Those Who "Can't..." Teach (part 2, excerpt from James)

At the meeting, the medical doctor’s results were covered first. James

definitely had ADHD, and his medicine was helping keep it under control. The

doctor tested him for Fragile X syndrome, because James had presented

characteristics. He was cleared. Claire was not surprised at these results. Next, the

autism specialist diagnosed James with pervasive developmental disorder-not

otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), which was a category of an autism spectrum

diagnosis. This was not what Claire had expected to hear.

Little was known in the 1990s of the range of characteristics a person with

autism could have, and the prevalence was less than 1 percent of the population.

Autism is a developmental disorder that presents in a wide variety of ways and

levels of severity. It affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with

others, and often comes with difficulties in executive functioning. Although she

was not prepared for this answer, she felt at least there was a direction the school

could move toward when it came to educating James. The school teacher, speech

pathologist, behavioral therapist, and motor experts spoke next. They confirmed

what Claire already knew.

Based on the psychological and psychiatric evaluation results, the expert

suggested James had oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). The disorder is typically

diagnosed in childhood and is characterized by frequent anger, vindictiveness,

argumentativeness, and defiance, especially directed toward authority figures.

Again, Claire was not shocked by this diagnosis.

The next words out of the psychologist’s mouth will forever be etched into