Son, age 4, just diagnosed... | Autism PDD

Welcome. You are asking some good questions. Most of the time, kids need much more than what the school district can offer. How old is your son? My son is 3 and we are doing ABA/VB, speech therapy and floortime methods. It is working out quite well for him and he is making great progress. What are your primary areas of concern for him? Speech, social skills, sensory issues, etc.

Jen,

Welcome:)

The best advice I can give is to read all you can on VB/ABA therapy.

Go get the book "Let me hear your voice" by Catherine Maurice..after reading this book you will know what to do.

We did a VB/ABA therapy in our home full time for 3 years+ along with a speech tx from someone that had experience in autism..

Our dd was totally mainstreamed with no supports in kindergarten last year and will be mainstreamed for first grade. her expressive language is getting better everyday and with that progress so is her social:)

RDI is useful therapy too and can complement ABA nicely and gives parents tools to use..there is a wealth of information on this board from those who have been where you are now so take it to heart and know that your son is going to progress and learn~perhaps differently than other kids but he will grow and mature out of many sx of autism.

With early intervention he can make huge strides!

My dd is only a mere shadow of her initial sx of autism..and no longer has 99% of the struggles she use to have:) It is a long road..be stong and come and post as often as you need..a strong support system makes all the difference in your well being as well as his:)

Best of luck:)

Dont forget that even though you have suspected PDD for some time, actually hearing your child definately has PDD is still a shock. That little bit of hope that maybe you were wrong has been pulled from you. You will go through stages of grief. Feelings aren't right or wrong, they just ARE. Some of the best advice I got on this board agter I found out that my son had Autism is that he is still the same child he was before you knew he had Autism. Take care of you and give yourself permission to cry and grieve. Soon it will all be ok, you can get through this and come out smiling on the other end

I guess my question is "now what"? Basically all the doctor told us to do was re-convene his IEP team, and basically seek more services through the school system. I sort of feel like I am "twisting in the breeze" so to speak. I just feel like, ok, we now know that he has it, but what can we do to help him?

I appreciate any advice/suggestions.

It all depends on the state you are in.

However you need to makesure that the case manager has Autism experience and that he is getting some structured teaching time built into his day every day. WE do ABA and VBA with Aiden and it has worked wonders.

He will most likely need speech services to work on pragmatics as well as OT to address fine motor/sensory intergration. THe people working with your son must have experience with autism and if they dont then fight for a consultant.

[QUOTE=love my signets]

It all depends on the state you are in.

[/QUOTE]

We are in MA,

Thanks for your reply.

Oh, I'm in Ma too.

I can give names of people who can help set you up with some services. You might want to start by calling the Federation for children with special needs or Mass advocates they can help you.

Aiden has 3 days of social prags group, 2x30 of speech and he is in an intergrated perschool 4 days a week with the 5th day being Sub Sep.He also gets 1 2 hours session of home services.

But this is just what is right for Aiden.

Where did your ds get a diagnoses from? DId you get a report? that should outline what they think he needs.

My son in the process of being evaluated at 4 but I know he has PDD, half
of his school team [all the teachers and social worker] he has suspect it.
They told me he definitely has Sensory Intergration Dysfunction, which
the neurologist said PDD and that go hand in hand. I speak with her on
the 31th to get the diagnosis but she suspects that he is PDD now what
kind of PDD whether it be NOS or mild or just PDD, I have yet to hear.

It's always hard hearing it officially as I will in a week and a half.   I think
was much harder for me accepting something wasn't right and that he
wasn't like other kids when he was 15months and then at 2 when he
wasn't speaking and I had him evaluated, I was told he had so many
delays.   Now 2 years later, going through all the EI services and now he is
a school for children with Special Needs/Autism, it really has become
easier to deal with and accept.

My best advice to you is keep going, get more services as you can with a
diagnosis. I will be getting my son more OT because that is his worst
problem.   I have also enrolled him in a Social Skills training class, which
the school offers on Saturdays.   I have been doing all I can this summer
taking him everywhere to get him more social and less fearless of things.
It really has worked, he is riding on boats, horses, going on small rides,
going in pools, taking turns on the slides and stuff at the park all by
himself, accepting when we have to leave and if he gets upset, it's quick
and he cries as compared to a full blown tantrum and doing my own half
hour 45mins of OT when I am not working.

Doing all this helps me cope with this, it's like my therapy.   Sure it's not
easy at times but I sure had alot of fun with him this summer and it sure
was really hard and seemingly helpless before we started getting him
help.

I think if I got a diagnosis when he was two, I would have been in worse
shape.

I feel for you and my suggestion is do all you can do to help him.   Use
the resourses available that the school district can pay for and do your
own therapy with him.   It's working for me.

Its a hard thing to hear but it will be the hugest help and will open the doors to much help
Sending you a hug
You can ask that parent training be included in your son's IEP. Part of what the schools are supposed to do is make sure your child is able to accomplish his IEP goals "across settings," which means at home an in the outside world. Parents need to know how to do this. Sometimes preschools have parent training and parent support groups as part of their programs, so that doesn't even need to be in the IEP. BCBA's are the professionals of choice when it comes to behavioral difficulties. RDI is an outside program that can help families help their kids relate. Search that term on this site and you'll come up with lots.

[QUOTE=tzoya]You can ask that parent training be included in your son's IEP. Part of what the schools are supposed to do is make sure your child is able to accomplish his IEP goals "across settings," which means at home an in the outside world. Parents need to know how to do this. Sometimes preschools have parent training and parent support groups as part of their programs, so that doesn't even need to be in the IEP. BCBA's are the professionals of choice when it comes to behavioral difficulties. RDI is an outside program that can help families help their kids relate. Search that term on this site and you'll come up with lots. [/QUOTE]

Can you tell what BCBA and RDA stand for.

Sorry for my ignorance.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and advice.

I just met with his doctor last week, and his report is not finished yet. His doctor said it will be finished in about 4 weeks. So I guess I am feeling so overwhelmed because my husband and I left the doctor's visit wih the diagnosis, and little else. I assume when the report is finished we will know how best to proceed.

The services our son will have in place as of Sept. 5th are as follows: Integrated pre-school program 4x per week (2.5 hours each day). Speech therapy 2x per week for 30 mins, and occupational therapy 1x per week for 30 minutes. These services were already set up last spring when the school system did their evaluations. Then we were refered to for a neuropsych. eval. (which is how my son just recieved his diagnosis. )

I guess my main concern is (and has been) how to deal with son while he is at home. I also have a 6 month old at home, so I am having a great deal of difficutly caring for the baby, as my son requires constant one on one attention. When he doesn't get the one on one from me he basically causes havoc. I just feel like our home is in a constant state of upheaval. I just don't have the skills yet that are required for our son. Thanks for the book recommendation. I will need to learn a lot!

Is there any kind of services out there, perhaps that have someone come into your home and basically "teach" the parents how to parent?

My other concerns are finanical. I have heard that once your child receives the diagnosis, that health insurance can basically deny them.

I'm sorry if I am going on and on. But these are just some of my concerns right now.

Thanks again for all your help.

pjsmom39314.3126041667Floortime is a great tool for teaching parents how to better interact and play with their children. My son has come a long way with his play and language skills using that method. We also do VB/ABA, which has also been awesome, but costly. I know it's tough with a baby in the house as well. It was pretty crazy here as my older child was diagnosed when my baby was 4 weeks old. I felt like I couldn't interact with him they way he needed. We finally got to the point where the baby was old enough to play (or just be in the room) with us and join in floortime. Of course, I wasn't perfect and I had to interupt play to change a diaper or feed the baby. Please hang in there and remember to try to take care of yourself as well.[QUOTE=ShelleyR]