A Tough Time

Yesterday was a very tough day for me. I have been getting the reports for Eden's evaluations all along, but there was one missing. The evaluator had called to apologize for it being so late and e-mailed it to me (with my permission). That way I could read it before the meeting. During the phone call she also explained to me that it would be hard to read the report because she has to point out Eden's weaknesses as well as some of her strengths. Boy, was she right.

Up until now, I have really grasped the fact that Eden was different. I knew she was a little behind, but seeing it on paper just took me by surprise. I also knew that her lashing out with her temper was not a good thing (and she has been doing it more often, as of late). Reading this report was the toughest thing I've had to do so far in this journey.

The report had lots of info, but this is the gist of it. Keeping in mind that this is basically a social developmental evaluation. Eden was 3 years and 3 months old at the time of the test. Most of the tests came out with scores which put her social development at under 2 years of age. her lowest score was for interpersonal relationships. and the only scores that were above 2 year of age were the ones of her understanding others, just not following directions. She seemed like she was in her own world sometimes.

They also gave me a checklist to fill out and the results were that Eden has a tendency for attention problems and aggressive behaviors. Also, there were significant indicators for PDD, attention deficit/hyperacivity, and oppositional/defiant problems. She also tested her for risk factors for PDD which was a CARS test (Childhood Autism Rating Scale) any score over 30 warrant a medical evaluation. Eden's score was 35.

This isn't anything that we didn't know. The reason it has been so hard to read, I'm not sure. It's getting more and more real as we go. Tomorrow is Eden's meeting with all of the evaluators. We will discuss what we think is best for her and what the next steps should be. I would love to get to a doctor to see if we can figure out if she will get medically diagnosed or not. She seems right on that edge. I just want the best for her and the sooner we get this done the easier life will get for us and for her as well. And this is all about her.