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Our 12 yo fd came to us with a dx of PTSD, bipolar and ADHD. I can see the ADHD, inattentive type, but definately not bipolar. Her mobile therapist agreed, so we had her re-evaluated today. Her preliminary results were that she is not bipolar, but she does have anxiety and some depression. But she also gave her an IQ test and she said it was the worst she's seen. She says it's almost like she's MR. Her visual perception testing was horrible too. She suggests she sees a pediatric neurologist and a developmental opthamologist. What will the neurologist do.... will they do brain scans? I am terrified to hear this and honestly, don't know if we can handle it if it's an official dx of MR. She was placed with us as a potential adoptive family for her (assuming everyone was a good fit) but now I feel this new information could change things. It's scary and if we had known this upfront, probably would have said no. But now that she's been here 4 months, I'm just really afraid. I've never had a child of my own, and again, this is very scary for me and I just don't know if I can handle it permanently. I feel terrible and I'm hoping we can get more definate results with the further testing. Anyone have any experience with anything like this?
There will be unexpected surprises with ANY child, adopted or bio. Some will be pleasant surprises (YEAH!) and some not so pleasant ( :o ). It IS scary to have diagnoses that we are unsure about. We ended up adopting kids who have brain differences and attachment problems, even though we were "careful" and didn't plan or try to adopt children with just these diagnoses.
First suggestion is don't panic. Really. Bi-polar is a neurological disorder, too. So is ADD/ADHD. PTSD is a really significant dx, as well, and any ONE of those could have secondary issues - like anxiety and depression. Don't panic due to one test and one dr's opinion. See what is going on before you make any major decisions.
Getting info from the neurologist and the ophthalmologist will give you lots of information and more insight. Honestly, an IQ is very subjective and I personally don't think they're an accurate evaluation tool. Children who have traumatic early childhood experiences often don't do well on IQ tests. If kids are not exposed to information from an early age, and miss school, are too traumatized to take in information at school, etc., etc., etc. will likely NOT do well on IQ tests. If she can't see well, or the information between her eyes and her brain have glitches getting to where they need to go then she'll not test well.... There can be ALL kinds of reasons and explanations.
Hang in there.
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Totally agree about IQ tests. Also, give kiddo some time. As trauma decreases and kiddo feels safe, behaviors will lessen.
Visual perception, neurologist and development ophthalmologist or optometrist... This is part of my field. What they are trying to do is make sure that her eyes are working together and sending the correct information to the brain. The eyes actually send information to many areas not just the occipital lobe. So it can have a huge impact on performance for everything as humans are visual beings. This could also impact he iq testing!
If problems are found with how the eyes work together, many times exercises will be recommended, either at home, or in the dr office or both. I would highly e recommend looking for a provider that has a COVD for vision therapy if that route is recommended. Be aware that some people consider it new and unproven.... However I have seen major improvements in veterans of our current wars after vision therapy (after traumatic brain injuries).
Thank you all for your replies. Our FD caseworker called the psychologist and it was a screening tool that FD did terrible on (one test was the visual perception tests). Apparently it was not an IQ test, but she has had an IQ test before and I'm told it's 72, which is obviously not great. Hopefully she will improve. She's basically a good kid and I want her to succeed in life!
I hope you're feeling a little better about the results. You're right, 72 is borderline. But, like everyone else says, IQ tests are not always reliable with kids like ours. My son tests very low, but in reality, there's no way a child with an IQ score as low as his would be able to learn as quickly as he does. He has PTSD and anxiety, so any sort of testing is pretty unreliable for him. He also has poor visual and auditory processing skills due to early neglect/possible substance abuse. But, his skills have increased so significantly with less than 2 years of interventions, I think that eventually he will function much more independently. Honestly, his remaining behavioral/mental health issues impact him WAY more than any cognitive deficits.
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When I get the results of testing, I always remind myself that she is the same child walking out as she was walking in the clinic. The diagnosis doesn't change who she is. It may name some things going on with her, but if you were doing okay with her before the diagnosis, you will be doing okay after the diagnosis. You just have a better understanding of her struggles.