An update...

Well I spend so much time spouting off about 'serious' issues that I'm not talking much about 'us' these days. Though I guess we are quiet serious.
I think it's because I am unsure where the line is on what is too personal to put out there in blog land?
Or perhaps because I don't want to sit down and think about it all?
Or is it that if I put here, it becomes permanent, therefore real...and not something that I just think about or discuss in hushed whispers.

Here's a recap version, it will still probably be really long but I promise, it's actually the 'quick' version. Back in April, Aiden's ped recommended a neurological assessment. For those that don't know, Aiden has had Early Intervention, Speech Therapy and inclusion preschool...so we've covered our basis for the most part. We contacted Hasbro and Children's Hospital. Hasbro said "No." Period. They don't take our insurance and won't see us. Children's said "Okay, we don't take your insurance, we will still see you, please expect to pay $3,000 upon walking in the door and oh yeah, there is a 19 month waiting list." Around this time we also had Aiden's second TEAM meeting, which is the one that qualified him for preschool. I asked what they felt about the neurological assessment. This was in a meeting with the head of the Early Learning Center, the woman who gave his educational assessment (later to become his teacher), the Occupational Therapist, and two of his Speech Therapists. They said, they felt that with the addition of Preschool to his IEP that it was enough and we didn't really 'need' the neurological assessment. Sweet...works for me. Honestly, in the back of my mind I think I knew that it shouldn't be that easy, but I didn't need someone to tell me twice, and well I was wrong for that.
Fast forward to last month. Aiden had a private assessment with a local Speech and Language Center and of course qualified for more services (two sessions a week for 45 minutes per session of one on one speech w/ the therapist there). This is on top of the one on one session he receives once a week at school. The therapist asked if we had had a neurological assessment for him. I went through the tale told above. He said he noticed some 'markers' (this was after I told him about Aiden being on a GF diet because it helps his behavior) and said that he encourages it, because if we do get an 'official diagnosis' than he will be able to qualify for more services.
Aiden is very intelligent, we all know that. But he is very scripted and memorized and unable to comprehend part of a sentence/direction and tries to answer/respond as best he can w/ limited info, he has an unusual intonation pattern and doesn't know how to respond to new situations, he also has echolalia and some phonological errors...anyhow...all this is okay when you have to list your colors, numbers, shapes (planets, presidents, national landmarks) but when there is a direction such as 'circle the tree above the line' only parts of that are heard/understood. So he would either circle the line or circle a tree, not necessarily the one asked. Mr. Aiden is also a bit of a perfectionist. Ask him if he wants you to draw a picture for him, sure. Here are examples from two particular occasions - First occasion - he requested Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night. I'm not joking. Second occasion - requested a picture of the Great Sphinx. He gets upset if they don't look like them. He wanted to draw Starry Night and got VERY upset that it wasn't coming out right. OK, you are four dude...you aren't going to recreate VanGogh the first time you try...sorry. I don't think anyone could! He wanted to play Piano when we were on vacation and we said, sure let's show you how to play a song - no, I don't want to play Mary Had a Little Lamb - I want Beethoven, like this - And he starts humming Beethoven. Forget it when it comes to writing. We are trying to get him to write his name, he'll have no part of it...he tries a few times and then gets so upset that his A looks more like a Mountain than an A that he refuses to continue. I told him it was okay, it doesn't have to be perfect, we are just practicing, nope...nothing is working. He is in the third week of school and now waking up refusing to go...because he is facing challenges that he can't complete. Or at least can't complete perfectly. He is four. My happy boy is turning into someone who is using avoidance rather than the face possibility of failure, this is not the school career that I want for him.
He is actually home today from school, he has an ear infection. We went to the ped earlier this morning and will have a script for him in a bit.
Conor is being Conor and we will be headed Early Intervention soon, we still aren't talking.
Oh and I did finally fill out all the paperwork to get Aiden into Children's Hospital for his neurological assessment, this is the paperwork I had to gather to send in with it:

-Early Intervention
Developmental Profile 10/19/06
Developmental Profile Update 06/07/07

- Public Schools
TEAM Meeting Summary 12/04/07
Special Education Eligibility Determination 11/29/07
IEP 11/29/07
Speech and Language Assessment 11/26/07
Progress Report 03/10/08
TEAM Meeting Summary 4/15/08
Occupational Therapy Evaluation 3/28/08
Educational Assessment 3/24/08
Speech and Language Update 4/03/08
IEP 4/12/08
Progress Report 08/04/08

– Speech, Hearing and Language Center
Initial Speech and Language Evaluation 9/12/08

Thankfully, when Aiden started Early Intervention I decided to keep a binder with all of his formal assessments so I had all the info handy. I'm going to do that with Conor too, just in case. We also had paperwork that the school had to fill out and send in - so I believe four of his teachers met and finished all of that.

It's a lot of work.
It's frustrating.
It's depressing.
It's necessary.
It's going to be okay.