I've had quite a few people ask details about Ethan's diagnosis, so I thought I'd write about the process we've been through. When Ethan was 3, we got him into Provo School District's preschool for kids with special needs. He had delayed speech. When they tested him, they mentioned that he had a few little autistic tendencies. After his first year of school, the teacher mentioned to me that she thought he had High Functioning Autism or Aspberger's. This was mentioned again in his IEP with the school director and therapists that worked with him. Well, it turns out that DIAGNOSING Autism is a GINORMOUS pain and expense. No insurance covers the testing, or the treatment of Autism. In all of our research, every place we called charged $2000-$2500 just for the Dx. So we've been waiting and saving our pennies. In the meantime, Ethan's aggression & other issues have become a unmanageable. It's affecting home, school, and church. We were feeling a bit overwhelmed. After talking to a friend about our frustrations, he told us that BYU has a program that tests kids and that it's only $750...but the wait is about a year and a half. However, he knew people and was able to get us in quickly. The testing was interesting. We filled out a couple questionnaires online before the meeting. They took Ethan into a room for about 45 minutes and did some activities and testing with him. then he came out and I went in to answer questions and scenarios for a good hour. Darrin did a lot of waiting with Ethan. He had one more test and we were able to go. Two weeks later, Darrin and I went in for the results. He has been diagnosed with ADHD and ODD, or Oppositional Defiant Disorder...in other words, he is very aggressive and quick to anger/fits/meltdowns. Not only is he ADHD, but he is SEVERE ADHD. We met with the psychologists for an hour and covered treatment ideas and recommendations. While he does have a few autistic quirks like his sensory issues and rigidity, they feel he is far too social & therefore, not on that spectrum. So...we are finally headed in the right direction. It's nice to have a Dx and start the process of figuring out what to do for our little dude. It's going to be a long road trying to get medication dosages just right and doing a lot of behavior modification, but we feel blessed to have answers and to be on the right track.
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