We had our conference with the experts from ECSEC today. I'll just come out and say the bottom line, which is that they believe he actually fits a diagnosis of High Functioning Autism more than he does Asperger's. The basic reasoning for this is that there is more diagnostic criteria for HFA than Asperger's. He meets all the criteria for both and since there is more criteria for HFA that tips the scale in it's favor. They said as he grows up it may end up looking more like Asperger's. I think that is because there is maybe the possibility of outgrowing some of the autistic tendencies. Or at least he has the chance of self managing them so well that they won't be as significant as they are now.

They were very encouraging in their belief that we are doing everything right for him right now. They call all the little things we do modifications. Like making getting ready a game (step 1....step 2.....), or giving him warnings when it's time to shift his focus. We asked about our struggles with discipline and the autism specialist offered to meet with us to talk about that at another time. Today's meeting was really to get the results of their evaluations and make an education plan so we didn't get to do much advice seeking. They were also really impressed with Jonah's preschool teacher. I'm so thankful that we picked that school, especially since she will be his teacher next year too.

I don't have all the reports but from what I do have and from my memory I'll try to run through what they said were his strengths and weaknesses. He scored below average on most of the tests they conducted. It was explained to us though that in a testing situation they cannot use any modifications to help him answer, so it was either he answered or didn't. It doesn't necessarily represent a below average intelligence, only his ability to process and communicate. The psychologist said she had some concern about his information processing ability, but it wasn't clear if there was an actual further problem or if it was some of the other things getting in the way. She said he takes everything very literally and that could be part of the problem. She said he will probably have problems with details such as different shades of different colors. To him it's blue, whether its navy blue or sky blue or periwinkle. That was just the explanation she gave us. We noticed that was true to as we've been teaching him sign language. Josh taught him the alphabet first so when he tried to show him "you" Jonah said no it's this (this sign for the letter u). She said that most of his responses to people were learned, like when he says thank you or your welcome. He knows the right thing to say, but not why. We agree with this.

They observed that he would vebally coach himself through their exchanges. They said his expressive language performance was better than his receptive language abilities. I'm not sure what that means. Also pragmatic language skills are a challenge for him. The speech therapist said that she has no concerns. She said his inflection was exagerrated and hypermelodic but that the quality was within the normal range.

The education plan is redone each year so we only addressed this next year. They feel that he is doing very well in his preschool and don't recommend changing that. He (we) will also have 20 minutes a month of support from one of the special ed preschool teachers. Basically to keep on top of his (and ours) needs. I think that happens at school. He'll also get 10 minutes a month of support from the occupational therapist. We set some goals for the next year. I don't remember now all that we said for those. I know we did say we'd like to work on abstract concepts and conversational skills. Also the finger sucking and belly button rubbing. They said for that we will have to help him learn to replace the behavior with another. I think we're going to try either silly putty or a smooth rock like a worry stone. The speech therapist said if it an oral need that we should try chewing gum or hard candy, which I'm sure you all know how I feel about that, I hate gum. There were more things too. They said they were good goals, and the autism specialist said they were big and that we could be working on them for the next few years, but still the right ones to start with.

It's all a little overwhelming to process. We did find out that the support group is really good. The autism specialist said he spoke at it last month and there were 25 families represented. I'm looking forward to that. Well I've been typing for over an hour and Jonah is asking to go outside so that's all for now.