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Special Needs
Spockles
member
EI eval through school district & Autism ?
Spockles
member
Over the last month or so, DS has been having different evaluations through our school district. The evaluators came to our home. They were evaluating his speech/language, fine/gross motor skills and cognitive skills and his social/emotional development. We ended up finding out that DS will qualify for services in all areas. I have voiced my concerns about him showing some ASD signs, but one of the evaluators told me that she didn't see my concerns. So, because she didn't see my concerns, does that mean that he most likely is just developmentally behind and probably doesn't have autism? He was eventually able to smile and look at the evaluators, but I just can't help but think that there is something wrong and I feel like I've ruined my child in some way.
He acts differently than other kids his age and maybe that's because he's developmentally behind...but why is he behind?
He does strange things and does not do well in social environments. Often tries to hide or escape the environment/situation. (ex: I bring him to music class and he always hides under the counter or in the corner of the room between this bookshelf and the wall.) At ECFE he clings to me and often goes to the window sills/wall and starts licking them. He has recently started to shake his head side to side during eating and that is increasing in length each time (kind of scares me when he does it, sometimes). We used to go to the little gym and he was more interested in looking at the nuts/bolts of the equipment than climbing around on it. Also, everytime we go to activities, he will not walk through the doorway to go inside. I have to carry him because he plants his feet and resists walking through.
His speech is pretty non-existant and the words that he was saying, he no longer says.
Sorry for all of the rambling (i'm kind of thinking out loud), but what should I do next? Bring it up with his pediatrician at his 2 year check up? Or see him sooner? Contact a developmental pediatrician instead? Or am I just worrying for nothing?
I feel terrible even thinking this, but sometimes I feel embarrassed with how DS acts. I feel like other parents are looking at me and thinking what a terrible parent I am because my DS acts so different.
It's Spring break next week, so he'll be starting speech therapy the following week.
Any advice/insight it greatly appreciated.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: EI eval through school district & Autism ?
I would absolutely talk to your pediatrician and maybe look into your state's early intervention program. They may tell you something different than the school corporation.
My son is currently being evaluated by a developmental neurologist and child psychologist, in addition to the school corporation's psychologist. The school psychologist basically told me that they don't necessarily go by a medical diagnosis as a way of determining eligibility for services (why I don't really know). They will likely categorize DS as developmentally delayed, since this is all that is necessary to qualify for school services up until kindergarten. At that time, they may have to give him a different "label" to keep up any services he may need.
Long story short, I would talk to your pedi about your concerns and see if you can get a referral to early intervention. Please know that this is NOT something you did wrong. It's not your fault. You are doing your best to get your child any help he may need.
EI is early intervention and DS did qualify for services with them. The one evaluator just didn't see my concerns for autism that I had mentioned to her. I'll check with his pediatrician. Thanks for the response!!
I know that only a doctor or psychologist can diagnose autism, but I thought that these other professionals would be able to see "red flags." And all of this doesn't help that my DH is basically in denial that he could have autism.
EI did find him to have a pretty moderate delay, which just makes me feel terrible.
Just as an example, this is how our experience has gone so far:
We had concerns about DS starting at around 18 months when he wasn't talking at all. Pedi wanted to give it until age 2, at which time he still wasn't talking (and showing other worrisome delays) so he then referred us to EI. He wanted to check back in with us in 6 months to see his progress. When we went back, that was when pedi finally referred us to a developmental pediatrician/neurologist. Now, DS is almost 3 years old and has just been diagnosed.
I guess my point is that it can take awhile to finally get a medical diagnosis (at least that was our experience), but I'm not really sure that at 18 months anyone could have diagnosed DS anyway. I would start by talking to your pediatrician and maybe start looking for developmental pediatricians in your area. Wait times can be very long, as you probably know, so if you feel that he needs to be seen, the sooner you get on a list the better. Good luck.
ETA: Our EI therapists came out and told me that even if they suspected ASD, they weren't legally allowed to say anything to me since they weren't medical professionals qualified to make a diagnosis. I don't know if that makes a difference in your case or not, but something to consider.
I'll tell you my experience.
My DS was first evaluated by EI at 18 months, didn't qualify. He had no speech and was showing what I thought were signs of Autism. We went with private speech therapy, that first therapist did think DS was showing signs of ASD too. DS was re-evaled by EI at age 2, he then qualified for speech. At the time I asked about ASD and they told me they didn't see it but would let me know if they noticed anything. That whole year I asked his teacher her opinion several times, every time she told me she didn't see it. It wasn't until he was nearly 3 and in another private program that I started getting answers. DS is Autistic and Apraxic.
Having the EI teachers and support staff tell me they weren't seeing signs of ASD made it so much harder on me, I felt like he was but they said no so I didn't know what to think. It made the acceptance process take a lot longer for MH and I (and our whole family).
And about the being embarrassed, it's a stage. There will come a point when you accept your son's problems (whatever they may be) and the embarrassment will subside. Try not to feel bad about it.
HTH
You have to find a developmental pedi and get your child evaluated. I would list all of your concerns on a paper, and think really hard about these things too:
- any reactions to vaccines?
- diarrhea/contripation?
- unresolved strabismus?
- skin rash, anal rash, atypical skin conditions (red cheeks, skin too dry, spots on skin, etc)
- balance, ability to perform fine motor activities at the developmental level
- self care skills, communication skills/gestures (pointing, joint attention)
Think about all these and talk to a developmental pedi (not your regular pedi) to resolve your concerns.
GL!!!
If he qualifies for services in all areas, you're not worrying about nothing!
The important thing right now, no matter what label he ends up with, is that you're getting him services and that will help. In my district, an evaluation does not give you a diagnosis, they only tell you if your child is delayed and qualifies for services. In fact, I was really frustrated when we had a speech evaluation and the pathologist couldn't tell me if my DD1's speech was delayed because of a developmental issue. But she's not qualified to make that call and was careful to let me know that. A developmental evaluation by a medical professional will get you an actual diagnosis. That can take awhile, because wait lists are long.
My DD1 was just diagnosed with autism last week through a private evaluation. In the meantime, we had her evaluated by the school district as well and she qualifies for services from them. I had a meeting with the district folks to design a plan for her this morning, and having the diagnosis is useful, IMO, because I'm using that as a way to advocate for services before they've really gotten a chance to "know" her, and it also helps me and DH figure out what other services she needs that we'll have to do privately, and have an overall treatment strategy.
I know how scary and hard it is to be facing this. But, now that I'm in the middle of it, I have to say that I'm really encouraged by the resources that are out there (actually, kind of overwhelmed by the options) and I hear time and again how much of a difference that therapy makes. I've also been kind of surprised at how quickly I've started meeting other moms with kids on the spectrum, and how helpful and supportive that community of people is.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010