diagnosing a 10 year old

[ogreenlee]

Many for your son!!



One of my best friends lives in Frankfurt. We'll be visiting her in June and we're so excited as it will be our first time to Germany. We're taking our DD6 down the Romantic Road to see the castles!

My friend works for an American company there, and married someone from Germany that she met while over there. She has been there for a few years now and is pregnant. She plans on staying in Germany until after having two kids, because of the great maternity programs and paid leave for one year!

I am curious as to how accessible your medical staff has been. Has it been a good experience for you, or frustrating? Do you feel that you're getting the best possible care?

I ask these things because I look to the future. I've had so many illnesses in my family, and without good results. Because of this.. I wonder what could have been had we left our country for another in search of treatment outside of the AMA. My Korean family (except for my mom who just died) heads to Korea when they get testing or physicals. They found liver cancer at it's earliest stage for one cousin, and somehow found cancer cells in the chin of my uncle just a few months ago. I got a physical at my doctor's office the other day, and he took a blood test and did a few things, but that was it.

Thanks so much! And again.. I hope the best for you and your family!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Many for your son!!



One of my best friends lives in Frankfurt. We'll be visiting her in June and we're so excited as it will be our first time to Germany. We're taking our DD6 down the Romantic Road to see the castles!

My friend works for an American company there, and married someone from Germany that she met while over there. She has been there for a few years now and is pregnant. She plans on staying in Germany until after having two kids, because of the great maternity programs and paid leave for one year!

I am curious as to how accessible your medical staff has been. Has it been a good experience for you, or frustrating? Do you feel that you're getting the best possible care?

I ask these things because I look to the future. I've had so many illnesses in my family, and without good results. Because of this.. I wonder what could have been had we left our country for another in search of treatment outside of the AMA. My Korean family (except for my mom who just died) heads to Korea when they get testing or physicals. They found liver cancer at it's earliest stage for one cousin, and somehow found cancer cells in the chin of my uncle just a few months ago. I got a physical at my doctor's office the other day, and he took a blood test and did a few things, but that was it.

Thanks so much! And again.. I hope the best for you and your family!

Hi If you come to Heidelberg with your son I would love to meet you for a apstry or ice cream somewhere. We have a great park on the banks of the Nekar with a fun playground and water play area which has an awesome view of teh castle across the way. A great place for a young tourist to let off some steam and play between castle visits

About the medical care--funny DH and I were talking about that this weekend What we expected was about the same standard of care as in the USA-but less expensive (we pay about the same per month for our public health insurance here as we did for our private insurance in the USA but for much more comprehensive coverage--even DDs oral surgery and braces are covered in full). DH and I both feel the care here is MUCH better than in the USA (we were so shocked by this--we tend to think of the USA on the cutting edge of medical care. Even the Germans think the USA must have better care than they do when we mention this to them). Though we are generally healthy, between orthodontia stuff, DS having a broken wrist when we arrived, my doctor wanting to look further into a condition I have had for years (turns out I did not need to be continuing a treatment anymore--I have been off meds for over 6 months now with NO issues and blood work still comming back great), plus a couple of minor ailments we have had occasion to visit:

Pediatrician
Adult General Practitioner
Orthopediest
Dentist
Orthodontist
Oral Surgeon
Ear Nose and Throat Urgent care Sunday clinic
Regular Ear Nose and Throat doctor
Dermotologist
Gastro Intestinologist
OBGYN
and the therapist for my son

Every single one of thse people was really nice and really professional. Not once did I ever feel rushed through an appointment by any doctor. The yalways ask if ANYthing else is going on and do not try to isolate one ailment or issue from another. We have been amazed by the very high quality equipment that individual doctors have in their private offices. For example, the OB/GYN has the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in for a pap (sorry if this is TMI) and a relaly nice ultrasouns machine in ehr office--she does her own ultrasounds and could not fathom that hte doctors do not do their own in the USA. Both ENTs offices also had ultrasound equipment which they (yes, again the actual doctor) used to take an ultrasound of DH's sinuses when he had an ear infection, etc. Every pice of equipment we have seen appears to be top of the line and very new (much nicer than what I am used to seeing in the USA) and is run by the doctors.

The only thing that has been a bit hard is that since the OT/PT for m sone (adn presumably the speech therapy to come) is not through the school sstem we have to find time after school for this. Since he does not get home from school (with the train) until nearly 5:00 pm (IF he is lucky and catches the bus which leaves 6 minutes after school lets out) this is a serious challenge

I have also appreciated that most of the doctors we have spoken with use both western medicine and homeopathic remedies. They use whatever they feel works best for the condition regardless of where the treatment originally comes from.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Good for you. Working thru it makes all the difference.

I was busy trying to remember everything I wanted to say about the healthcare system to ogreenlee that I forgot to say thanks to you mushy mushy

Some days are better than others. He came home so upset today. He has been studying for a week for a social studies test. It was to put all the little towns around Heidelberg on a map. He wrote the words out every day and we made flash cards, and he made blank maps and practiced every day. He got a 6, which is the worst score possible because he misspelled all the words. They are all in the right places but he has ALWAYS struggled with speilling and he just never seems to get it right (sometimes he will write Roi instead of Rio and not even notice). They have tested him for dyslexia and do not think that is it--I keep getting told "some people are just bad at spelling." I think that may be true--but it is hard to keep him from giving up when he works so hard and does not get ANY credit if the words are spelled wrong.
DH was talking to his dad this weekend about it, and ihis dad is the type to say "well if he cared and tried he would do fine." I hate that attitude because he tried twice as hard as I ever have at anything. I really hope he is not enoucntering that from this teacher (I have no idea--I have never even met this teacher).
Anyway mushy--I know your son has issues, does he ever run into this type of thing? How do you encourage him to keep trying if/when he does?

 

[bavaria]

I suggest that you find a copy of 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' by Judith Kerr, and the sequel. It is very enlightening about what it is like to be a child in a 'foreign' world, not knowing the language, or the games, or the secret world of a child. They do vary significantly by country, and children who move from country to country may never quite fit in. It can add to all the regular stress of life for a child.

But the language issue is something you may not understand as an adult learner; one day the light suddenly turns on and one can simply speak in the language. The author explains it from the viewpoint of a child with the wisdom of an adult.

That book really does an excellent job of presenting life as a foreigner from the viewpoint of a child, while of course dealing with more significant issues.

On a side note, NPR had an interesting documentary awhile back about the lives of public health doctors in the US and in Germany. The German doctor sat around all day 'waiting' for patients, and had one illegal immigrant and one American who came to Germany to have his heart issues dealt with at 'no cost'. Very interesting comparison.

 

[momsully]

Ths school testing also found he has very high cognitive efficiency (98%) but very low processing speed (0.2%). They actually retested those twice because the gap seemed impossible to them. Teh ywere still working on a plan to help with that when we learned we were moving.

Thanks

My DS 10 could be your child. Most of what you described fits him to a T but this part really jumped out at me. When DS was tested we had almost identical results. I was told that those type of results are most often seen in children with severe learning difficulties and DS did great in school and was compensating for this in his own way.

We ended up doing almost six months of vision therapy which increased his processing speed. He also did OT for his handwriting.

We are still working on it but things are better. I had never heard of vision therapy but it is worth investigating.

 

[LisaR]

I don't want to hijack the OP but I do have a question if you wouldn't mind?

I know the OP is in Germany. Where would one seek testing in the states if their child matched many of these descriptions? The school system is really not an option. I have heard of many problems with the testing in our area and I wouldn't trust them if they found or didn't find something wrong. When looking into private testing, who does this type of thing? I would like to find a place that does nothing but test. If the child is diagnosed with something and needs therapy, they are sent elsewhere. I guess I have trust issues because it seems like every place I have contacted wants to sell group classes or therapy sessions. That makes me feel like they will come up with a diagnosis even if there isn't one so they can profit on the therapy.

 

[disneymom2one]

I don't want to hijack the OP but I do have a question if you wouldn't mind?

I know the OP is in Germany. Where would one seek testing in the states if their child matched many of these descriptions? The school system is really not an option. I have heard of many problems with the testing in our area and I wouldn't trust them if they found or didn't find something wrong. When looking into private testing, who does this type of thing? I would like to find a place that does nothing but test. If the child is diagnosed with something and needs therapy, they are sent elsewhere. I guess I have trust issues because it seems like every place I have contacted wants to sell group classes or therapy sessions. That makes me feel like they will come up with a diagnosis even if there isn't one so they can profit on the therapy.

In my opinion ... a pediatric neuropsychologist. We have a 14 year old - diagnosed with A.S. and related conditions at age 8. She was just reevaluated this summer. Both times it was completely covered by insurance.

As to the OP, our daughter is much the same. In addition to Asperger's, take a look at NVLD - Non verbal learning disability. Our daughter has a 35 point differential between her verbal IQ (in the highly gifted range) and her performance IQ (above average but significantly lower).

I also want to add that kids on the spectrum - even those with the same diagnostics - are often impossible to group together. Every kid is different. Our Aspie also shows empathy at times.

One last thing ... there is light at the end of the tunnel. Our 14 year old (Asperger's, NVLD, hypotonia, dysgraphia, and more) was elected student body vice president at her middle school a few weeks ago. This is the same kid who we didn't even put in full time school until 6th grade. She's made amazing progress but it's been a lot of work - mostly on her part.

 

[NHdisneylover]

On a side note, NPR had an interesting documentary awhile back about the lives of public health doctors in the US and in Germany. The German doctor sat around all day 'waiting' for patients, and had one illegal immigrant and one American who came to Germany to have his heart issues dealt with at 'no cost'. Very interesting comparison.

Thanks for all the information. I will look for the book Do you happen to have a link to this or an idea of how to find it? I find the idea ery interesting. I am surprised because it does not match the (admitly murky) understanding I have of the system here at all. I see a steady stream of patients in and out of every office I go to so I guess at least in Heidelberg docotrs do not tend to wait around for patients. I know many Americans here on "ex pat" contracts who cannot have public insurance. From what I understand you will not get "free" (we pay per month for our public insurance as well as the high taxes, but if someone were unemployed and looking for woor or a student I believe they would get it for free) health coverage (meaning get to be part of the public system) unless you are here with the "right" visas. Just a random American with no special working papers (on a German contract) or an illegal immigrant would not quilify (but, like in the USA emergency life saving treatment will always be done). I can imagine an American comming her because it would likely cost less out of pocket here than in the USA. Anyway, I am really interested to hear tha story if you can link it

My DS 10 could be your child. Most of what you described fits him to a T but this part really jumped out at me. When DS was tested we had almost identical results. I was told that those type of results are most often seen in children with severe learning difficulties and DS did great in school and was compensating for this in his own way.

We ended up doing almost six months of vision therapy which increased his processing speed. He also did OT for his handwriting.

We are still working on it but things are better. I had never heard of vision therapy but it is worth investigating.

.[/QUOTE]

Ask away

 

[bavaria]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91971406

I don't think that is the same story, but good info. I found it ironic that on another Disney board readers are trashing the German healthcare system without even having experienced it at all. 'Different' doesn't mean 'bad'.

Amazon.de carries the book for a good price http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_ss?__...search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=judith+kerr Deliveries are often next day with the .de version of Amazon. This is a great book for children around that age too

 

[NHdisneylover]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91971406

I don't think that is the same story, but good info. I found it ironic that on another Disney board readers are trashing the German healthcare system without even having experienced it at all. 'Different' doesn't mean 'bad'.

Amazon.de carries the book for a good price http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_ss?__...search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=judith+kerr Deliveries are often next day with the .de version of Amazon. This is a great book for children around that age too

Thank you I will listen after I get the kids in bed tonight (DD is home sick with the flu so no quiet hours while she is gone--actually it is restful for me because I am skpping German class--Spanish was MUCH easier to learn!) and I will look at ordering the book.

Since you are German (I think) can I ask you a couple of questions:
Rio has jsut been refered specifically because of the handwriting and the ergotherapist did some testing for that (and will test gross motor during Weinachten Ferien). The teachers have asked he be refered for speech therapy as well so I will ask about that and the processing speed/vision therapy when he goes in for his H1N1 shot next week (if he doesn't catch it from his sister first). Do you know if, here in Germany, I can just ask them to please do a full set of diagnostic tests as a baseline (since we only got half way in teh USA before learnign we were moving) so we know what we should be really trying to treat? Or do we just have to go at it piecemeal?
Also, am I completely off base on my understanding of the system (as I explained it above)? No real reason to ask other than I like to try to know what is going on around me

Oh, and I am sorry you are reading people critizing a system they relaly don't knoow on another board We have found many things to love about Germany (and also things we prefer about America) and MANY things we do not prefer one or the other two but simply notice are different. It is nice that not everywhere is the same.

 

[bavaria]

I wish that I knew more about the specific way those issues are handled, but honestly I don't. I don't feel that I can comment specifically on your child's situation, but I do know that reading over the years here makes me realise that they way things like 'IEP' and other treatments are handled in America are not like anywhere else I have lived or worked around the world. Also the way that one can just choose to go to a specialist without a referral or other 'official' seems different to me. But as you say, 'different', not better or worse necessarily.

Generally though as you noted things are handled with a mix of treatments, and the 'medical' or pill one may not be the first treatment offered. Therapies are seen as a good way to a solution, and there is also lots of long term treatment for specific issues.

Best of luck! I have no other advice to give, just happened to fall into your thread.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks Bavaria I figured it was a long shot. I don't really know, but I don't remember you ever posting anything that indicated to me that you have children. How did you fall into this thread anyway?
Funny, I think it is much easier to see a specialist here without a refereal than it was in the US (because the insurance always required a referal). I was shocked when I first called the general practitioner about a rash and they said to go straight to a dermotologist without getting a referal first!
Yes, I think IEPs and the like are pretty much just a USA (and similar, I think, in Canada) thing. Also, I do much prefer long term therapy, etc. to drugs if at all possible (Rio reponds so well to what little therapy he has had that I do think it is possible). I just feel like it makes sense to start with a full range of testing to know what the issues that really need trated are. I'll ask the doctor next week I guess. Thanks again

 

[bavaria]

I think that I may have just moused over the title and saw 'Germany'

I have just spent the last few months (and years prior to that) dealing with some major health issues amongst the older members of my family. Five weeks of hospital, major surgery, transport by ambulance, outpatient treatment, and long term treatment came with a total bill of about 109 Euros.

The flip side of course is the very high tax rate that we pay on almost everything, but that is the cost of a social economic state. (And not to get political, but when I read here in past it seems that so many readers fear the term 'social' and equate it with more far left leaning philosophies)

Everything has a tradeoff. The German social welfare system requires that we pay in a lot but we get a lot in return. Other systems rely on the individual to fund themselves and their needs.

Another big difference is the role of the 'apothecary' and how they dispense medical advice. Ironically, I see that coming up more in America now with the pharmacy clinics and pharmacists being permitted to administer injections in America and Canada. Things which may require a doctor visit in other countries can easily be handled by a pharmacist at the apothecary with less cost to everyone involved.

I'll stop now before I run the risk of your thread turning in any way political. But it is nice to see readers asking for information about the differences instead of just assuming that one way is the best and the only way of doing things.

 

[ogreenlee]

Hadley, we would LOVE to stop and have ice cream or any other yummy snacks along our way! We will have a car and will be slowly making our way to Munich. It looks like Heidelberg is along the way and highly recommended for it's scenery!

We actually have a little girl, age 6. She has some sensory issues, as well, and nervous tics that tend to come and go. We have yet to figure out what sets those off. We found a natural remedy called "Tic Tamer" that works pretty well with Magnesium supplements. Both are great for nerve health.


Thank you for explaining your German quality of health. I can't imagine Germans not being at the forefront of medical technology. The healthcare system in the US is good, but not nearly as good as we're made to believe. I think that my Korean relatives would have never gotten early detection here.

My friend who lives in Frankfurt has been more than satisfied.

We'll be there the first week of June. I can't wait!! I'll keep you posted!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I think that I may have just moused over the title and saw 'Germany'


I'll stop now before I run the risk of your thread turning in any way political. But it is nice to see readers asking for information about the differences instead of just assuming that one way is the best and the only way of doing things.

That makes sense
True--I guess we are skirting politics. I have honestly been too busy figuring out life in Germany ot follow US politics much lately (very bad of me, I know) so I tend to forget what might have turned into a political issue lately, thanks for the reminder

About that last part, people who think there is only one good way to do things don't aren't generally good canidates for living in foreign countries
If you are ever in Heidelberg and would like to get together for a pastry or dinner let me know

Hadley, we would LOVE to stop and have ice cream or any other yummy snacks along our way! We will have a car and will be slowly making our way to Munich. It looks like Heidelberg is along the way and highly recommended for it's scenery!

We actually have a little girl, age 6. She has some sensory issues, as well, and nervous tics that tend to come and go. We have yet to figure out what sets those off. We found a natural remedy called "Tic Tamer" that works pretty well with Magnesium supplements. Both are great for nerve health.


Thank you for explaining your German quality of health. I can't imagine Germans not being at the forefront of medical technology. The healthcare system in the US is good, but not nearly as good as we're made to believe. I think that my Korean relatives would have never gotten early detection here.

My friend who lives in Frankfurt has been more than satisfied.

We'll be there the first week of June. I can't wait!! I'll keep you posted!

Oh please do hang onto my names and PM me when you are comming. The kids are out of school that week as well--I know they would love to meet your daughter. I will have to refrain from recomending a million fun things to do with little people in the area

 

[bavaria]

:
If you are ever in Heidelberg and would like to get together for a pastry or dinner let me know

I avoid the A5 and the 'bad' part of the A8, but if I am ever there I will let you know. I'm a little far away at the moment again experiencing how life works in other parts of the world. I left zero degrees at MUC on the weekend for 30 degrees.