Confused Mother

[jaxo]

Hello, my son turned 4 on January 28th 2009. He was a healthy baby boy always smiling and laughing. He did however have around 13 ear infections before he was one. We then got tubes put in his ears. We did not know that soon after his tubes became lodged with fluid behind them and he was only hearing things like he was under water. Finally I noticed that he wanted the tv turned up and other things of that nature so I took him back to the ear doctor and they set up yet another surgery for him to get another set of tubes. Needless to say he could not hear for about one year until recieving his second set of tubes a little after his second birthday. He is very behind on speech and does use echolaia in his language but he uses it in the correct context. He started preschool when he was three and has made tremendous progress answers yes and no questions, tells me what he wants etc. He just does not use alot of detail when talking. I am just confused or actually wondering if there is a bigger problem rather than just the speech delay like autism. He really does not display any characterisitics but the language delay. He loves to play with friends, loves to go to school, sleeps well, doesn't mind crowds or loud noises, he actually loves them. Knows all his alphabet, colors, and shapes. Loves to be outside riding his bike and can almost swim by himself. He wants to communicate better than he does because he gets frustrated and he really tries. Do some children really just have a speech delay or am I missing something. He continues to make progress everyday..Am I just over reacting?

[Athena_M]

If you are really concerned you can ask your pediatrician for a referal for autism testing.  You can also contact your school district.  Is he getting speech therapy from the school district?

[jaxo]

Oh yes great eye contact..he was potty trained one month after he turned 3. He loves dinosaurs but I think that is pretty normal for a 4 year old boy, and no repetitive behaviors that I have really picked up on. I am going to school to be a teacher so I sit here and analyze everything he does because of his speech delay. He has the motor skills of a 6 year old. He is my first child and I am not sure that my husband and I can have anymore kids, we were lucky to to have him..I might be really over reacting. We took him to his 4 year check up and he answered all the questions the doctor asked him. The only thing I really notice about him, is when he doesn't understand what you are saying he will repeat it..then if he realizes what you said he will answer, and after the one time of repeating and then understanding he won't repeat it again. The doctor said that because of his speech delay he may have some echolahia because he is still aquring new speech everyday and it is alot to take in. Thank you so much for yout input and I will continue to observe his speech delay, just to make sure I am doing everything I can for him.

[KarenDiane]

It sounds to me like your son just has a speech delay. Some children, especially when their is a hearing problem, just have that one area to catch up in. It doesn't sound like he has sensory problems or motor skill delays. Does he make eye contact with you? Is he doing well with potty training? Does he have any obsessions? Does he he self-stimulate (flap his hands, twist his fingers, bite himself)? Autistic kids don't make eye contact, are very hard to potty train, usually have an obsession, and do some sort of repetative movement for stimulation. If you still aren't sure, your Dr. can reccomend someone to test your son.