Autism Testing Round 1 and Other News

Finally, after waiting for 4 months, we were able to get Cora in today for the first part of her autism testing. Well, the appointment was actually for last week, and after a huge mixup her appointment was canceled. Long story short, they offered to put her back on the waiting list for the testing, and that just wasn't going to work for us, so Ben and I found some people with decision making power and got Cora in for today. Thank goodness. Not only do I think I would have gone crazy having to wait again for Cora's testing, we really need to get it done as soon as possible so we can expand Cora's services and get her into the classes that are vital for early intervention.

So today was the first half of the test. Basically they just had a bunch of structured and unstructed play time just to get a feel for Cora. They taped the whole sessions, but Cora didn't seemed to mind the camera. She did great. She played just like normal, which I was glad because sometimes she likes to put on a show for strangers. She only had a few small trantrums, but I am glad she did because they need to see what I'm dealing with on a daily basis. Luckily for them, they got the very mild tantrum. I go back in for part 2 of Cora's testing on Thursday. For that session, they sit down and grill me with questions for 2 hours. That should be interesting. Needless to say, we don't have a diagnosis yet. I am hoping we have a definitive answer by the end of the week. Who knows? I am not doubting that she has autism, I am just anxious for her to get the help she needs and curious as to where she falls on the "spectrum". They did however tell me this much, Cora is smart. Very Smart. Ha, tell me something I don't know. You can't fool that girl. She has this weird way of taking everything in. I mean details, details, details. She acts like she is not watching, but she always seems to find where I hid the "no nos". She watches as I make things work, then she makes them work herself. She's amazing.

The thing with autism that I am having the hardest time with is that it doesn't present itself until your baby is a little older. I mean up until Cora was about 20 months, we thought she was perfectly normal developmentally speaking. Up until that point she had hit or even exceeded every developmental milestone (which is impressive given that she was a premie). The all of the sudden someone suggests that our perfect baby isn't perfect. Luckily for us, we still think Cora is perfect. She is improving and learning everyday, we will just have to change how we teach her and help her develop. Thankfully we live in a time where autism reasearch is expanding and that we have access to early intervention that will most likely help Cora to be "mainstreamed" by the time she gets into school.