We've been taking our son with developmental disab...

We've been taking our son with developmental disabilities here for seven years. His disability is complex so we have been to a ton of their departments. Some of them are great, some of them are deplorable. Gastroenterology A+++ they know what they are doing and are amazing. Neurology, great. Allergy specialists? Good, they know their stuff.

Nutrition? Stay away, I've met with two separate nutritionists there who were terrible. One basically accused me of child abuse because we didn't give our son milk (dairy allergy, bloody stools y'all, not the made up kind of allergy), she seemed oblivious to the fact that some folks just can't drink milk and was hostile about it. Another called me 5 minutes before our appointment to say she was unqualified to answer any questions about my kid. Because we live an hour away and she gave no notice (this appointment was made months in advance, yet she wanted until 5 minutes beforehand to decide she couldn't talk to us?) she agreed to meet with us, but then recommended a litany of actual junk food that no one responsible for educating parents about nutrition should be outright recommending.

The worst place we've been thus far is probably the Emergency psych department. We took our son there when we felt we had nowhere else to turn, but I knew almost immediately that it was a huge mistake and that they were unqualified to treat him. They knew less than I did about how to treat him, which is the furthest thing from reassuring or helpful. They could have easily read his file, or called any of the doctors in that very building who treat him, but chose to continue fumbling around in the dark and discussing his needs as if he were typically developing. After having us sit in a series of rooms 9 AM to 5 PM without doing anything for him, I complained because they wouldn't even let my husband take our stir-crazy son for a walk, and we had not eaten all day. That clearly offended the attending psychologist who knew less than nothing about my son's disorder and how it impacts behavior, so they just sent us home empty handed, hopeless, and tired, with a referral for a place that would be even less qualified to treat him, that had a waiting list of several weeks, because they don't accept disability medicaid in their office. Sure would be a huge bummer if they had to take less money to treat the most vulnerable population in the state. They are in critical need of an education in developmental disabilities in general.