Austin's Diagnoses

It's been awhile. I have just been playing the waiting game. We saw the Dr. today to discuss what Austin may have. First she said he was very bright. On the cognitive testing he scored a 126. Apparently the average person scores between a 105-109. Above average is 110-114 Highly Intellegent is 115-120 and Superior is anything above that. That is how she worded it, Superior intellegence.

If you were to look at the stats Austin is 96% in the country which means only 4% of children his age have scored on the same level or higher than him.

She said that alone causes a lot of his conflicts but there are also concerns with his anxiety, some signs of depression and he is not Asperger's but still autistic.

She said she is diagnosing him with PDD which stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder. It is a form of autism but higher functioning than those with Asperger's. I am relieved to know that this is actually something and that with time and the proper cognitive therapy and support Austin may be able to lead a normal life. I am doing my googling of PDD now but I wanted to update you that we have an official diagnoses.

I am not sure if we qualify for SSI benefits to get Austin on Medicaid which is something I am looking into. I am so worried about the cost of treatment. Just for 3 sessions at Children's Hospital - our health insurance billed us 30% of the cost of the bill and we owe over $1100.00!!! I can't believe the cost of healthcare these days. This means they charged over $3300.00 for 3 visits... So I am trying to look into if this would qualify him for benefits so we can't stress over the cost to treat him. There is a waiting list for a psychiatrist to become available at Children's so we are going to put him on that list and pray we can get help with the cost to properly help him.

I'll post more when I get more details. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!