Raising little Westies, and life as parent of a special needs son
On Sunday I mentioned how we were ready to go to PECAT today. And what a full day it was!
Started out OK but chaotic. By the time we had the other two ready for school, Mum, Dad and child ready to go to PECAT, we were already a little bit behind schedule. So we didn’t really need to go out of our way to put Kate’s suggestion into play: we already had a certain individual rattling off the names of a range of Bob the Builder machinery, along with the suggestion to “GO SLEEP!!” from time to time as we went along.
By the time we were parked at Parramatta Westfields we had 6 minutes to do what we thought was a 10 minute walk. Which turned out to be a 15 minute walk because PECAT is at the opposite end of one of the longer streets in Parramatta than we had thought it to be, and the street names down there don’t make much sense.
We weren’t terribly late when we got in there. But they were ready for us.
Strangely they started the session by talking to mum and dad, but they kept taking notes about what our little boy was up to and totally going off the track of their interview to ask about what he was doing at that moment and if he’s always like that, or something fitting in the situation.
Then BTB Fan and myself went into a room to do some play-based activities. He did a pretty fair job of some puzzles, then lost all interest when we got to language – even with things that mum & I know that he knows (he knows what a cup and spoon are for crying out loud!!). But to be fair – it was 11 o’clock and he was damn well hungry! After how many years at university these people assess a 5 yo boy who hasn’t had his recess yet?
Final outcome: Psych and Paediatrician have a bit of a pow-wow and come back with a stunning set of revelations:
BTB Fan is autistic, is recommended for an Autism support class, and we should get him tested for Fragile X Syndrome.
Bec said that it was all she could do to hold back “well, DURR!!!” at the news.
In all, the whole thing took from the time we dropped off two kids at school, until it was time to pick them up again. Hopefully this is what Dept Education needs to give BTB Fan what he needs.
Reproduced from the now-closed autism united ning website
appologies in advance for broken links
ImaWestie 