My intro. 5yo with ?ASD

[Temg]

Hi everyone,

 

Just wanted to introduce myself.

 

I have a 5 year old DS and a 2 year old DD. My DD wouldn't co-operate with our health visitor for a developmental check so she referred her to a speech therapist. THe speech therapist did a full development check and said she was within normal range for everything however picked up on my son who was with us and said she was concerned about him and asked us to get an Occupational Therapy assessment. We did and were very shocked by the report.

 

WE knew he had problems with his handwriting and sensory ssues but assessed as he was only 5 he had plenty of time to grow out of these in his own time. THe report was extensive and he has sever dyspraxia and Sensory processing disorder which we are only seeing for ourselves watching him in OT and watching how far advanced his sister is despite being 3 years younger. His OT feels these are part of a bigger picture within ASD's. HE has had 6 sessions of OT and today I asked her did she still feel he was on the spectrum now she had spent 6 hours with him in sessions and she said 'without a doubt'

 

He is having a full multi-disciplinary evaluation starting in January which will involve home visits, school visits, cognitive assessment, developmental assessment, SALT assessment and another OT assessment. In the meantime we are continuing with OT and he has extra resources in school.

 

Intellectually he is a few years ahead of his peers in Maths and Reading, if he didn't have problems he needed to work hard with like writing and colouring and cutting he'd find it boring.

 

The things DS finds really tough to deal with are changes in routine and times, for instance even the hour change a month ago completely stressed him out which led to an episode of cyclical vomiting which he gets when stressed or doesn't eat at the right time, and noises which seem to give him and phobia response, hoovers, hairdryers, people talking, dogs barking, leave blowers in autumn (this list is much more extensive), and diet, DS only tolerates certain textures, anything the consistency of weetabix or mashed potatoes.

 

I look forward to talking to others and getting advice and support. This is all very new to us (all has happened in the last 2 months) so forgive me if I say the wrong thing, we've just got our 'L' plates

 

[JsMum]

 

Hi Temg

 

Nice to meet you, it must of been a real shock when you took your DD for her appointment to be told it was your son they had concerns of, what a fluke that was, I understand school do have in place extra support was this after or before the concerns, school will pose a massive trigger for his SPD and ASD, but to have got this far in 2 months is brilliant and in orr as it is not that simple here, its taken me a really long road to get where we are, so in some respects though your rollercoaster has excellerated into overdrive it is actually positive because they can access therapies and support as soon as possible, I think many in dx difficulties just might move to irland next week now, my goodness it is a very efficient team of people.

 

I have a 12yr old son with Sensory issues too, he too lived on wheetabix when he was younger, and clothes and all that youve said its very similair to my son, so I have to recommend the book out of syncs child, a brillaint book.

 

Good Luck for the rest of the assessments and let us know how it goes.

 

JsMumxxx

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[Karen A]

Hi Temg and welcome to the Forum.

 

I think it would be a shock to go for an appointment with the SALT regarding DD only to find that she was more concerned about your son.

However for her for being so supportive and observant.

We have Ben who is 11 and just started at secondary school last September.

Ben was 7 when a teacher at school recognised that he might have AS because he reminded her of her son who had just been diagnosed.

He was originally diagnosed with dyspraxia.He is ahead in many respects but also had lots of sensory issues,severe difficulty with handwriting and co-ordination problems.

CAMHS thought for a couple of years that Ben had dyspraxia with some Social Communication Difficulties but not enough to warrant an AS diagnosis.

However after further assessments he was diagnosed with AS about this time last year.

 

Ben has settled very well into secondary school.Although we still have good days and bad days he is doing better than we could ever have hoped.

He still does find minor changes difficult though.

 

We have just returned from the dentist.After several days of attempting to cope with a baby tooth that was wobbling but refusing to fall out with an ever reducing list of foods Ben would try I decided it would be easier to ask the dentist to pull it out and get it over with which she did.Ben did not exactly enjoy the experience complete with bright lights,horrid mouthwash and cotton swabbs but the tooth was out before he realised.

 

Karen.

 

[Sally44]

Hi everyone,

 

Just wanted to introduce myself.

 

I have a 5 year old DS and a 2 year old DD. My DD wouldn't co-operate with our health visitor for a developmental check so she referred her to a speech therapist. THe speech therapist did a full development check and said she was within normal range for everything however picked up on my son who was with us and said she was concerned about him and asked us to get an Occupational Therapy assessment. We did and were very shocked by the report.

 

WE knew he had problems with his handwriting and sensory ssues but assessed as he was only 5 he had plenty of time to grow out of these in his own time. THe report was extensive and he has sever dyspraxia and Sensory processing disorder which we are only seeing for ourselves watching him in OT and watching how far advanced his sister is despite being 3 years younger. His OT feels these are part of a bigger picture within ASD's. HE has had 6 sessions of OT and today I asked her did she still feel he was on the spectrum now she had spent 6 hours with him in sessions and she said 'without a doubt'

 

He is having a full multi-disciplinary evaluation starting in January which will involve home visits, school visits, cognitive assessment, developmental assessment, SALT assessment and another OT assessment. In the meantime we are continuing with OT and he has extra resources in school.

 

Intellectually he is a few years ahead of his peers in Maths and Reading, if he didn't have problems he needed to work hard with like writing and colouring and cutting he'd find it boring.

 

The things DS finds really tough to deal with are changes in routine and times, for instance even the hour change a month ago completely stressed him out which led to an episode of cyclical vomiting which he gets when stressed or doesn't eat at the right time, and noises which seem to give him and phobia response, hoovers, hairdryers, people talking, dogs barking, leave blowers in autumn (this list is much more extensive), and diet, DS only tolerates certain textures, anything the consistency of weetabix or mashed potatoes.

 

I look forward to talking to others and getting advice and support. This is all very new to us (all has happened in the last 2 months) so forgive me if I say the wrong thing, we've just got our 'L' plates

 

As horrible as it is to be told something isn't as it should be with your child, at least OT are on board and working with him.

 

Sound therapy is thought to be very beneficial for children with SID. And how the senses perceive information and are integrated is going to be affecting the dyspraxia. Our OT gave us a session of sound therapy. I'm currently looking at Johansen sound therapy as it has been recommended to me by two different professionals.

 

If you find you are getting full in depth assessments and reports with recommendations are being made then everything is okay. However, if you find now, or in the future, that your son needs a Statement to identify all his needs and outline how those needs are supported in school, then consider contacting BIBIC. They are a charity that has professionals such as SALT, EP, OT etc on site and they do full assessments and reports for home and school. You will be charged an admin fee of £55, but the access to the professionals is free. That is just something to file away in your memory for future reference.

 

Although your son is ahead with reading/writing has he been assessed by SALT and EP. Does he have any social interaction difficulties?