can anyone help?

[darc80]

We are in the process of getting our son diagnosed with something. Possibly autism, I'm thinking PDD-NOS. Nothing is consistant with his behaviour. I am ready to have a break down. Any suggestions?

[Jaylor24]

I feel for you, I know in the beginning I was very fustrated and over whelmed...i felt like I didnt get any straight or helpful answers.  I felt that most of the "professionals" were not really good.  My son was and is receiving OT, PT, ST and ...in the beginning I sat and watched them work with him...we went through several OT's and ST's. I got lucky with out PT who was great and finally the last ST we had before he started pre school was great too.  She was the one who helped me on the road of getting him evaulated for PDD-NOS ...when the regular pediatrician said "your over reactingm he's a boy"   If you are not getting answers from the bahvioral pediatrian you are seeing now...find another one.  What did the neurologist say about him as far as PDD NOS or autism? It is a very hard lonely road, I found the best help to myself  was finding what works for him because no 2 kids are the same and there is no way of really helping these kids the same.  I happen to use his favorite thing...he is crazy about cars...he loves hotwheels.  So again I used those to reward good behavior.   I also did alot of research online.  BUT definately if a doctor isnt getting you the help you need go to another one.  I live in NY I didnt realize you lived in Canada...here we have early intervention...once evaluated (ages 0-3) and approved for services, there is no waiting to get a therapist...you are pretty much found one immediately.  I am fortunate to live where there is no wait for any of these types of services and most are free and they come to your home (Speech, OT and PT) now he is started special ed pre school at no charge and he gets all of his services there.  I am lucky this year he has a wonderufl teacher.  My son is also a twin and his sister was the same as far as trying to get attention, its very hard but i try to include her in things I o with him and i also make "special time" and "special treats" for just her...like I take her to get her nails polished at the salon once in a while for $3 they dont give her an actual manicure but she doesntknow the difference, she thinks its something special for her.

[darc80]

Thank you for your suggestions, I have just recently started writing everything down. I used to go to the doctors trying to explain his "off days" and not getting very far.  We are still on a waiting list for the speech therapist, it has been 10 months and still on the list, it get frustrating.
darc80

[darc80]

I live in Ontario, Can. In a small town. We have been to the big cities for lots of testing. EEGs, hearing, eyes, neurologist, etc.
We have a Behavioral Pediatrician and she has seen him twice,first telling me that he is 2 year old boy. He is now 3 1/2. The second time she sent us to a neurologist. He said that he didn't think that he was epileptic and that maybe he was a little to much like his dad. My husband has a learning disability. He is supper smart, went to collage and has a good job. That was the doctors answer. My son has had a total of 6 seize rs. The last one was his worst, he went unconscious. His seizers are so random, he went 8 months. without having one.  It is now just his regular GP that is helping us. HE is going for a CAT scan soon.  I don't even know if we are going in the right direction.   I just don't know how to help him feel better and it is so frustrating and overwhelming. I have to other children that are screaming for more attention from me but he just takes up so much of it

[Jaylor24]

Hi, my son used to have very bad "fits" in stores for example...and believe me till this day he is very attached to me...he still cries just about everyday when i drop him at school and this is over a  year later.  At the time when he was having these fits, it was the same thing as your having...there was no reasoning with him.  Things have gotton better though so keep your head up.   I know there are alot of these things to mention...I will give you an example...whatever store i took him to if he saw a car or a ball he would want it but not just one he wanted the whole rack and screamed and threw him self. I first tried to avoid those aisles of course but you never know where one of those items will show up...at target there is the small hotwheel cars at every register so there was no getting around that.  So everyone said dont take him there but the truth is he needs to learn how to behave in a situation like that...avoiding it isnt going to help what is he going to do? never go into a store?  So I would take him there and anywhere else i knew they had these cars..i told him you can have one and if he started scrfeaming i wouldnt give it to him.  The first time we left and he screamed all the way home till he fell asleep and belive me it was hard because you know everyone in the store stared at me.  When we got homeI didnt give him anything that day.  The next time we went he screamed again all the way home and finally when he stopped and was being a good boy I gave him a car and said "this is for being a good boy" and over time because it didnt happen over nite he learned that if   he sat nicely he got to pick a car.  That was reward that worked well with him...theyre cheap enough so I didnt care.  Now I can take him anywhere and sometimes he will ask me for something and like before where he would throw a fit now I saw "maybe well get it another day" and he walks out of the store just fine.  Try a small reward system with him...dont get me wrong he cant get rewarded for the rest of his life...eventually as the behavior got better I sort of "weaned " of his reward until we were able to go in a store and leave without anything and there was no crying.  I did this with potty training also and had him trained within 2 weeks, fully.
What you really should do at this point from my experience is take him to a Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrican or a Pediatric Neurologist.  They can evaluate and diagnosis him and start you in the right direction.  I would make a list of all his behaviors that you are concerned about so you can go over these things when you meet with them.  I would recommend taking him to both the devlopmental and behavior pediatrican and the pediatric neurologist.  After that point I would still continue to see the developmental and behavioral pediatrician every 6 months which is what i do now.  He is also old enough you should try to get him into a special ed pre school.  What state do you live in?

[Sally44]

One of the first and important professionals to be involved is the Speech and Language Therapist.  They are responsible for all aspects of speech/social communication and interaction and behaviour.
Get a note book and write down all of his speech difficulties, whether you suspect he has problems understanding what is said to him, or problems getting his words together in his head to say them, problems with comprehension or inference, concrete or literal thinking, rigid thinking or behaviour - need for routines etc.  Does he take longer to process language, does he have auditory memory problems. Does he repeat words or phrases from TV or DVDs.
What are his play skills like.  Does he play by re-enacting things he has already seen on TV?  Can he join in with other kids.  Does he play alongside them.  Can he initiate conversation and sustain play.  How do his peers respond to him.  Do they baby him, or get upset with him because he is inflexible etc.
Write all these things down, so that when you see the SALT (I presume you are waiting to see one), that you can discuss all these things.

[darc80]

Hi. My son is almost 3 1/2. My concerns for him are that it is almost like he is two different people. He has a very hard time with separation from me, he has to have things his way there is no reasoning with him, like having to sit beside me at supper,backing into the driveway so that the house is on his side, ect.  There are so many of his little "things" to mention. His fits are getting worse and he never seems to be happy.He cries and whinnes alot.  But sometimes if he is not with me he is your typical 3 year old.
He repeats things over and over when starting to say something, not like a stutter, but repeats the beginning of a sentence (3 or 4 words) over and over again.  I will stop there because there are many more. I don't know how to help him. We are still trying to be diagnosed.
Thanks for contacting me, you were the first in the community.
darc80

[Jaylor24]

my son was diagnosed PDD-NOS at 2 1/2...how old is your son?  my son had several behavior issues to in the beginning...he is now 4 1/2 and although he isnt where he should be he has had significant improvement...he goes to school full day and they said he has no behavior issues at all.  i have worked very hard with that, my issues with him were more when we went to a store or something like that but he is great to take to a store now.  what are your concerns with his behavior?