Can anyone else relate?

[Majoodle]

My daughter just turned 7. She has severe tantrums and melt downs that last between 20 minutes and 5 hours at a time. This all started around age 5. Her fine and gross motor skills are at the lowest end. She was fine before she was five, shy but active and physically able to do things children her age did. Now, she can not run, jump, hop, walks down stairs with her left leg, has a difficult time learning (and is in a special day class), she's very over weight due to inactivity, she prefers playing alone and school and with me she like to color and play doll house. She can not ride a bike, play hopscotch, jump rope.
I am waiting on a referral to see a specialist but in the mean time.....does any of this sound familiar to anyone else?

[specialmom]

You know--------- I hit post and then re read your post.  Okay---------  I'm wrong.  I do not know about losing ability on the left side suddenly at 5.  

Nix what I said------------ yes, see a specialist.  An occupational therapist can help and possibly the cousin field, physical therapy.  But I wonder about neurological concerns here.  Are you going to a neurologist?  

Sorry for my confusion in my first post.  

[specialmom]

Yes-----------------  I am very very familiar with these. My son has sensory integration disorder and these things are on the list of issues we've seen or dealt with.  Sensory involves the nervous system and how it processes things.  Things like "motor planning" can be involved with fine and gross motor issues. Basically, the brain has to process how to do something and then send the message to the muscle group via the nervous system to accomplish it.  It involves organization of the brain--------- info coming in and info going out and how to get something done.  New tasks are always troublesome and what a sensory kid will often do is avoid them like the plague.  Also when things don't come easy, the frustration level is through the roof when they are forced to do it.  Can you imagine how hard school must be on these kids?  A day of people pushing you to do things you have tremendous difficulty in.  Often--------- this will cause a "fight or flight" response. This is kind of a base level reaction to things.

The tantrums and meltdowns could be due to part of sensory called  "regulation /modulation".  They blow up easy and they blow up big and it can last and last.  They have trouble self soothing.  

There are many other areas of sensory integration disorder as well.  "tactile defensiveness" is a big one.  Does your daughter have any issues with clothing or socks?  
My son was diagnosed by an occupational therapist and we've been doing OT since he was 4.  He's now 6.5 and doing really awesome.  Some things went away completely and some we are still working on but he functions really well.  He had a near perfect year in school last year.  We do lots of things at home as well to keep him regulated.  If you are interested, google sensory and see what you think.  It is called either sensory integration disorder or sensory processing disorder.  I can give you lots of ideas of things to try if you think it fits your daughter at all.

But have no fear----------- they can do really amazing things with kids these days to help them along!  It will be okay.  good luck

[RockRose]

Majoodle,  I went to your profile to find out what country you live in.  

If you're in the US, or another developed country,  take her to an occupational therapist.  At this point, I wouldn't wait for a "referral",  but would ask around for a good OT and take her there.

Is she in school?  What do they say at this point?  This sounds like a huge concern,  going from mainstream 5 year old to a very delayed 7 year old.

Best wishes and God bless.

[amberette]

I am not familiar with these issues. My daughter did not deal with anything like this at that age. It is very possible she could be autistic. You should definitely see a specialist