Today we went for our first paediatrician appointment for DS2 since January. We haven't had one in our area for ages and the man we saw back then was a locum who'd been hauled out of retirement - not ideal! Anyway, we went loaded up with his picture symbols and favourite books (DS2 doesn't take kindly to being assessed and ignores anything unfamiliar.)Goddamit, I'd even worked out which songs I was going to sing (he communicates best through songs - makes great eye contact, fills in gaps, even asks for the ones he wants, whereas he's almost non-verbal otherwise).
Anyway, she talked to us for a while while DS2 played (kind of) with a nursery nurse and she watched him out of the corner of her eye. Then she suggested that we come back in two weeks to do the DISCO (Diagnostic Interview for Scial and Communication Disorders). It takes three hours and she only wants me and DH there, not DS2. She gave him a quick physical exam and that was it!
I have mixed feelings and want to know how you all would feel. On the one hand it was quite a relief not to have to go through the endless brick building and pointing tests that DS2 has done before. We have only just had the extensive BIBIC report done, which she had in front of her and had obviously read. She knows we are keen to get a diagnosis because we want to get as much help for him as we can. And we'd told her that he doesn't perform well in assessment conditions.
On the other hand I found it quite odd she didn't really look at him at all. She is being trained in the use of the DISCO (great name isn't it?) and says it's a good diagnostic tool for a child who is something of a mystery (!) We won't get the results until Jan, because she has to take them to London and consult with the autism experts she's training with. She didn't tell us where she was training, but I looked up the DISCO on the net and it's accredited by the NAS so must be OK. I can't help thinking that we may be helping her get her Phd or something!
Having said all this, I like her. She was kind and gentle with DS2 and she seems to know her stuff.
So have any of you heard of the DISCO? The non John Travolta kind? And what would your reaction be?
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Strange paed appointment
8 replies
sphil · 31/10/2005 21:51
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