For Baddad and anyone else interested.........

[Suki]

Hello

 

I posted a couple of times a few weeks back as we were awaiting an assessment on my 7 year old son for possible ASD following concerns the school and myself had. He has always been a bit, shall we say, "quirky" and I've been concerned about him on and off since he was 2 as I feel he has always had some autistic traits. However, there was also a lot to suggest he does not have ASD as his communication and social skills are actually very good so I was struggling to see how he fitted the criteria. Anyway, we have just had a very thorough 2 hour assessment at our CDC and they have said that he does not meet the criteria for ASD. The doctor asked us loads of questions dating from birth, chatted to him a lot, watched him play and got him to do various tests and exercises. She then took us through the "ASD checklist" which looked very similar to the DSM 1V criteria. Like me, she struggled to tick any. She put a couple of question marks around "obsessions" and "inflexible routines", based on some comments made by the school that neither of us actually agreed with, but even so he came nowhere near to meeting the criteria for further assessment. It's what I suspected but it's good to have a doctor confirm that I wasn't missing anything! She agreed that his verbal and non verbal communication were good and she had no concerns around his social skills. She also ruled out ADHD which surprised me as he is very hyper and has poor attention. However, his Connors scores were not particularly high. My score was higher than the schools, but still not high enough!

 

However, she agreed that he definitely has issues, particularly sensory issues which could explain a lot of his behaviour. This agreed with an assessment done by the ASD team at his school a couple of months back. She wants him assessed by an OT for Sensory Processing Disorder. Our GP actually had already requested this based on the school report but nothing appears to have been done, presumably as they were awaiting the outcome of this appointment. She also says its possible that he could have a learning disability, possibly dyslexia. His handwriting is very poor which the school blamed on poor fine motor skills but she said these skills are actually not that bad as he is good at fiddley work such as building lego. She noticed some problem with processing what was in his head to the paper which could be an indicator but would need an Ed Pysch to assess him (if we can ever get one of course!). She also noted that he is pretty immature for his age which could be a result of sensory or learning difficulties or a mild developmental delay as he was slightly late in reaching some of his milestones as a baby (from what we could remember anyway!).

 

So, all in all very positive and at least we have some answers. I'm meeting with his school to see if there's anything else they can do to help, though I suspect from what I've been told that we have little chance of getting an Ed Psych involved as there will clearly be more deserving cases for their time, so we may be looking to go the private route for his possible learning problems.

 

Thank you to every one who responded to my previous posts. This will be my last post on here as I clearly don't belong now given that my son is definitely not ASD. I'm off to search for some SPD, dyslexia, learning difficulty forums now......any suggestions???

 

Good luck to you all.

 

Suki

[baddad]

Hi Suki -

I'm really glad you've got some answers and from those answers a clear direction to move in I'm also really pleased to hear that your son hasn't fallen prey of the increasingly common trend (IMO) to label all / any 'negatives' with a wishy washy 'somewhere on the autistic spectrum' diagnosis and the usual machinery that kind of dx sets in motion which, inappropriately applied, can do more harm than good.

 

Even with ASD ruled out you may well find an occassional drop in here worthwhile - many people on the spectrum do have SPD features, dyslexia and MLD as co-morbids, and good advice is good advice wherever you find it!

 

Anyhoo - hope you find some sites that can help you, and very very best to you and yours.

 

L&P

 

BD

[Kathryn]

Thanks for the update Suki, I hope you find the right help that your son needs. Feel free to drop in here anyway if you want to from time to time.

 

All the best

 

K x

[bid]

Glad you have got some answers Suki

 

If your son does have sensory processing difficulties and dyslexia/learning difficulties, you may still find some useful help and support on here, as many of our kids also have such problems.

 

Very best,

 

Bid

[Suki]

Thank you all - may well check back regarding the issues he does have.

 

Suki

[Sally44]

My son has sensory processing disorder, dyslexia/dyscalculia, a speech disorder, Dyspraxia and ASD.

 

In my LA [and I think most if not all LAs] OT's do not provide pure sensory integration programmes because the PCT does not fund it - it costs too much money. However if this need is in a Statement, then the OT will have to provide something to meet that need. In our area referals to OT take 2 years, so you may want to look down the independent assessment route.

 

You would also find the SEN Code of Practice useful to read, which can be downloaded from the top of the Education forum under SEN publications. A special educational need can fall into different categories ie. speech and language, emotional and behavioural, sensory and physical. Your son may meet the criteria for a Statement in one of those areas. Even a gifted child, if they had such significant difficulties, could still receive a Statement. It is about whether their needs can be met using the funding the school receives. If they cannot then a Statement secures the additional funding to meet that need. So if he did need a sensory integration programme the LA would have to fund that.

 

So although he maybe cognitively able, you may find he is struggling severely in class due to sensory issues. There is a close link between sensory processing (especially visual and auditory), and a link to specific learning difficulties.

 

From your post it sounds like he may have visual dysgraphia. Difficulties getting thoughts/words etc out of his head and onto paper. He may need alot of similar supports to a child with ASD in his areas of difficulty eventhough he does not fit the whole criteria. So I would say don't disappear yet, because the difficulties he has are common to alot of the children on this forum and we maybe able to give you some advice on that.

 

If you suspect he has dyslexia the school MUST investigate that. They should ask for the EP to come and assess him and [according to the Jim Rose Dyslexia report to the government], if the child does have a SpLD it should be diagnosed and the severity of it should be stated.

 

If you find the LA is being unhelpful, speak to organisations such as IPSEA, or Network81.org for advice. You can go to places like Dyslexia Action, or see an independent EP recommended by DA or the British Dyslexia Association. Like ASD, there are different dyslexia profiles. You need a number of assessments to be carried out to ascertain exactly where in the process it is breaking down for him.

 

If he has sensory issues you may well find that he monoprocesses ie. only takes in information though one sense at a time. Or he experiences fragmentation, where information is not processed or integrated with the other sensory information experienced at that time. This can make it all very confusing and disjointed.

 

Do you think he does have problems with auditory processing. Does he appear deaf, or misprounce words or cannot concentrate in noisey backgrounds.

 

You may also need to look into Dyspraxia - motor co-ordination difficulties. This can also affect sequential thought and organising thought, speach, writing etc. A sensory problem will include the sense of co-ordination and balance. This can have a knock on effect on writing.

 

I also wanted to pick up on the fact that you've been told he does not have fine motor problems because he plays alot of Lego. My son is the same. He is brilliant at Lego. But he does have fine motor problems outside of this 'area'. This was assessed by an independent OT. In the same way my son has "above average visual processing skills", yet he cannot visually process letters and numbers. So I think that actually needs more investigation by the relevent professional because children can be good at a certain specific skills that they repeat daily and throughout the day, but not be able to motor plan for something new or different. If that makes sense??

Edited June 25, 2011 by Sally44