Hi, I’m new here and posted a while ago, but haven’t really figured out my situation enough to know where to go. LOLOLOL
My 3 yr old son Nate has had some problems with language and communication over the last few years. Health hx of asthma/RAD, benign myoclonic seizures from 4mos. - 12 mos., failure to thrive from 11 mos. - 18 mos., said his first word at about 11 mos. and didn’t communicate much until about 2 1/2 yrs. He physically is awesome, a great big healthy kid!
We knew he was behind some and just figured that due to his health problems early that he was about 6 mos. behind and he would catch up. At each developmental visit he would have made just enough progress to keep from getting a referral for evaluations. Last June we moved and started him in preschool, his vocabulary and language has improved dramatically. In December, however, his teacher came to me and said that she was having trouble with him following instructions and just getting the hang of things. At home we noticed having some trouble with him, not much back and forth communication, he doesn’t understand alot of things, can’t follow more than a one step command….at that point he was referred for an evaluation. There are some questionable behaviors that point in the direction of autism spectrum, but he’s got good eye contact, he’s loving with us, plays with his brother and all in all doesn’t appear to have any social problems at home. However, we have noticed at school that he always plays by himself or on the computer, he never talks about any one friend or a few friends, when you ask him who he plays with he says, “Nate”, he likes to play with trucks and watches the wheels roll and doesn’t have much imaginative play until recently. With this in mind at the eval they were expecting to see alot of autistic behaviors. Well at the eval the social worker and the developmental ped said they didn’t see it. Then they suggested a thorough speech and language eval because he also has echolalia and LOTS of trouble with recall. At the speech eval the therapist noted that he scored within normal limits for his age and development, however with his behaviors that she noted and his limited converstation she was requesting therapy 2x weekly for a “moderate receptive-expressive disorder”. She was puzzled because she said he didn’t have the “typical” behavior for a child with receptive-expressive disorder and echolalia.
My question is…..what should I be looking for? He goes to the psychologist for the eval to rule out any autism spectrum disorders next week. The social worker after the first eval was giving us info on PDD. Does this make sense? I’m not sure where to go from here or even what questions to ask. Any info would be of great help! Thanks so much!
Also, the speech/language eval was done by a company that I chose, an independent eval paid for by insurance so she wasn’t biased at all, but she advised persuing the PDD idea.
Hollie
Mom of Nate, 3 and Big Brother Joshua, 5
Re: New Here, Looking for Answers
I have a Nathan too. He just turned twelve. He was a lot like your son, except that he didn’t have the early history. He was never diagnosed PDD, but in retrospect, I am sure he would have been had I taken him to a developmental pediatrician as Dad suggests. Of course, this was a while ago and I am not even sure PDD existed diagnostically at that time. He def. was not classically autistic, although he appeared autistic enough that my pediatrician sister-in-law suspected he was. He was diagnosed with receptive and expressive language disorders at almost 4. He couldn’t follow directions either. He received speech therapy and later OT (all as a preschooler).
Couple of thoughts. I would have his hearing checked out by an audiologist. My son had some hearing loss, due to fluid, that contributed to his problems. He ended up dyslexic as well and I have had several different specialists tell me that was likely to the developmental problems that fluctuating hearing loss causes.
My son was diagnosed at 7 with APD (auditory processing disorder) and that def. played a role in the behavior we observed earlier.
My two oldest are spaced like yours and my older daughter played a big role in retrospect in helping her brother. She is a creative child and always had a game for Nathan to be part of. Interestingly enough, my son is actually quite imaginative now and I credit his sister for that.
Beth
PDD is the very high end of the Autism Spectrum; suggest the trouble you are having is a failure on the part of the professionals you have seen to understand that autism presents a collection of symptoms, none of which are an absolute necessity (i.e. lack of eye contact or failure to show affection). My boy is clearly autistic and yet is the most loving of our children (of course eye contact was a “problem” for him, more so when he was much younger).
I suggest that you schedule an appointment with a fully experienced developmental psychologist. All Children’s Hospitals will have one on staff. They will be able to clear up the confusion, and should be able to get you started on what you will need to do to help your son thrive.
Here is a site with a load of good information on all subjects autistic.
www.danasview.net
Good luck toy you and please let us know how things are going.