2 Hours of Champagne

This afternoon I went over Jared's test results with Dr. Champagne. As you can imagine, it took a while. There were so many comprehensive tests and I felt like I was listening to a foreign language. Thankfully, she had everything written out.

As usual, I don't know where to begin. It will probably take a few blog entries to go over everything we talked about. First of all, I'm more than confident with Dr. Champagne's credentials. My goodness! Talk about going over and beyond. Her "full educational report" will be in our files forever. In fact, I have to send one to his pediatrician because (guess what?) he gets disability benefits! Who knew? Apparently, his doctor having this legal report will qualify him under Section 504. The report MUST be filed before the child turns 7 and then he qualifies for various benefits (i.e. longer time to take SAT/ACT, priority registration for college courses, book/computer assistance, note-takers, etc.) If he were to attend a public school, Dr. C. said this report is "ammo" to insist he get intervention.

Guess what else I learned? Auditory Processing Disorder is not listed in the medical journal's list of disabilities! Wow! That answered a ton of questions!! It has to "fall under" another disability. So, which disabilities did she pick? This is the interesting part. She pulled out the medical journal and ran through the list with me to see what I thought. The first disability she chose was ADHD, because you can find some of Jared's symptoms in the definition. He has distractions, failure to complete tasks, not following details, etc. You know, all those things that APD causes! Oh, how I wish it was merely hyperactivity and inattention. I wish I could help it with diet and medication!

The other disability she listed was "Developmental Coordination Disorder." I laughed when I researched that on the net! It's called "clumsy syndrome" or something like that. In other words, it sounds NOTHING like my athletic son. However, it has to do with motor skills and his fine motor (neuro) is not doing it's job. Therefore, that is Jared's diagnosis.

I'm going to stop here because I want to reitterate what I learned today. If your child has ADHD or another disability and you receive a formal report before age 7, he/she qualifies for benefits. I know lots of kids with ADHD and I know their parents don't know this information. Spread the word!

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding. Proverbs 3:13 (NIV)