Not Autism?

Today progress reports came home and Froggy is still making great strides on her IEP. Granted, it wasn't as amazing a jump as the first nine weeks, but it was still progress. She should have those goals knocked out by the end of the year.

So yay!

The other thing that happened today was apparently the classroom had a visitor from the neurology department at USF spend some time with them. He asked Froggy what her name was and she said no, she wouldn't tell him. Her teacher laughed and said that Froggy was one of their autistic students. He looked at her teacher and informed her that my daughter is not autistic, that her response displayed higher brain function than that possessed by autistic children.

WHAT???

By that standard, Temple Grandin isn't autistic. By that standard, many, MANY other people well known to be on the spectrum aren't autistic. Since when does a child have to be "slow" in order to be autistic?

This guy also can't possibly see how much she has changed since she's been in that class. She still lacks an overall interest in people outsider her family, but her classroom people have become "family" to her. Most of the kids don't exist to her when she's not at school, except for her friend D (who is also autistic), but at least at school they matter to her.

She still has meltdowns when she gets agitated and her words fail her, but she's getting good enough at expressing herself (and we're getting good enough at understanding her) that usually we "get" what she means before we get to meltdown level.

We are constantly bombarded by milestones that she missed that are hitting one after the other now (I mentioned before that we finally hit the "no" phase, and she's starting to tell me she loves me in response to me saying it).

She is still very rigid in how she wants things done and when she wants things done, and being in school has helped with this since it offers a level of routine not available at home. No matter what shift her daddy is on, she still goes to school each day and comes home each day at the same time, and her school day plays out the same way. Her evenings may vary, but at least the daytime hours remain the same. That has helped more than that guy can see in on classroom assessment.

She still stims, but lately it seems like she only does it when she's happy or thinking. I kind of like it, actually. It's part of who she is and it lets me know where she is mentally without saying a word to her. She doesn't twirl as much, but she still jumps when she's excited or agitated. She does still "orbit" when she gets bored. Some guy sitting in a classroom for a little while seeing her constantly occupied can't possibly see the full scope of this behavior.

There's so much more but I'll stop there. The point I'm trying to make is that while I'm not hung up on her having a particular diagnosis, I find it faulty to walk into a classroom, ask a child her name, and then make an assessment based on her response. He didn't ask for input from her parents or from her teacher or spend a week observing her in many scenarios. He just made a snap decision.

I'm going to try to find out more about the situation, since it is third-hand information (my mom picked Froggy up from school today and spoke with Teacher), but I thought I'd go ahead and share.

What makes me nervous is this guy is from a neurology department that routinely examines and diagnoses children. How many kids has he written off before based on a moment just like that? Kids who need help and guidance just like Froggy, who are far more complex than a sarcastic response given to a total stranger.

Any thoughts or input? Please, feel free to chime in.