Last week, Violet met her teacher. She seems very nice and thrilled to meet Violet. Violet brought her art portfolio, so that helped to smooth over Violet's awkwarkness / shyness.
Every year, her class makes six field trips to our local museum of art, and works in their studio (something based on the exhibition they visited that day).
The class is small, only twelve students, so that is perfect. I hadn't realized how small her class would be, this is great news.
The teacher commisioned Violet to make artwork for the teacher meeting for the first day of school, and Violet happily spent some time making that the moment we came home.
And the best? Violet has locker 42! We were standing in the hallway, talking, and the teacher says 'Hmmm, now that you are entering school, you will need a locker. How would you like this one?', pointing to one. Violet and I looked at the locker, both noticed the number 42, looked at each other, and laughed. How much more perfect could it be?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Violet's Diagnosis: My Reaction
PPD NOS. It is such a vague diagnosis. Pervasive Development Disorder: Not Otherwise Specified = We really have no idea, but let's give it some nice multi syllable name. Although I strongly suspect we'll end up with Aspergers diagnosis in a few years, will do with PDD-NOS for now.
It was just a harder hit than I expected to see any type of official diagnosis. I knew something was off, but I also knew that it was just me imagining things. Of course it couldn't be real. I was hoping that it was just me holding a hammer and suddenly everything looking like a nail. I had one Aspergers kid already, I was just seeing things which weren't there. Totally choosing to disregard the genetic aspects of Aspergers. If I don't name it, it's not there. If I close my eyes, I cannot read the writing on the wall.
Having a diagnosis suddenly makes it real. I am mourning the loss of my 'typical girl' and the birth of the realization that she will have more challenges in life than I thought she would have. Than it's fair for her to have. I am sure many of you have gone through similar feelings with your kids. Or with your life.
Yes, I know she is the same girl, and I am the same mama, but it still was an adjustment for me. Something really is different about her. It is not only me and my friends, who see it, a professional does so too. Even if I damned well knew what was going on, it still wasn't true till the psychologist confirmed. Which in itself is an interesting realization, and maybe some day I'll look deeper into the life lesson hidden there.
Of course, having a diagnosis also means that she can get help now, which is why I pursued all this in the first place. It's a good thing, I am just working through my own stages of grief about it. I know when Zack got diagnosed, I was in denial stage for quite a long time before I reached acceptance. It will be much faster this time, as a familiar road, traveled before, and most likely to be traveled again with more of my kids.
It was just a harder hit than I expected to see any type of official diagnosis. I knew something was off, but I also knew that it was just me imagining things. Of course it couldn't be real. I was hoping that it was just me holding a hammer and suddenly everything looking like a nail. I had one Aspergers kid already, I was just seeing things which weren't there. Totally choosing to disregard the genetic aspects of Aspergers. If I don't name it, it's not there. If I close my eyes, I cannot read the writing on the wall.
Having a diagnosis suddenly makes it real. I am mourning the loss of my 'typical girl' and the birth of the realization that she will have more challenges in life than I thought she would have. Than it's fair for her to have. I am sure many of you have gone through similar feelings with your kids. Or with your life.
Yes, I know she is the same girl, and I am the same mama, but it still was an adjustment for me. Something really is different about her. It is not only me and my friends, who see it, a professional does so too. Even if I damned well knew what was going on, it still wasn't true till the psychologist confirmed. Which in itself is an interesting realization, and maybe some day I'll look deeper into the life lesson hidden there.
Of course, having a diagnosis also means that she can get help now, which is why I pursued all this in the first place. It's a good thing, I am just working through my own stages of grief about it. I know when Zack got diagnosed, I was in denial stage for quite a long time before I reached acceptance. It will be much faster this time, as a familiar road, traveled before, and most likely to be traveled again with more of my kids.
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