1. Having or full of quirks, idiosyncrasies, peculiar behavior.
2. The word Child Find would rather use to describe my daughter as opposed to 'Autistic' or 'having Autistic Tendencies.'
Quirky is one of those words that seems 'good' as in, "That romantic comedy movie was quirky and light-hearted." However, when the people at Child Find decided to describe my daughter this way instead of addressing any real issues, it's not such a 'good' word. Mostly because you can't get services for being 'quirky.'
They tested Kaia and when the results came back, I didn't understand the results. They tested her for academic readiness; shapes, colors, comprehension, that kind of thing. She scored twice as high as the average.
Never in my life would I have thought I'd be upset that my daughter had scored high on any kind of test, let alone twice as high as the average. But there I was, confused and feeling that cold reality that we would not get services settle in like a February snow.
"You're daughter is very bright, Mrs. Leavitt, you should be happy," quipped the too-perky administrator.
"I KNOW she's bright, I never said she wasn't. I'm not here because I think she has mental retardation."
A nano-second later her disposition did a 180 and she said. "Well, if you still think she has a 'problem' we can send somebody to observe her. You know, Mrs. Leavitt, we didn't see any kind of autistic behaviors, she's just quirky. Bright kids usually are."
"Are you a developmental pediatrician?" I asked.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Can you say that you've observed a good cross-section of autistic children? It's a 'spectrum' disorder you know, they're not all the same."
"Mrs. Leavitt, I'm well aware of that."
"Good. But the fact is that you are a school administrator, not a doctor and not really anybody who works directly with kids, so I find it odd that you feel as though you can diagnose my child." I tried to say this last part as gently as possible, but I failed.
"Good day, Mrs. Leavitt, we'll send somebody out to observe your daughter. You'll hear from us soon."
2. The word Child Find would rather use to describe my daughter as opposed to 'Autistic' or 'having Autistic Tendencies.'
Quirky is one of those words that seems 'good' as in, "That romantic comedy movie was quirky and light-hearted." However, when the people at Child Find decided to describe my daughter this way instead of addressing any real issues, it's not such a 'good' word. Mostly because you can't get services for being 'quirky.'
They tested Kaia and when the results came back, I didn't understand the results. They tested her for academic readiness; shapes, colors, comprehension, that kind of thing. She scored twice as high as the average.
Never in my life would I have thought I'd be upset that my daughter had scored high on any kind of test, let alone twice as high as the average. But there I was, confused and feeling that cold reality that we would not get services settle in like a February snow.
"You're daughter is very bright, Mrs. Leavitt, you should be happy," quipped the too-perky administrator.
"I KNOW she's bright, I never said she wasn't. I'm not here because I think she has mental retardation."
A nano-second later her disposition did a 180 and she said. "Well, if you still think she has a 'problem' we can send somebody to observe her. You know, Mrs. Leavitt, we didn't see any kind of autistic behaviors, she's just quirky. Bright kids usually are."
"Are you a developmental pediatrician?" I asked.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Can you say that you've observed a good cross-section of autistic children? It's a 'spectrum' disorder you know, they're not all the same."
"Mrs. Leavitt, I'm well aware of that."
"Good. But the fact is that you are a school administrator, not a doctor and not really anybody who works directly with kids, so I find it odd that you feel as though you can diagnose my child." I tried to say this last part as gently as possible, but I failed.
"Good day, Mrs. Leavitt, we'll send somebody out to observe your daughter. You'll hear from us soon."
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