2 year old given PDD-NOS dx | Autism PDD

HI there. I do not have a child on the ASD Spectrum, but have concerns for a friend. Was your son's most prominent concern the lack of speech? My friends LO will be 2 and there is NO speech yet. Friend says the child is "lazy"...and there are so many more signs.....was speech the reason you went in?

Speech was the main reason I had my second son evaluated. He also had some red flag behaviors that he could not have copied from his big brother. Brendon has never in his life, that I'm aware of, lined up anything. Jacob will line up like things. I find pepperoni lines across the floor, stuck to the wall, and potatoes across the kitchen. Jacob also has more speech than his brother, but it's echolic. I've just receintly after 5 months of ABA been getting some spontaneous speech.

I know how it feels when that second child is diagnosed. I thought I'd handle it alot better, but it seems like I'm starting to come out of that funk I descended into. I'm sending you some big hugs and like people have told me, He's still the same kid you know and love. He just has a different label now.

Rhosyn39354.5377314815 [QUOTE=Selena]HI there. I do not have a child on the ASD Spectrum, but have concerns for a friend. Was your son's most prominent concern the lack of speech? My friends LO will be 2 and there is NO speech yet. Friend says the child is "lazy"...and there are so many more signs.....was speech the reason you went in?[/QUOTE]

Honestly, if my dd didn't have a dx and my other son hadn't started showing some odd things I wouldn't have gone in. I really thought it was a speech thing only. She said she had wondered to herself whether she would be as concerned with my son if I hadn't told her about the other kids. She said the key thing for her was that he looked more typical to his age when engaged vs when he was on his own. She said knowing my dd had subtle signs early on and my ds is having odd behaviors come out at age 3, she thought she would rather dx and end up wrong than not dx and have his questionable behaviors increase.
kdchaos39354.6223958333 [QUOTE=Rhosyn]

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Thank you for understanding. It is stressful. I think going in with my dd knowing she would be dx made it more of a relief. With him I really thought she would say he looked typical. It made me realize that my other son will probably get a dx too. I still feel they will have good futures, but it's the overwhelmingless of the things I have to do to make sure they are all on track that gets to me. It's hard enough having a 5, 3 and 2 year old let alone 3 with developmental issues.

My youngest's speech therapist gets so much speech out of him. I guess it's because he is fully engaged which I think is why she stressed we should not let him on his own to play for long bouts of time.
[QUOTE=horizon]aba a week and I am very optimistic about his future but my advice is take all the intervention you can get, no matter how mild he is and go for gold. ABA is highly structured 1;1 that aims at intergrating asd children into mainstream education unaided. [/QUOTE]

I guess this is what confuses me. My dd never had ABA and is mainstreamed unaided and is doing pretty good. I had to fight to keep her RSP, but she seems to be doing some social interactions more, and I think just being around her peers each day is helping that. I just sometimes start to doubt myself because everyone tells me I have to get it. Not that we can do it anyway. She doesn't qualify for regional center services and we can't afford ABA on our own, especially with 3 kids. yikes! I can imagine the cost. Just my middle son's speech until his school evaluation is done is expensive. And that is "only" a week for an hour.

Drmomtojoe-
I live in Caifornia so there are a lot of ABA agencies. ABA is a method of
teaching and this technique can be used for anyone. Parents of ADHD have
a harder time getting services so many will pay and employ a BCBA to work
on behavior modification and also train for attention. SD will not pay for this
unless you have a dual dx of asd/adhd usually. Parents usually cough up
the money to pay for the services. Is ABA readily available in your state, if it
is can you get an evaluation which states that your child will greatly benefit
from Intense Behavior Intervention. The thing with ABA, once you do
commit to it, it is a lifestyle change and parent training is big part of this.
My point about saying that ABA will benefit ADHD is that many people with
ASD on the mild side are talked out of ABA.

[QUOTE=KathyK]Insist on ABA, I know kids who have only had ADHD who have benefitted
from ABA. The less affected you are the faster you will master programs
that is specifically written for your child. Our ABA is very play based. The
problem with ABA is that it is very expensive, there are usually long waiting
lists for reputable agencies.[/QUOTE]

How do you get ABA for a child with ADHD? Who do you contact?

My kids are both on the milder side and the younger one was given the dx more or less cos his bro had it (he got it at 5). In my experience a little bit of autism can go a long way and aba is an extremely effective approach for language, play skills and all sorts of developmental milestones. My 'mild' asd son has 20 hours pre-k and 20 hours aba a week and I am very optimistic about his future but my advice is take all the intervention you can get, no matter how mild he is and go for gold. ABA is highly structured 1;1 that aims at intergrating asd children into mainstream education unaided.

With 3 kids most likely on the spectrum, it's going to be very hard to engage 1:1 all the time. I know that just from my two. I did find some more educational activities for one to do while I'm working with the other. Both are gaining some computer knowledge/awareness. Brendon likes the computer when it plays music and Barney. Jacob can do things on here that I can't. I got Jacob a preschool disney game for the computer. It's a little higher level than he's really at, but not much. He loves it and when he's on it, I have the opportunity to work with Brendon more 1:1. Brendon loves Creedence Clearwater Revival. Actually both of my boys do. I try to do 15-30 minutes of exercise time with them each day and most of the times that's spent dancing to CCR. That's the one little session I do with them that really overlaps. Sometimes their sessions get cut short because the other brother needs me. I hate those days. Today has been one of those days actually. It's hard to do any 1:1 with B because Jacob has been all over me because he's got a cold.

I had the eval for my 2 year old today. He got a PDD-NOS dx. His ADOS score was a 7. She said he has some excellent skills when he is engaged, but her biggest concern is how long he will play by himself without seeking out others. He is imitating which is good, and she said she could see an argument made by another therapist that he isn't on the spectrum, but that with the history with the siblings that she would rather err on the side of caution to get him help now.

She said he is definitely a kid we don't want to leave on his own to play because his signs and play are less typical when he is playing on his own vs. when he is engaged with another person.

Most his areas on the DSM are mild. She said she really has good hope for him and that her concern is without the dx and extra therapy he might start displaying more traits.

I was pretty upset after this eval. With my daughter's I already knew her dx going in. With him, I really thought he was typical, but I guess I was just comparing him to the other two kids.

She works at the UC Davis Mind Institute and said that their research is showing that getting them services between 2-3 makes a huge difference.

I asked her about ABA because I keep hearing my kids "need" this. She said our city is big on ABA, but that she feels that if a kid is already motivated, as is the case with all 3 of my kids and they are milder PDD-NOS, then other things that are more play/social based tend to work better. She said her hope is that they can get to a point where they can be more specific as to what therapies help a child based on how they present.

So, that is our update. Now knowing my youngest got the dx, I am 98% sure my 3 year old will get a dx too since he presents less subtly than my 2 year old.

Sorry you were upset, but so glad you're catching this early. (((HUGS)))

My son is milder PDD-NOS as well, has always been very motivated, and we focused on play/social based therapies with great results. I know many people have had success with ABA, but we didn't go that route and have still had great success.

Insist on ABA, I know kids who have only had ADHD who have benefitted
from ABA. The less affected you are the faster you will master programs
that is specifically written for your child. Our ABA is very play based. The
problem with ABA is that it is very expensive, there are usually long waiting
lists for reputable agencies.I think ABA can benefit all our kids depending on what it is - especially behavior issues. i would look into it t least on your own. It sounds like your child has a lot of strengths! I see you are a senior member so I am assuming the dx is good news, right? A way to move on to the next step?

Mary - Thanks for the personal experience....

I was at my friends last night and there are days when her DD looks "fine" - but the signs I see are scary and worrysome.

1. No language. I watched her "say" things yesterday.....she will repeatt a word that is asked of her but it lacks ANY proper formation of words in the mouth, her mouth stays as a perfect "o" and opens and closes, there is no formation of words through mouth movement. She wont "use" words, but will repeat when asked.

2. She has a "dead-pan" expression on her face more often than not. She does smile and "engage" - but her affect is off.

3. She toewalks - I saw it yesterday.

4. I have no idea if she still does it, but a month ago, she was bringing diapers out of her bedroom, one at a time and stacking them...insisting that the spines and the designs ALL face the same direction.

5. Fascinated with the mechanics of opening doors, unlocking stuff. Every door has a high lock, she'd run out the front door!

6. MANY nightwaking episodes - mother says she is a "bad sleeper" as wella s a "bad eater"....mom has resorted to spoonfeeding her just toknow she has gotten some food.

7. She plays with kids and at the age of 2 - paralell play is so normal...that I cannot really determine.

8. Wont leave shoes on....odd?

I am worried - the language is the biggest and her mother has made it clear that she thinks it all normal - she is fine. I hope and pray that am just overreacting...

Any thoughts?