My husband and my two sons all have disorders!!

[Beth]

My little boy is four years old. Since the age of 2 we knew something was wrong his senses were off mostly Said only a handful of words receptive language poor, and didnt respond to his name. We were told PDD-NOS. Now we see a DAN Dr who is a expert on autism and says he is not autistic but either severe SID or mild pdd-nos? He is social, has about a 400 word vocab and uses them correctly unles real upset.points. always immatated,sleeps well, great eye contact. A year ago he was at a 11 month level now he is at a 32 month level so we are doing well. He does not stimm unless sometimes visually. All his therapists say severe SID too, because he doesnt meet the criterea for autism. My husband has ADD, and now my 21 month old does not say one word, all other areas are normal though. I feel really overwelmed. My question is can severe SID mimic autism when under five years of age and can my son have a couple of characteristic of autism without being autistic thank you

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Beth,

Yes, at a very young age, sensory integration problems can appear as autistic-like, or PDD-like (as you probably know, autism is one form of PDD). But, as the child develops, capacity for meaningful relationships and capacity for communication become more apparent in the child with sensory integration problems.

As with all mental and emotional conditions, the diagnosis of autistic disorder rests on the presence of an array of symptoms. It is possible to display some of the symptoms, but not a sufficient number to meet the diagnostic standard. It is often such instances that ultimately as regarded as PDD NOS (i.e., not otherwise specified).

[DENISE]

Your husband should be tested for central auditory processing disorder, as should your boys. this runs in the family and is sometimes mistaken for ADD. CAPD can cause language delays. I have it and so does my son. Please visit my web page to look for info. CAPD is near the middle of the page.
www.geocities.com/denisev2/

[Kyle's Mom]

These types of disorders do tend to run in families and there is a genetic component to them.  My son is 6 and was diagnosed ADHD in 1998.  My husband is bipolar.  One doctor told us that he could switch to bipolar later in life.

There have been a lot of successes with autisma and other disorders due to diet changes.  Try reading "Special Diets for Special Kids" by Lisa Lewis.  Diet plays a big factor in my son's behavior.  After we found what foods were causing him problems, his vocabulary, motor skills, and comprehension blossomed. Adding essential fatty acids (Omega-3 and Omega-6) also has helped a lot, since a lot of ADHD boys are deficient in essential fatty acids.  EFAs may help your children also. Plus doing the diet changes and adding the EFAs eliminated my son's violent temper tantrums and we now have a pretty much normal life.

But while diet changes can help, you can still need medication and therapy.  But at least you will have done all you can to keep the medication at a minimum.

A good site to get information on a variety of conditions is conductdisorder.com and read the Chandler papers.