anxiety in toddler/PDD-NOS experiences?

carumba

I wrote under a previous screen name about DD at 18m- 2 yrs using "tv talk" - dialogue from cartoons etc.

I'm not sure what DD is going through but its manifesting itself in the form of fearfulness of certain situations. On Wed we went to a developmental pediatrics followup meant for DS. DS has ongoing devt delays but everyone is happy with his progress, plus he is a happy friendly little guy. For reference, they will be 3 in march.

DD on the other hand.. was screaming, crying and wouldn't stop despite me soothing her the whole time. This started once we got off the elevator and starting walking through the children's hospital. Got a lot worse once we were "shut into" the examination room waiting for the doc. She calmed down when I read a story book but started crying again when the doc walked in and didn't stop until we left (and got chicken nuggets as a bribe) She also did this when we went for flu shots at Walgreens, was hysterical and clawing at the door saying "open please"..calmed down after we got out of the waiting room and gave her crackers. The devt ped noticed her behavior and said that I should get her evaluated for PDDNOS, and more importantly to tease out whether she has anxiety issues that are unrelated to PDDNOS or because of PDDNOS. She mainly does this in dr's offices.

DD also has another behavioral red flag for ASD.. she has echolalic speech..she will recite entire sections of dialogue from a cartoon (Peppa Pig). She also sings lots of songs. At first we thought it was awfully cute because she will do it with the English accent and all. Now we're just worried. She does use the dialogue in a semi-appropriate fashion..she will recite the dialogue from the bedtime episode at bedtime and she will use lines from situations in the episode to similar situations IRL..almost like she's making a reference. She will repeat some things we say e.g. I often say "mummy gets you some juice/cracker/whatever" and she says the same to ask me for some juice/cracker/whatever. Now DH who imo has a lot of Aspie traits said that he was the same way as a toddler and child - had a great memory for songs/dialogue and can remember every word of every song he's heard. He said he did this to prevent being bored out of his mind as a kid. This doesn't really reassure me.

DD is also a crankypants in general. Wakes up cranky, seems unreasonably irritated by things. What I mean is, she is annoyed by something that would annoy a toddler (eg I only gave her one cookie when she wanted more) but her response is out of proportion to the annoyance. It seems like she's unhappy half the time. She does not seem to have sensory issues - happy eater, loves to play in all textures, not phased by being in a very chaotic environment like an arcade etc.

My last thing I'm worried about is that DD is too attached to mommy. I can't even go to the bathroom, much less take a shower, without her crying and being upset. This doesn't stop until I'm done and dressed. She doesn't care much for DH. She's very attached to my parents/one female cousin when they do visit, but they aren't here now and I'm her sole source of solace..which is very draining.

Anyway, if you made it to the end, I would love to hear from parents who had experience with similar behavior in their children, anxiety/PDD etc. I have some numbers to call to get an evaluation set up by EI or another private therapist I was referred to by dev ped.

macchiatto

Hm, wouldn't it need to be the dev ped who does the eval if PDD-NOS is suspected? I ask because we contacted EI for one of my boys 15 months ago and with all the evals he went through with EI and then the school system when they were turning 3, he was never diagnosed with anything beyond developmental delays and hypotonia. I thought it was the dev ped who generally does diagnosing? Maybe that varies by location (and I know there is another autism-specific team around here they can refer people to if you need a Dx quicker, since dev ped can take 6-18 months to get in). At any rate, it does seem worth getting her evaluated. My son has a lot of anxiety along with some of the red flags for possible Asperger's or PDD-NOS and we're still in the process of figuring out a diagnosis. I hope the process goes smoothly for you guys and you're able to get some answers before too long.