"THE APPOINTMENT"

The day that we've waited a year for finally came yesterday!! Alizah had been showing me a few "red flags" as far as her development/behavior, etc. was concerned for the last few years. I became concerned over time and had her referred last year to a developmental pediatrician in Spokane that specializes in childhood anxiety. There's of course no way for me to list all of the things that I was concerned about. Most people that interact with know that she is a "special spirit" to say the least and she has a few quirks that are just Lizah. Anyway, me being the educator mixed in with a little parent paranoia/concern took her to the appointment. The EXCELLENT doctor spent over 2 hours with us listening to me describe her behavior, expressing my concerns, and observing her. The doctor diagnosed Alizah with all the anxiety disorders like social anxiety and we are watching the OCD (obsessive/compulsive) symptoms. The doctor was worried about the self-soothing techniques that she saw during the appointment and the way she repeated things over and over for the two hours. She is thinking that the OCD behaviors are just a result of the severe anxiety and not the actual OCD disorder so she will treat the anxiety first with some type of therapy sessions to teach her how to control her emotions. I will have to research some of these, but I do hope they will help the quiet rage that we have been seeing lately. She also said she needs to enrolled in another pre-school for next year. I'm going to have such a hard time paying for something that I do myself. I'm also checking into a possible ballet class that might suffice the "get away from mom" that she needs. She also suggested getting a small pet that belongs to Alizah like a kitten or puppy. Not sure about this either. I don't like house animals, but Alizah needs to connect with something that she can take care of so we'll see. ..All in all in was pretty traumatic appointment for Alizah (with no actual events other than the talking and observation!), but hopefully mom and dad will learn techniques to help Alizah. Alizah and I did enjoy a nice lunch and a little shopping. What kept her going in the appointment was the promise of going to Target for oreos. Sometime long ago we must have gotten oreos at a target because that's all she wanted there. She must have not cued into the fact that they sell toys there too! Lucky mom, I got away with nothing more than cookies and a swimsuit for a brave little girl who faced her "doctor" fear and made it home!