Who is Nick and why am I writing this? - Peter Dean

This blog is about Nicholas. He is my middle child and is currently 8 years old. He was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder—Not Otherwise Specified) about 3 months ago. The diagnosis falls within the autism spectrum. He was also diagnosed with ADHD almost 2 years ago. Nick started getting help for his problems long before we received either diagnosis, and we are still not convinced the current diagnosis is completely correct. (We think he may actually have Asperger's syndrome)  I started this blog to relate the terrible struggles and the amazing things my wife and I have learned about Nick,  the education system, the mental health system, and ourselves in dealing with Nicholas and his unique way of relating. My wife (Dawn) will also be posting entries to this blog so we will try to make note of which one of us wrote each entry.