Aspergers.

My daughter officially has an Aspergers diagnosis. This is in addition to her already diagnosed learning disabilities and we still have to keep treating the inattention problem which, although no longer considered ADHD because part of autism is inability to focus, still has to be addressed.

This is why the long blog silence since my last post. I needed a few days to grieve really. Somehow hearing the words out loud and having forms that declare it officially is very hard. I know she is still the same kid as the day before the diagnosis and she is much more than the sum of her disabilities, plus now she has access to much more help than she did before. All that doesn’t mean I can’t be sad about it.

And now I’ve had my few days and I’m ready to get to work.

BTW: We haven’t told her the label yet, just that the experts have decided she needs more help.

So, now I get to negotiate a bureaucratic labyrinth to access the monies, support, and therapies that are now availble to her and to us as a family. Sing with me now:

Forms on white paper with fonts in Times Roman,

Clerks with loud voices whose mouths are a foamin’.

Money from min’stries, tied up with red strings.

These are a few of my least fav’rite things.

But do it we will, and this is my promise. I am going to do everything within my power to enable her to lose her diagnoses by the time she is 18. Because I think with our growing knowledge of the brain, that, that is entirely possible.

I would love to hear your shouts of love and support as we embark on this journey and please share any success stories you have. I need to find the things that work.