global development delay

[buknoy]

hello..

i am very much worried of my 28 months old son who was diagnosed of a global development delay. at his age he can copy words such as mama,papa.car.mommy.daddy,baby,happy,car,fish and more 25 words to mention. but we noticed that he seemed does not know to associate this words to things such as he does not know what a car is or he does not know that the word mama refers to me. also when he wants something examlpe he wants to drink milk he will touch or point the can of milk or he wants to have a glass of water, he will grab my hands and bring you close to the refrigerator. he is producing sounds that the pediatrican refers to us as "jargling" if im not mistakin of the word she used. he cant follow instruction such as "give me the ball" or "kiss mama" unless given with gestures just like if i will say "kiss mama" and then i will point or touch my face and that's the time that he will kiss me.

our pediatrician recommends us to an occupational therapist and we will do so. my question and my greatest fear is that, Is my child could possibly Autistic? or is it possible for my son to still coup up with the delay and still can live a normal life?

please help.. thank you

[KARENKLIF]

Hi,
I am not a proffesional by no means, but know what you are going through. I have the same problem that you have. My son was diagnosed at 12months as Global Developemental delayed. He knew words, but at that time could not put them to the objects. His vocabulary is not as extensive even at 4years old. I have had him in Speech, Ocupational and Physical Therapies. I had him Diagnosed at 2yrs old with Autism, but very mild form is what they had said. It helped getting him Diagnosed to get as much therapies as possible which is what they need. He is doing much better with following directions now and associating objects with words. I have him in Special needs class at a school through the board of education and they do all of the therapies there. They are doing picture therapy to help with his wants and needs and putting words with them. With 3 years of therapies he has come so far. He is caught up with most everything except his speech will take a few more years. So my advice to you would be to get him Diagnosed or at least rule out Autism. Then contact your local board of Educ. and get him sighned up for Special Education. Starting early will progress him further. He then can enter a regular classroom with his peers when he reaches school age. If you need any more advice let me know. I also am a firm believer in changing diets for Autistic Chldren. Reducing the amount of dairy products has done wonders for his brain developmnet. I don't know if your son has fitts or gets lethargic, but taking out milk and replacing it with Rice milk did away with those for me.