***Dr. Dracker, who owns the practice, seems like a very kind individual. He called me to personally apologize for my negative experiences. If I stay with Summerwood Pediatrics, I can choose preferred staff members to treat my children. Thank you Dr. Dracker.***
If you're going to treat autistic patients, you need to understand something about autism (and I'm not talking about the negative list of descriptors found in text books.)
When I took my two autistic children for a well child visit in August 2016, Dr. Awa proclaimed that neither child seemed autistic (this is after grilling me about what "concerns" I had that lead me to getting them diagnosed.) He also asked me about my current pregnancy; if I'd had genetic testing done. No, I had not, but that was sincerely none of his concern.
We were graced with his presence again, a few days back. My son was in the middle of an antibiotic course for an ear infection in his LEFT ear, when he awoke that morning complaining of ear pain in his RIGHT ear. A nurse I spoke with at Summerwood assured me that he should come in for an appointment, rather than wait until my son finished the antibiotics. We were in the exam room for an hour. Waiting leads my autistic kids to experience anxiety. Anxiety leads to outbursts and potentially, meltdowns. No, Dr. Awa, my kids do not have behavioral problems (he asked me this), but they do have communication challenges. And yes, their behavior may have seemed extreme after an hour long wait, but behavior is communication, and what they were trying to tell you was, "you took too long, and we are stressed."
Long story short, my son's left ear cleared up, but his right ear was infected. My son did let the doctor examine him briefly, but he was none too happy to do so. Dr. Awa did not recommend switching antibiotics, but did offer an antibiotic shot. We refused the shot as the exam room was in such chaos, and my son wasn't going to tolerate the doctor treating him. He told us that if my son still complains of ear pain after he finishes his antibiotics to return for an antibiotic shot.
He also asked me, "what did you hope to accomplish?", by visiting the office mid antibiotic treatment. And furthermore, I had to explain to him more than once that the only reason I made an appointment was because a nurse recommended that my son be seen. I simply called in the morning to speak with a nurse; not necessarily to make an appointment. read more