your child.  Sometimes you smile and feel proud, other times you're ready to fight against their opinions.  We knew Max has "issues".  We love the way he is himself all the time - funny, smart, quirky - but we recognise that he does have different behaviours to his peers. While we don't want the 'label', we are pleased that with this diagnosis we are able to get help for him.  We have already had contact from Autism SA and will now begin the regimen of therapies that we hope will give him some tools for his future.

As a side note, at the time of this second assessment, I picked up (quite deliberately!) Kathy Lette's new book The Boy Who Fell to Earth. It was both an eye-opener and a comfort. And so the next stage of our journey begins...