Thank you all for your comments/advice. I'll look into everything. I think the first stop will be our neurologist for a re-evaluation. We have a great Children's Hospital here and I believe they also offer independent testing. I will check into that too.
Thanks again.
Maria
Sounds like my 9 year old son in ways! We also were in early intervention for speech delays. My son didn't speak until he was over 3, then it was jargon. He is still in speech therapy due to an IEP at school. My son was diagnosed at the age of 5 with ADHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHD. We started meds. at the age of 6, to help him with his social issues, not academic. But, I wanted to mention this to you, my son has sensory integration, have you heard of that? Your comment about foods falls into a category for sensory integration. Google it to read up on it, it also mimicks adhd and speech delays as well. email me any questions!
Regards,
Beth
Beth anne what you are describing is asd not add or adhd. Delays are part of asd and many asd kids have add or adhd also. Some asd people have social problems some do not. HFA/aspergers are just really getting out their these days. Not one asd person is alike. They even are dx asd in adults now also. If the pesron has asd therapies are what is needed. Some asd the meds will help some asd people it helps none. The NP I spoke with said no medacine until we have the test results back. ASd kids are coomon for haveing food aversions also. You will need to supplement for what they will not eat. Beware though that maybe allergie foods for them also. Some also crave food they are allergic to also. Get the full allergie testing done. Some do Naet instead of shots. Neither of these help some though.Some allergies can't be fixed and will be there for life. ivanhoe38988.3590277778APD/Dyslexia you are correct I was told new research shows that dyslexia is apd related. She told me even schools are not aware of that. I suggest get your own private testing done outside of school. If need be have SE pay for the private testing. THIS CAME FROM DYSLEXIA CORRECTION. I WAS TOLD SON/I ARE NOT DYSLEXIC. I LOOKED UP THE CRITERIA DESCRIBES US TO A T. I just read dyslexia has no destinct criteria. The under lining causes are spacial problems/processing problems. John hopkins cite is where I found this. THIS IS HIM/I BOTH. NOT ALL DYSLEXICS DO REVERSALS EITHER. CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS CAN TEST THIS ALSO. Iq test shows only what the child already knows . Our son has gotten 3 different iq scores each time it is lower. His scores were this 100,85,71. This was also before his transmitters were tested. He is moody. The np says no way his iq is in the 70's. That would be almost MR which he is not.
I would also test for Epilepsy. Epileptics usually have a poor short term memory also. They generally have poor attention and Ld's also. This is all do to the epilepsy. I know I am a past petimal epileptic from childhood. No school staff no the difference in daydreaming and petimals. Petimals is also on the 50 condtions that mimc adhd. The seizures are miliseconds or minutes but the good thing is 80% of petimals patient become seizure free by age 18. I am now 38 seizure free but will never show a Normal eeg. Yes I still have the SI/add and will for ever my neurologist told me. Depakote is great for this. Ld schools were the better place also cause smaller classes. No I am not not medacine today. Robs mom: if your son is ppd/adhd this is the order his dx should be listed. Pdd is a form of asd. With this dx he should have a aid in mainstream and pull out for his ld classes. If doesn't work you can get him put in self contained FT.I'm hoping someone can make me feel sane.
My son is 9 years old. We got him into early intervention when he was 3 years old. At that time, he couldn't even say the word "mommy". He has come a long way, and still has speech therapy twice a week, but, I know there's more to it than his speech.
We took him to a neurologist when he was in Kindergarten and he was diagnosed as borderline PDD-NOS. We put him on Ritalin. After a year, we took him off the Ritalin and he was doing well in school, he just acted goofy sometimes and I didn't think that was a valid reason for medication.
However, in 3rd grade, things started to get difficult. Getting him to read or do his homework was a monumental task. He forgot books, forgot to write things down and cried when I tried to get him to study.
Now, in 4th grade, it's all happening again. He's forgetting things and he says he is having trouble reading and answering questions because he gets confused. I have been trying to figure out how to help him for years... but, I keep getting told "there's nothing wrong with him", "he's just a boy", etc. It's making me feel like I want something to be wrong... but, I don't. I know, there's something wrong.
When we read together at night, he's always rubbing his legs or my arm or fidgeting around. Last year, he stuck a small eraser in his ear (which was a real challenge to get out) and yesterday, he bit off the top of a pen and it exploded on his face. He's bitten the ends off his pink eraser. He bites his finger & toenails. He always seems nervous. His communication is poor at best. He can't repeat a story back to me.
I came across some definitions of ADD/ADHD and I think he fits into the "inattention" type. He's not one to get called out for disturbing the class, but his teacher last year told me she often had to "bring him back" by speaking to him directly.
My thought is to take him back to the neurologist and discuss this with him. But, the first thing they do is give you that form to fill out and bring to the school for the teacher to fill out. When we fill out our part, he falls into a category. Whenever the teacher has filled theirs out (and I beg them to be completely honest) he is always borderline.
Oh, and food... he is definitely the most picky eater in the world. He won't touch a fruit or vegetable. I've tried to make him try things and he gets this gag reflex. It's just awful. He'll eat pizza, pasta, chicken, burgers and of course, junk food. But even if there's a speck of green in something, he won't eat it. And, he smells everything first.
Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks.
Maria
robsmom38987.4508680556Hi Maria,
Excpet for the speech difficulties, I'm having the same issues with my son. He was classified as "other health impaired" when he was 5. They noted some sensory integration issues because he smells everything and has hard time processing information and some auditory processing issues but never officially diagnosed him with anything specific. The Neurologist noted some mild delays in gross motor skills but nothing significant. He also scores very low on IQ tests. He was then placed in a self-contained special ed class which he is still in as he has difficulty focusing and paying attention and also received occupational therapy twice/week for the smelling thing and his handwriting. As this is helping him I still could not come to grips with having him in a special ed class without knowing exactly what is wrong with him. I took him to a behavior modification specialist who had me and the teachers fill out forms and then diagnosed him with ADHD without seeing him and told me to medicate him. Because of the side effects with the medication I've decided against doing that. Recently I took him to a Neurodevelopmental neurologist - still didn't get a formal diagnosis and he suggested that I take him for additional occupational therapy to help with his sensory issues and will reevaluate him in December. Based on what you are saying about your son smelling things and having aversion to certain foods, it's likely he has a sensory integration problem which display the same symptoms as ADHD. Auditory processing disorder and dyslexia also have the exact symptoms. The best person to see for that would be an occupational therapist.
Good luck!
Maybe it's time for a reevaluation. It has been four years since his last one. Have a full set of tests done to see if he has any learning differences. We had the testing done by a neuropsychologist last May. He was able to confirm ADHD for us and to also give an accurate IQ score as well as tell us about some processing delays she has. In our case, the school did lots of tests also, but some of the results contradicted themselves, so we decided to have it done independently. HTHIvanhoe, my son was diagnosed successfully by a trained professional. Adhd'ers, no longer is the term add used by the way, do have social cue issues, it is not just aspies. My son has sensory integration, as well as speech delay. He is doing wonderful with med's, very successful with sports each season and if he had aspergers he would NOT join in!
You are misinformed! ADHD'ers are very social cued delayed! check it out!