What to expect from develop peds?

mommytoconnor

A little background, I adopted my son and he was born substance exposed at birth.  He just turned 2 yrs last week.  At 18 months he still was not talking. Very verbal with babbling though.  He met all his motor milestones on time or early.  Because he wasn't talking and having some tantrums, and because of his substance exposure, we were referred to a devel peds for eval just to make sure everything was on track.  It was a 7 month waiting list to get appt, which is in 2 weeks.  So in the meantime, I had OT/ST/PT eval and he was diagnosed as having sensory processing disorder, which I kind of thought he might as he had sensory issues at around 4-9 months old with sleeping, but which we worked thru. So his PT eval was all within normal limits, ST agreed that he is delayed in receptive and expressive speech.  So he has had 9 OT visits and 3 ST visits.  I am already seeing a difference in him, which is great.  However, with this appt coming up I am a little anxious as to what to expect.  No one has ever even mentioned ASD to me, simply SPD.  He fits the SPD stuff to a tee.  I know that alot of ASD kids have SPD, but not every SPD kid is autistic.  So my question is, what should I expect from a developmental peds appt.  Any encouragement is welcome. TIA.

BirdieToldMe

When we took our son to a Dev Pedi, we ended up talking forever about all the reasons why the Pedi could tell he wasn't autistic.  He just sort of watched him play and he talked to us about the importance of encouraging eye contact.  He talked about the way he moved and the way he struggled with speech.  We never really did get much out of it.

THEN we were referred to an OT through ChildFind and we got our SPD diagnosis.  I don't think the Dev Pedi was even that familiar with it.  He certainly never brought it up in our appt.  Once we learned about SPD and read The Out of Sync Child, our lives changed.  It was totally our son and we learned all about it.

I think you're likely on the right track now that he's getting OT and ST.  My son is on an IEP now but my daughter has SPD, too.  I think our OT was much, much more knowledgeable about all of that than any Pedi I've met with.  

Good luck at your appt.  We knew all along that DS didn't have ASD.  He really never showed any signs of it at all, even though he very clearly has SPD.  We started the Wilbarger Brushing Protocol and that really helped us.  Try not to worry about the appt.  It sounds like things are already looking better.   

DJB2010

Mommy2 Connor....You have a PM!

DJB2010

mommy2connor......You have a PM!