18 months old | ADHD Information

Thank you for the advice.

unfortunatly here most of the profetionals and even my GP seem to be more concerned with weather or not my DS in in the normal range for language development, which he is and when i try to emphasise the fact that he has lost a good amount of his language ability they just seem to shut down, i mean he was using words like "thank you" and saying little 3 word sentences "go car now" and most of this has disapeared and been replaced with simpler things like "ta ta" and just saying "car", the worst thing is that it has left him feeling verry frustrated as he cant comunicate anywhere as well as he used to, he doesint say "no" to things anymore, he insted hits or kiks thing he does not want out of your hand.

I a taking him back to the baby clinic in the hope that they can be of more help to me and his ENT consaultent has referd him for a general speach and language assesment but i could be waiting up to 6 months for the apointment. and he needs the help as soon as possible.

i feel like i am running around in square circuls

hi shellb --- perhaps you might look at some websites about autism too?

doctors can shut down with this kind of idea (especially if it comes on directly after an immunisation jab like MMR) but i do know indirectly of one mother who had a very similar situation as yours... as her child had a lot more words and then after the jab (and she feels directly attributable to the jab - but that is very disputed) started losing them and developing a form of autism... however she made a lot of progress by getting some early intervention techniques etc. etc. and her child is not autistic in the same sense as many and apparently has had a lot of success with specialised learning techniques so it is worth trying to get support as soon as possible in those cases.

so it might still be worth looking into some websites that deal with (do they call it late-onset autism???) the autism side of things - even if it is just to rule it out.

good luck with finding a doctor --- you might need to try go beyond your GP and look for a child specialist in Ireland somewhere. i simply don't think GPs have the time and energy to deal with all the aspects that are involved in this sort of thing unless they are fairly exceptional - and if they haven't had experience of a similar situation might be at a loss as to what to suggest anyway.

[QUOTE=chjones]

so it might still be worth looking into some websites that deal with (do they call it late-onset autism???) the autism side of things - even if it is just to rule it out.

good luck with finding a doctor --- you might need to try go beyond your GP and look for a child specialist in Ireland somewhere. i simply don't think GPs have the time and energy to deal with all the aspects that are involved in this sort of thing unless they are fairly exceptional - and if they haven't had experience of a similar situation might be at a loss as to what to suggest anyway.

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DITTO

find specialist on your own. No one likes to address language issues under 2, but loss of acquired language would be a big red flag to me. Even if you have to wait 6 months do it. You can always keep looking and cancel if you get something soonder

my DS is 18 months old and is a live wire, he can not sit still for 20 seconds unles you strap him in.

he has unbalivable temper tantrums unless he is outside burning energy, he cant tollerate E numbers at all, even the ones in childrens medicine send him off the wall, just one spoon of calpol and he is swinging on the curtains literaly.

he is big for his age and realy tall and looks at least 2 1/2 so people seem to expect much more from him. added to this from the time he started to walk (8m) he has had severe ear infections (got gromits last month) that have had a severe impact on his speech development, i am getting stonewalled by a lot of profetionals about his speech because they tell me he is still in the normal range, however my DS was saying "thank you" and "hello" and other such words at 10 months and has lost some of this ability.

He is the sweetest child and so loving but cant handle certin things, just a small change in his routine and he cant sleep and wont eat.

He is also realy intelegent, he can do simple pussels but only if they dont take longer than about 30 seconds, and after learning how to open doors at 14 months he then took just one week to learn how to unlock the front and back door so that he can get out.

Both me and his father have ADHD and Dyslexia, i was a dificult child and diagnosed at 4, but that was in south africa. in ireland they dont seem to do diagnosis at an early age. and they start school at age 4 here, there is no way that he will have enough self controll at that age to sit in a class room.

I just dont know how to help him

check into Federal programs. There is a program here (US) called Early Intervention and they do just that, intervene early. Up until age three they are the program that helps children. They offer, speech/language, PT, OT, social services. I'd push that speech issue now if you can, especially if he's had some loss of language at 18 months. So much of this can be frustration. 18 months is very very difficult age, a highly energetic frustrated 18 month old, even harder.

Good luck, keep advocating, there must be programs for children under 4. Also 4 is a LONG way off, dont be worrying about a classroom now, take it one step at a time (I know this easier said than done)

Talk to your doctor- emphasize that you are concerned that he has lost language. This happened to my son and here in the US they put him in a great language program 5 days per week and it helped tremendously- not just with language but with social skills, behavior... When I had concerns, my pediatrician pointed me in the right direction aboutfinding programs for my son.

Good luck!

KidsInSpace39560.1835416667

[QUOTE=shellb]My son starts speach and language therapy in 5 weeks time, they gave him a prioraty appointment so he skiped most of the waiting list (thank heavins) they said that at his age the sooned the better, the normal waiting list is about 6 months.[/QUOTE]

Awesome.

"had a huge fight with his GP on wednesday, DS has had constant tonsilitus for the past 3 month, his GP (who neversaw a problim with his ears) can not see a single problem with his tonsils either"

Wow! As far as that and other info you gave, can you/will you possibly seek switching to another GP? Don't know if you have restrictions, though, insurance-wise. When I was pregnant with my 2nd child, I established with a new pediatrician, as we had problems with the staff at DDs pediatrician. It turned out to be a good move, but must add that I was not restricted by my medical insurance, and had the freedom to choose another doc for my kids.

Even though the GP says otherwise, in my humble opinion as a mom, sounds like the ears and throat are nothing to fool around with. Been there, done that with the kids having chronic ear infections, sinusitis, and tonsillitis, and IMO, can't downplay it (especially since your little guy has had hearing loss, etc.!)

Best of luck to you all.

[QUOTE=shellb] he is big for his age and realy tall and looks at least 2 1/2 so people seem to expect much more from him. added to this from the time he started to walk (8m) he has had severe ear infections (got gromits last month) that have had a severe impact on his speech development, i am getting stonewalled by a lot of profetionals about his speech because they tell me he is still in the normal range, however my DS was saying "thank you" and "hello" and other such words at 10 months and has lost some of this ability.

[/QUOTE]

My DS was always big for his age and people expected more from him, too! He also learned quite young how to unlock the screen doors - husband had to move the locks up higher (we were able to do that with the type of doors we had at that time).

As far as your son's ear infections - maybe now that he has the ear tubes, he can avoid the infections (the tubes worked well for my DD, who had chronic ear infections, preschool age), and in turn, his hearing may improve; as well, you mentioned in another post you are going for an ENT eval - be sure to address his hearing with them/they'll probably test him? Real important. Anyway, as you know, hearing problems are related to delayed speech.

Good luck to you!

Oops ... my reply to you was after the fact of your doctor's visit. Sorry. Just some info to try and help. But I see he had an evaluation and has therapy coming up. Good for him. I am glad they pinpointed the problem.

Guess I'll need to be more careful reading posts from now on - I'm a little late here/behind the times!!!

shellb,

my son was in early intervention for speech. it is a great place for them. they will also be able to direct you to a integrated preschool who is legally to continue services. (when you get there, post and we can talk)

congratulations on beginning his therapy!!

shellb,

Glad to her you got things rolling. Frustrating isn't it! You'll see positive results from the speech/language and OT. As Bethann says too they'll help you with the transition as he gets older. They'll also get the support in school if he still needs it. It's amazing the progress some kids make just getting early services. His tantrums probably stem from the frustration of his speech delay, I bet they improve dramatically as his language skills imrpove.

My son starts speach and language therapy in 5 weeks time, they gave him a prioraty appointment so he skiped most of the waiting list (thank heavins) they said that at his age the sooned the better, the normal waiting list is about 6 months.

his speach has advanced a small but since 3 months ago but he is missing so many soounds needed to make words.

had a huge fight with his GP on wednesday, DS has had constant tonsilitus for the past 3 month, his GP (who neversaw a problim with his ears) can not see a single problem with his tonsils either, you can usualy only tell that he is unwell in the evnings or at night time when he is not bussy and not active so he is usualy seen at the hospital or the midoc, both of which have remarked how bad his tonsils are and sugested removal of same and adenoids, anyaw the midoc advised me to go the GP for some blood tests, got there and the bloody GP refused to do them claiming that he was obviously perfectly healthy as he was trying to pull me out of the room and he is big for his age so there is nothing wrong. i tried to explaine to this woman his symptoms and the reason it becomes evident at night and she told me that it was obviously a behavioural thing.

when his tonsils flare up he wakes up every 15min to 30min sits on his bed and crys his heart and soul out, by the time we get to the Midoc/hospital he is distracted and happy but still just as sick. i am so sick of doctors that cant and wont look past the apearance of a child and the personality of a child. i have tried to explane to her that as soon as he is bussy he blocks out the pain i should know cause i do it to always have, but she looked at me as though i was nuts. time for a new GP then

Shellb-

I see a couple similarities in your son and my son. My son had his tonsils and adenoids taken out when he was 4. The only symptoms he had were that they were really large and he was hyper. I had read an article that large tonsils leads to sleep apnea which tends to make children exhibit ADHD symptoms. His ENT agreed to take out his tonsils due to the link between large tonsils and sleep apnea. He didn't snore or gasp when sleeping; so they didn't really consider him a classic case, but he agreed to perform the surgery. After the 20 minute surgery the ENT told us that his airways were obstructed 80% due to the huge size of the tonsils and adenoids. About a month after the surgery, he was more rested and not so out of control. It really helped him a lot. His speech also improved when the tonsils were removed.

My son just turned 5 and he has been diagnosed with ADHD and has been put on medication 3 weeks ago and is doing well. I think it is important to get the tonsils out and see if his activity level slows down a bit, because sleep apnea can wreak havoc on a child.

Some other similarities: My son is very big for his age. When he was 18 months old, people always thought he was 3. He is very intelligent (ADHD trait), and he is very active and has a short attention span and is impulsive. Even when he was an infant he always had to be bouncing or jumping or moving. He walked at 9 months but I was a nervous wreck because he would move so fast before he had a chance to think where he was going and would fall down or run into things and get hurt.

I also heard ADHD is 80% genetic...

Hope this helps some...

my son finaly had his speach and language assesment on friday, after months of waiting. speach problems that he has is due to constant ear infections from 9 months of age that gave him about 50% hearing and prevented him from learning certin sounds and turning those in to words. he starts speach therapy in about 5 weeks time and has also been referd to occupational therapy which is great, his speach therapist commented on how short his attention span is evin for his age but at least now i know that he is sure to get the early intervention that he needs.