Advice needed please. The lights are on but nobody's home.

[Hallybear79]

My DS (5) has got his 1st paediatrician appointment on Thursday for suspected AS/dyspraxia. Obviously I need to talk to him about it to prepare him as we always get 1000 questions regarding anything different. But I'm not sure how or if I should tell him the reason. I think he's too young but he is very bright. I'm sure if I was on the outside looking in I could think of a nice age appropriate explanation but quite frankly I'm like a zombie today & all I can do at the moment is stare out of the window. My brain is frazzled & my emotions are in tatters so I would love some words of wisdom to help me.

I prattled on about being a cheese cracker in a world of jam sandwiches on the way to our first appointment which I wouldn't quite recommend.

No but it made me smile for the first time today so thank you.

Yes..Developmental test sounds good. " like when you were a baby"

for you Hally

It will be like any other new thing to him and no more significant. You don't need to make it so.

Good luck. This bit is tough.

Thanks everyone.
Starlight i think thats why i just can't funtion properly. I'm bracing myself for it & making things worse by over thinking things & making things complicated. It's all building up now & getting on top of me. If i'm like this now, god help when he is finally diagnosed.

Hope it goes well - I told my DS his first appointment was just a chat about why school seemed so tough for him, and to see if there were any ways of making it easier.

Saying that though, it was 2 years ago. All we got was that he was a very complex little boy & that attaching labels isn't always the most helpful thing to do.

Good luck

Plus3, that was spectacularly unhelpful from your paed. I don't know why people are so against labels. I'd rather have the right label, obviously, and it might take time to get there, but ASD for my DS2 is a much more accurate and useful 'label' than naughty, rude or stupid. For professionals not to realise this is very sad.

Hally, it dies sound like it's going to be harder for you than for your DS on Thursday. I'd go with playing it down as others have suggested. So long as you have an answer ready, your DS will be fine. Can you take DP or friend to keep an eye on him if you want to talk privately to the paed? If he's bright you may not want to be discussing him in front of him?