Riley bought this model of the White House, in DC. He built it the other day. He likes buildings. Perhaps he'll be an architect some day?

We had Riley's appointment at the Regional Center this morning. We were there two and a half hours. The case manager took lots of notes. She talked to Kevin and I and also to Riley. I think she got to see some of the things that we are concerned about: self esteem issues, eye contact, flat tone of voice, etc. He would not look her in the eye. He stared at some part of the very white wall the whole time he talked to her. She even prompted him to look at her a couple of times, but he just couldn't do it. We went through his entire birth/toddler/school years. They will do the psychological testing on him. I signed waivers to allow them to get his school records from the elementary school and the jr. high, and also his medical records. I believe she will contact his therapist as well. The whole process will take 120 days. It will take some time to get all of the information back (especially because the schools are not in session right now, and won't be until the end of August). The testing also needs to be completed. They will call us to schedule the testing. I just hope that the psychological testing can be done before school starts. So in 120 days, we should have a formal diagnosis and a plan of action.

I mentioned that we really think he is closer to being Aspergers, and I believe she agrees with that. She got a sense of his Disney obsession.

So it's not a lot of news, but it's something. She also mentioned that their services can be used for school purposes. They have people (case manager or advocate) that can attend meetings with us. I told her I wanted an IEP for him, and she noted that. We will still be keeping our Stanford appointment (whenever that comes up), but for now, I feel we have a start. I think help is on the way. It's slow going, but help is on the way.

Oh, and Riley tolerated the questions just fine. He was a bit slow to answer at first, but felt more comfortable as we went along. A couple of times he was very passionate in his responses (PE and his brother-he's really annoyed by his brother), and would talk a lot. She got the traditional "mmm hmmm" responses whenever he was told something he didn't agree with.

Oh, and here's another oh: When I spoke with Riley's doctor yesterday, about the asthma, I mentioned his sleep issues (he doesn't sleep well), and she thought it might be possible for him to participate in a sleep study. I mentioned it to him. He's not wild about it. If we go ahead with it, it will take a lot of talking through, to get him to participate. For now, I am making notes about his sleeping patterns.