Aside from being made to wait for freaking ever, Aidan's psychiatrist appointment went well. I felt that the doctor asked all the right questions both of myself and Aidan, that he didn't want to just automatically jump to medication, that he understands autism and how it affects Aidan, and that he was interested in engaging Aidan and helping him. He set us up with a therapist to help Aidan with anger management, impulse control, and social skills although he stated that he isn't sure how effective it will be. He feels that while Aidan is intellectually capable of understanding the things the therapist can share with him and help him with, Aidan's level of emotional maturity, and the developmental delays therein, can make it difficult for Aidan to actually carry those tools into practice. He said that right now, although Aidan may intellectually be aware that A leads to B which leads to C, he may not have the maturity to realize those consequences and how they apply to HIS actions in the moment. That plus Aidan's lack of impulse control may make the therapy less effective, but worth trying nonetheless. As I said, the doctor acknowledged Aidan's delay of emotional development, but he said he didn't feel like it would be a long term problem. To quote him: "The difference between a 4 year old and an 8 year old, emotionally, is quite a lot, but the difference between a 22 year old and a 26 year old really isn't much at all." I'm not sure if the age differences he chose were random or if that's how far behind he feels Aidan is. We know with other stuff like speech and toilet training and cognitive abilities he's always been a year or 2 behind, but I don't really have anything to gauge his emotional maturity by.
Aidan's first therapy appointment is next Thursday, and then he returns to the psychiatrist at the end of June. We'll keep you posted!
