Monday, May 7, 2007

Kyle's Doctor Appt.

Today Kyle had an appointment with Dr. Sierra in Kennewick, who originally diagnosed him with autism. She gave us the results from her CARS analysis, which tells us the severity to which he is autistic. It is a fairly simple analysis which asks a series of questions about the child and asks the reader to rate the child on a scale of 1-4, with increments of 0.5. Jana and I filled out the same report before we went to the appointment. Personally, I think parents, not physicians, should fill out the report. They know their children better than ANY doctor. The analysis mostly helps the parent know where to focus rehabilitation efforts. So Dr. Sierra gave Kyle a 36/60, which classifies him as moderately autistic. Jana and I both scored in the 40s when we filled it out separately. The higher the score, the more severe the diagnosis. But, like I said the score doesn't mean as much as the focus for treatment. 
 
Dr. Sierra told us some interesting things we didn't know about autistic children. They are exclusively visual learners. Verbal communication works only for commands, orders, and obedience, not learning. Kyle will literally look at the world around him and take everything in! That is how he processes information and makes conclusions. I will have to get very creative with teaching him the things he needs to learn.      
 
Secondly, Kyle takes everything literally. He can not separate make believe from reality. That does not mean he hallucinates or sees different things than we do, it just means he processes them differently. For example, if he sees mommy in the living room, he thinks mommy is in the living room (as you and I do). But, if he sees mommy on the TV, he will still think mommy is in the living room, even if she is not. It's really confusing and strange. No wonder he got really confused when he saw himself in my videos!! :)
 
I read today about a new study recently published which said that autistic kids can't tell the difference between frowns and smiles, and the meaning behind those emotions. That correlates with what Dr. Sierra said today about autistic kids not understanding emotions.
One thing she did say, which relieved me is that autistic kids love and obey rules!! Once they learn the rules, they absolutely obey them. It becomes part of their routine. And they love routines. Autistic kids who see other kids on the playground breaking the rules tend to "tattle" because they see a violation of the rules, not another person with their own personality. A great example of rules: Kyle knows he can not run into the road at MY house. He will frighten us as he runs towards the road but then makes a sharp turn to the right or the left and runs down the sidewalk. But, he knows the rule and I haven't seen him do it in a LONG time. BUT BUT BUT, Kyle WILL run into the road at Gramma's house. Why? I think it's because it's a new environment, so new rules. He hasn't established that that road is off limits too. I love digging into his little head. :) It helps me understand him better, which will only help us train him to be a good little boy.
 
That's all for now...
--
~Nate.

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