Outcome of Iowa City evaluation

Mike, Brycen and I visited the Child Psychiatry department at U of I Children's Hospital yesterday for a full evaluation by specialists that work with Autism. Brycen had individual evaluations completed by a speech clinician, resident physician, educational consultant, and psychologist with the overview completed by a Staff Child Psychiatrist. The diagnosis from the compilations of all of these evaluations was "Autistic Disorder with a likelihood of mental retardation." This was no surprise to us as he has already had the informal diagnosis of Autistic Disorder from Child Health Speciality Clinics in Fort Dodge. The "likelihood of mental retardation" stems from the fact they cannot given an accurate IQ test to a 3 yr old, but what they did determine is that his cognitive skills/development are behind those of the "typical" 3 yr old which then is "labeled" as MR. To us, this is just a label that will be re-evaluated in 2 years to get a more accurate diagnosis with his cognitive development. There was no question that his developmental skills are delayed, and he meets the criteria for "Autistic Disorder."
The combination of these two diagnosis will qualify him for the Intellectual Disabilities Waiver (formerly known as the Mental Retardation Waiver) which will provide Medicaid insurance for 1:1 therapy and further evaluations and appointments. He/we may also qualify for respite services as well as some other services that are available under the ID Waiver. The most important part is the Medicaid Insurance as our private insurance does not cover the majority of these services and will provide financial relief to us in the future for what he needs.
A written report will be provided within the next two weeks to us, his primary physician, AEA, and the school district with recommendations on the treatment plan specific to his needs. The U of I team has compared Brycen's communication skills to those of a 12-14 month old, which is comparable to where AEA rated him a few months ago. Though his fine and gross motor skills are similar to that of a 2 1/2 year old (how many 3 year olds can hit a ball pitched to them)!
If there is any other information in the written report that I feel is important for everybody to know, I will make sure to post it at the time we receive it. Otherwise, we don't feel medications can help with any of the symptoms he is showing at this time, as they rarely give medications to 3 year olds anyway. We were given permission to double the dose of Melatonin we were giving him each night so hopefully we will see a better sleep pattern from the higher dose. He will be starting 1:1 sessions with Kelsi (a student at BV) this week on Tues and Thurs from 3-4pm to help out with his communication skills and other pre-school skills. We are looking at requesting a change to his IEP to increase his 1:1 speech therapy from the school district after we receive the recommendations in the written report. Before looking into any additional therapy outside of school and Kelsi, we are going to wait and see how he progresses with these and re-assess in a couple months.
Brycen was a real trooper yesterday during all of these evaluations and meetings we had with the specialists! He adjusted well to the different people and obvious changes in his routine and not only showed us his strengths, but also the areas he needs help. He gave the specialists a clear picture of who he is on a daily basis, which helped them to give an accurate diagnosis, and he was able to "play" while doing so! Though I think he would have preferred to be at school!
He adjusted back to his new routine this morning of getting ready and going to school with no problems. He is our precious little boy that deserves all the love and help that we can give him! Thank you to everybody that has supported us this far and will continue to as we keep on our path to success with him!