Occupational Therapy Evaluation

The OT evaluation was today. We arrived about 15 minutes early so we could make sure they had copies of our insurance card and everything was good to go. That's when we find out that the OT we were supposed to see went home sick about 2 hours earlier and they were supposed to cancel our appointment. I was so disappointed, I didn't want to have to reschedule and wait. Thankfully another OT was able to see us, but our wait was another half hour. The big kids had brought books to read, and I had my phone that Brooklyn could play on (Bella had spent the night with Papa the night before). We opted to wait.

So the OT, Matt, called us back and we went into a room. He got out a couple toys for Brooklyn and we started the interview part of the evaluation. We went through Brooklyn's history of behavior modification therapy, medications, diagnosis of ADHD, ODD, and Mood Disorder-NOS. I explained how I didn't think ODD fit, as Brooklyn is not outright defiant, and that I didn't know anything about Mood Disorder-NOS. He was super great. He tried to engage Brooklyn in conversation a few times, but she was having none of that.

Matt had given her a peg board with rubber bands to play with, it also had a stack of papers with patterns on them that you could make on the peg board with the rubber bands. Brooklyn was able to re-create each one, Matt was very impressed with her intelligence. At one point he asked if it was possible for Brooklyn to skip Kindergarten and go straight into 1st grade this year (he's actually the third professional to ask that). After he finished his paperwork he gave me a sensory questionnaire to fill out and he took us back to the "swing room". Brooklyn was SO excited to go to the swing room.

Brooklyn got to bounce and swing on the "frog swing" and them play on the "moon swing". She liked the frog swing better and went back to that one. Matt noticed that Brooklyn doesn't seem to show signs of getting dizzy or having any type of nausea develop after all the swinging. That was the end of our hour and he said that he thinks it would be best if he saw Brooklyn 1-2 times a month. He doesn't think an IEP is necessary as Brooklyn doesn't have special education needs. He said if the teacher and school are willing to listen to and accept his suggestions in the classroom for Brooklyn that she should be fine. If they don't, then we may need to push the IEP issue, but he doesn't want her to be labeled with an IEP if it's not necessary.

He still has to score her sensory questionnaire and then put everything together in a report for the insurance company (to approve the ongoing therapy) and for me so that I can have a copy of it. I plan to give a copy of it to her school as well. We talked a bit about Brooklyn skipping Kindergarten and he agrees that if they're just going to give Brooklyn 1st grade work in the Kindergarten classroom that they should just allow her to go up to 1st grade. So, that will definitely be a conversations we'll be having with the school.

All in all it was a good evaluation, and I think he's a good fit for Brooklyn. I'm exhausted after a very long day. I'm sure tomorrow I'll remember details that I have forgotten to add.

But, for now, we're just waiting. Next Monday we'll meet Brooklyn's new behavior modification therapist. On the 23rd we go on our mini stay-cation. It should be fun!

Update :)

So, I have been slacking on the blogging front. Things have just been crazy busy with our extended family; heart attack, cancer, and surgery just to name a few. Plus, I had a photo shoot this last week and I am STILL working on getting the edits done (I hoping to have them finished by tomorrow). The ones so far up on my facebook page are pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Feel free to go check them out: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Morgan-Mine-Photography/247378448606980

OK, onto Miss Brooklyn. She has weekly therapy on Mondays. She's starting to warm up to her therapist and even spoke TO her last week. But, Bella and Aiden came with us to therapy that week so I'm wondering if that made her more comfortable. Next week they're going to hang out with Grandma while we go to therapy, so we'll see if it was a fluke or not. She did really well in therapy last week though; both the therapist and I were impressed.

We FINALLY got an OT referral! Do you have ANY idea what goes into scheduling an OT evaluation? I had NO idea there were so many hoops to jump through. I called our insurance and got everything approved for the evaluation, found a therapy center I liked (and that was fairly close) and called to schedule an evaluation. Apparently before we can even schedule the evaluation Joe and I have to fill out a packet of information and return it and the therapy center needs to speak with both our pediatrician AND the behavior modification therapist. THEN we can schedule the evaluation. I was hoping we could get it scheduled soon; and now I'm just praying we can get the initial evaluation done before school starts in September.

Guess what the basis of the referral is? SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER! Which, I would like to point out, is the first thing I went to our pediatrician about in November 2010! This mommy is not some crazy lady trying to get any diagnosis I can. Trust me, I've known someone like that (side note: I'm about 95% SURE that this crazy lady I spoke of used Brooklyn's symptoms to get a diagnosis for HER child, but, that's another story all together).

The therapist noticed that Brooklyn rarely sits in a chair correctly, and that about half the time she was hanging upside down in her chair. Brooklyn hit her head several times on a large doll house, Brooklyn says she didn't notice it. That coupled with what we've seen: the constant spinning, the use of her mouth as a pocket for holding random things (mostly coins and beads), the touching of everything, etc the therapist asked if Brooklyn had ever had an OT evaluation. My response was no, her pediatrician just sent us to behavior modification therapy the first time in November 2010 and I've been butting heads with him since. She said that she'd like Brooklyn to get an OT evaluation to either diagnose or rule out Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). I was DUMBFOUNDED! The original questions/complaints to our pediatrician over a year and a half ago were for SPD and sensory issues!

So, now we wait. I should have the packet in the mail from the therapy center either today or Monday. The behavior modification therapist has already said that she'd do whatever necessary to help with getting the OT evaluation scheduled. I'm super hopeful that this will happen soon.

This battle for me isn't about getting a diagnosis of something or other. This is about helping Brooklyn function in social settings and to help her reach her full potential in life. If all she needs is a bit of help here and there right now to give her the building blocks she needs for later, I'm 100% happy with that.

Hopefully the next time I post I'll be able to say that the OT evaluation has been scheduled!