|
They
always look so sweet and innocent when they are asleep |
Doubting Convictions
Even though we had been convinced that our son was just a normal
little boy who was very active and a little slow at learning some
skills, we also knew how difficult it was for us to cope. We finally
decided to go and speak to a Christian counselor. The decision was made
with support of our pastor and after we discovered that we would not owe
any out-of-pocket expenses (only what the insurance would pay). The
appointment was made and we worried for the entire two weeks we had to
wait.
The visit did help us to realize that we were not going crazy.
Unfortunately it did not help our situation very much because the
counselor did not know very much about ADHD (which we thought might be
the problem). The session also caused some problems because the
counselor spoke to us in front of our son the entire time. After the
session Ashton felt that he was a "bad" boy and we had a
difficult time explaining to our then four-year old that the things the
counselor discussed did not make him a "bad" boy. |
| The counselor did suggest that we
seek professional help from a Psychologist that was trained to deal with
ADHD patients. Because this person was 45-minutes away from us, we
decided to talk to Ashton's pediatrician first at his 5-year check-up.
The wait for that appointment was excruciating.
After the appointment with his pediatrician, she recommended that we
have him tested by a Psychologist in our town. So we made an
appointment--after checking on our insurance and costs. We soon
discovered that the testing would cost us around $500 out-of-pocket that
would not count towards Ashton's deductible. The actual office visits
were paid for by the insurance at 100% for 5 visits. We decided that we
would find the money somewhere--and we did. |
That
was one long walk |
|
We
knew better than to wake a sleeping baby--even if his coat, shoes and
sweats were still on him |
At the first visit with the
Psychologist, we explained our concerns. We even told her that we were
afraid that maybe we were just terrible parents or that Ashton may just
be too smart for us. She responded that we both appeared to be
intelligent, so she didn't think he had the upper hand,
yet.
After the first testing session, she came out and asked Wendy to look
on the internet for anything she could find o Asperger Syndrome and
write a summary of things that Ashton has done in the past that are
similar to the traits for Asperger Syndrome. After looking up
information on the internet, we began to cry. Everything sounded so
terrible and hopeless. And worse, everything sounded like Ashton. |
