Lack of Speech Development of 6yr old girl

[tmashford]

From the age of 10 months she has not devolped normal speech patterns and hand motor skills she she has her own way of communicating with her own sound and actions.she understand what is said but her reply is with hand action opening and closing and pointing of hands this also happens when she is excited as it appears to be her only way of communication. she has started to say the odd word i.e. mum nana but if asked to repeat she ingores the request. she is otherwise very sociable and outgoing her coordination is not good she cannot hold cutlery or catch things but her leg coordination appears to be ok.her sleeping pattern is disturbed by what seems to be cramps in her legs some nights it can take up to an hour to settle her down. she is attending a special school.
It has been suggested she is autistic and also that she is intellectually handicapped but this has been denied by people that have worked with children with those handicaps. our concern is nobody can put a name for her condition. could you please help us.

[acbuchan]

HI, I was really surprised to see your post as I was looking through them! Its only because my little one has similar things to what you are describing! We also ofcourse have been searching for answers and have none yet. He is almost exactly as your daughter is. My son was born with what we think was oxgen deprevation prior to birth, he was fine at birth but had many knots iun the cord andit was around his neck three times also. His langugae is not dveeloping properly, its just grunts mainly. He also has physical delays, just started crawling at 10 mnths, not hope of walking yet. He also has temors, where he has shaky spells. Anyway just thought Id touch base with you since our kids symptoms seen to be a little similar! We are currently looking at a few things with our paediatrician including, "happy puppet syndrome" (angelmans), Cerebral palsy and intellectual imparement. I interestingly enough have two older boys who are both autistic. I do not feel that the baby is though as he is far to social, and he loves cuddles, my other two didnt like being carried, always wanted down, and would pull away when I pulled them close, does your daughter do this? If aI can be any help or we can support each other please let me know! Goodluck! Oh and also, re the leg pain, it could be many things, but you may want to check out on the internet, for restless leg syndrome, we have just found out that my son has this, and it causes him great pain at night mainly, interestingly enough when I read about it I discovered that I also have it and have since I was a child (i think they say it can be hereditory). Good luck!! Cindy

[kidcare]

Has a speech therapists mentioned whether she may have apraxia? If no one has addressed this, see if you can find a ST who has a background in tx for apraxia to complete an evaluation. Research on the internet and see if your daughter's chacteristics compare with this information.  Hopefully the OT will address whether there are any sensory intergration issues.  It would be good to have a developmental pediatrician see your daughter so they could help pull everything together for you.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

This little girl is clearly displaying symptoms of some form of developmental disorder, and it will be crucial to pinpoint the precise nature of the disorder. Try to arrange an evaluation by a developmental pediatrician (or, even better, if the resources are available, an evaluation by a team - pediatrician, psychologist, speech/language specialist, physical therapist, occupational therapist).