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CAPD and SPD rather than ASD?

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My son has finally seen the consultant (who confirmed he didn't think he had ASD and highly suspects Anxiety and SPD but would see what speech and language had to say). He has had 2 appts with speech and language and she has confirmed the same (although I would have rather she came to this conclusion without receiving the consultant's report saying he didn't think it was ASD as there would have been no influence then). However, very good news I think that they don't think he has ASD but now the task is finding out what he has got.

 

The consultants report said Anxiety and SPD as his initial thoughts and the speech and language lady wants to do a school visit and will then write her report. She wants to delve deeper into the answers my son gave on his test the other day. He did a simple repeat sentence test and I was astonished at how little he can remember - I think he got up to about an 8 word sentence and then really struggled. I always thought it was not being able to tell us back in his own words (i.e. what have you just read about in your book) but it seems he literally cannot remember what he's just been told word for word either. Suddenly the penny has dropped with this to be honest as we are constantly asking him what people said (us, teacher, swim instructor, football coach) and he really really struggles even if its a minute after the discussion we've just had with him - most of the time he guesses if the conversation is about a similar thing.

 

He is very good with reading, writing, spelling and maths but these are all visual (and we have known for a long time that he is very visual - even teachers have mentioned this). The main problem we are getting is crying in all sorts of situations and most of the time, completely out of the blue.

 

I have looked into memory problems of children and it came up with CAPD (which I had heard of but knew nothing about). Having looked through a few pages on google, I can quickly see that most symptoms relate to him (although they appear to be very similar to ASD too - is that correct?).

 

Does anyone on here have a child who has been diagnosed with this rather than ASD please? The consultant/speach and language lady haven't mentioned this to me but I want to make sure I understand everything about it in order that they test him for it at some point because as a mother I know there is soemthing not quite right in the way his brain works but it is just a case of knowing what and then we can give him (and us!) the tools to deal with it and lead as 'normal' life as possible.

 

Any information/guidance would be great. I have looked for forums on this and there doesn't appear to be any. Thanks very much :)

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My child has an auditory processing disorder and sensory processing disorder. But he also has a speech disorder and is diagnosed as being on the spectrum.

 

It is very difficult to separate these disorders, as they are all neurological in origina, and often overlap anyway.

 

What you would want a speech therapist to carry out would be complete standardised assessments using CELF 4 and ACE.

 

You want evidence that his receptive and expressive language skills are typical.

 

You would want to see that his understanding of word 'meanings' and word 'associations' are typical.

 

That he can 'formulate' sentences.

 

And he needs his social communication and understanding assessed. Because there are people who are very academically able, but socially inept and this is what Aspergers can be like. So the social communication, AND emotional recognition in himself and others MUST be assessed. So write that down and put in writing that you want the SALT to assess all these areas.

 

This poor auditory memory, and therefore poor short term memory, is also a specific learning difficulty that needs to be detailed and supported. He will rely on memorising things.

 

Only yesterday, my sons dyslexia teacher phoned and told me how my son had recited pages from a book [word for word], with his eyes closed.

 

And I know this sounds like a contradiction. But it isn't. Sensory processing needs optimum environment to process things correctly, and also needs other distractions [which could be visual, auditory, tactile, smell etc] screened out or reduced as much as possibie. In those focused situations you may find your child can remember reams of dialogue because he has essentially 'recorded it' off the TV and has associated the dialogue with the visual pictures.

 

Yes on another occasion he may not be able to string together and repeat 5 words. Infact my son has a recorded auditory memory for 3 items - yet as I said, he repeated 3+ pages verbatim from his reading book.

 

Is your son doing okay in literacy and numeracy. Because auditory processing can affect how the sound is heard. So my son struggles to differentiate between n/m, v/f, b/d/p. So we he talks about things being 'masty' [nasty], or someone being in a bad 'moob' [mood].

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Does your son take language literally? Google semantic pragmatic speech disorder and see if that sounds relevent.

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http://apduk.org.uk/ is the auditory processing disorder UK website.

 

I'm not sure if you have to also have difficulties hearing sounds correctly to fit the criteria.

 

But your son is definately struggling with auditory memory [has his visual memory been tested].

 

You also need an OT to assess and diagnose Sensory Processing Disorder, and for him to get a sensory integration therapy programme.

Edited by Sally44

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It says on the website, that those with APD can repeat back word for word what is said, but not necessary process and understand it.

 

I too have an auditory processing disorder. I can process and understand what is being said WHEN I can hear it. In group situations my hearing is like a faulty microphone that picks up odd words or parts of words, but not the whole conversation. Or it may hear odd words from different conversations going on around me, which when put together makes no sense.

 

I also frequently appear deaf, because I do not respond when spoken to, because I have not heard anything!

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