No special suggestions or support were offered to me or to Malia. I did not know the exact meaning of "borderline intelligence" at the time, so I assumed it meant her intelligence was not above average but not below. I found out at her second evaluation two years later that it means low intelligence, bordering on mental retardation. I followed up on the hearing loss with an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor and Malia had her tonsils and adenoids removed, her ear drums pierced and drained and "PE tubes" put in. The ENT doctor told me to expect a full recovery immediately following the surgery, including her delayed development.
Since the original diagnosis, Malia has been evaluated and re-diagnosed twice as well as having another surgery to correct her hearing that fell below average again. She has more than eight different diagnostic labels including; Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, Low Cognitive Functioning, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Mild Retardation, Language Disorder, Communication Disorder, etc .
Most recently I was informed that she has had two years of developmental growth in one year; however, her I.Q. has dropped from 74 to 70. At a recent OHSU evaluation, the entire staff agreed that she was developmentally behind one and a half years. During the same visit the staff psychologist said that she would never live independently. This makes me question the staff's credibility. Malia is only six and a half years old. She has, by their test,.
made significant progress. How can they predict where she will be in another twelve years?.
In reading de Bono's Thinking Course, where he recommends using Plus, Minus and Interesting (PMI) categories as a tool, by spending three to four minutes directing attention toward the Plus, Minus and Interesting points of subjects on the mind, I found that this was a positive exercise for me to do with my issues regarding the evaluation and diagnosing of the children.
