Weekend Update

Abby had her IHCAN testing on Tuesday.  For those who don't know, that stands for Interior Health Child Assessment Network.  They were doing testing on Abby to determine if she had Autism Spectrum Disorder.

I was almost 100% positive that she didn't, but I wanted some kind of testing done because while she doesn't have any typical autism markers, she is behind a little.  I was a little stressed leading up to this appointment, and I didn't realize how much until after it was over.  Funny how that is.

I was worried, because while I didn't really want her to have a disorder, I knew that if she got a diagnosis, it would be easier to get her some funding.  Right now, because we are going through a private school, she hasn't been getting any speech therapy, which she definitely needs.  We're working on stuff at home, but the extra help would be wonderful.  So I was torn.

Abby did so well.  She didn't fuss about being separated from us, and she was polite and interacted with the doctors.  I was impressed with the doctors too.  They were friendly and not condescending at all.  They had obviously done this with so many parents, they were so excellent at explaining things so that we could understand, not too much medical terminology that only doctors know.

So she did not get diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, but she did get diagnosed with Mixed Receptive/Expressive Language Disorder.

I know, it's a mouthful!  Here's a link to a page where I really liked the description.

So that is my child.  I'm glad that we got a diagnosis of something because now we should be able to get her some speech therapy, hopefully.  I feel like we have something to work with and can move forward.  It was encouraging to hear things that we've known/noticed about her being seen by the doctors as well.  For me, it is like a confirmation that I'm not crazy.

On a completely unrelated note, Abby did something incredibly cute and funny yesterday.  I was in the master bedroom and she came in and told me that she was going to pray with God.  She was very excited about this.  I told her that was great and to let me know what He told her.  She said that she was going to pray upstairs in her room.  So up she went.  A few minutes later I heard Leigh head upstairs and she met Abby there and Abby excitedly told her that she had prayed to God for a baby brother!  and God was going to put him in the tummy (mine, I assume).  Then she came down and told me that.  What a cutie.