Diagnosis...

... still unknown! Surprise, surprise, the doc says my daughter is such a complex kiddo that it's hard to pin her down! She fits portions of 4 different things, the primary one being the Sensory Processing Dysfunction. She also has characteristics of some OCD, some ADHD and some Aspergers. But she doesn't completely fit into any of those categories! So, what he wants to do for now is continue with the plan for Occupational Therapy and see how things go once we get the sensory stuff more under control. The theory being that if you remove the SPD from the equation, it will be easier to figure out what is causing the other problems. Because he is still convinced there is something else going on in addition to the SPD. He's just not willing to "put her in a box" without being totally confident with his diagnosis.

The leading contender right now is what he called "a complex form of Aspergers," but since that generally requires medication to treat, he wants to be certain before we go down that path. As long as we are willing to be patient, he wants to continue evaluating her. Patience is not my strong suit, but in this case I will do all I can because I want what is best for my daughter. If she needs medication down the road, then fine, but we don't want to jump the gun. I personally find it reassuring that this doctor wants to be absolutely certain before labeling my daughter for life, and that he agrees with us that medication should be avoided if at all possible.

So, that's where we are. Still waiting on the referral for OT, going back to see the doc in 2 weeks, and in the meantime I get to try to analyze my daughters relationships. As in, what are the triggers to her often thinking her friends are mad at her and don't want to play with her. Thus far it seems that all the other kids play like normal kids, but Isabelle has trouble inserting herself into the group. She does okay with one on one, but with a group it's like she doesn't know how to interact. Unless they are actively trying to include her, she takes it as that they don't want her to play. It's kind of hard to explain. But I guess an example would be the last time we were all at my neighbor's house - kids from age 1 through 7, and Isabelle kept coming into the kitchen, climbing on my lap, and telling me that no one wants to play with her. I'd tell her to just go join in, shortly thereafter she would be back telling me the same thing again. A couple of times I went and helped her get in with the group by asking the other kids what they were doing then suggesting a way for Isabelle to join. Shortly thereafter, she'd be back upstairs pouting again. When I'd go down it looked to me like everyone was playing together fine. She often seems to have trouble fitting in with the group, but I can't really pinpoint the problem.

Anyways, this got to be a lot longer than I intended! I basically wanted to say that we're really not much further than we were 6 weeks ago! I guess it is kind of nice to have an expert confirm what we've always known - our little girl is one tough cookie!