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Please Help- What do I do Next?

dzappit123dzappit123 member
in Special Needs

Hi Ladies,

So I have been lurking here lately and wanted to see if anyone could direct me on what I should do next. I have a concern that my son may have Autism. I have noticed signs where he completely ignores me but can hear other very quiet noises that will get his attention. He has always had horrible feeding issues where he only eats foods with certain textures. He doesnt speak one word and he is 20 months old. We had an eval done and he is delayed in a few areas including speech. We have seen a few different specialist for his feeding issues and now have a private person helping with his speech. I am just concerned and don't know if I should be or not. I see that some of you listed a few of the same issues with your little ones. He has great eye contact and doesn't really show any other things that show concern. So my question is, what do I do next? Who exactly do I schedule an appointment with next? Is there a specialist? Sorry for being so naive to this area, my pedi is horrible and I am in the process of finding a new one and don't know who to ask without sounding completely stupid. Thanks so much for any help. 

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Re: Please Help- What do I do Next?

  • typesettypeset member
    The first call should be to Early Intervention for their evaluation and to start the ball rolling on therapies. Our kid didn't qualify for EI without his diagnosis (verbal, just missed several cutoffs). We were very fortunate to have gotten the diagnosis first--although that's NOT the usual course and most people don't need a label to get services this young. 

    I e-mailed my concerns to our pedi ahead of his two-year visit and was immediately directed to the local hospitals' developmental centers. I contacted three clinics, filled out packets for two, and waited to see who could get us in first. A pediatric neurologist at an autism center made the initial diagnosis and it was confirmed two weeks later by the head of developmental medicine and a psychologist at another hospital. The latter duo ran the ADOS Toddler, the Vineland, and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development on him. 
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    11/10/10 The Kid
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  • dzappit123dzappit123 member
    Thanks for the help! He did the eval and didn't qualify for services except speech. He was very low in 2 other areas though but just missed it they said. So who exactly do I have him see now then? Like if I was to google the next type of specialist would it be that pediatric neurologist or developmental pedi? (sorry for sounding so stupid)
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  • mommy0411mommy0411 member

    My DS is also speech delayed and has a sensory processing disorder. He sounds very similar to your son but we don't think he is autistic at this point because he understands tone of voice among other things. He doesn't respond to his name a lot but that is mostly due to his sensory issues. He also gets speech, OT and sees an early interventionist from EI.

    After talking to our pedi, our next step is a pediatric neurologist. We see him in February.  I would definitely suggest specifically discussing his development with your pedi and see what they recommend. I know most of my sons therapists don't recommend we get him tested specifically for autism until he is older and more developed. We are going to the neuro to make sure we aren't missing anything that could be causing his speech and sensory issues. 

    Good luck! 

    ETA: sorry I didn't see your pedi was terrible. So was ours. I specifically changed to a pedi who specialized in children with developmental delays and how to manage their care with EI. This has been very very helpful! 



    DS1: 4/15/2011
    Dx: ASD, SPD and receptive and expressive speech delay at 21 months
    BFP #2: CP 5/2012
    DS2: 4/24/2013
    BFP #4: Miscarriage at 5 weeks 7/2014
    BFP #5: 8/8/2014 Due 4/20/2015 
    Its a healthy girl!!!!! 
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  • mommytoconnormommytoconnor member

    My son has very similar issues.  He is 2.5 and at 18 month peds visit, didn't speak much, babbled only.  We had him evaluated by ST,OT,EI, while we waited for devel peds appt (took about 7 months to get in). Also eval by peds neuro.  All said that he has expressive and receptive speech delay and sensory processing disorder, which is why he isn't talking.  He also will sometimes not respond when I call his name.  This is very common in SPD kids.  He also has great eye contact, very social and has always met his devel milestones on time or ahead of time, with exception of the speech.  Devel peds eval agreed with SPD dx.  I also was concerned about him being on the autism spectrum, but she said he doesn't fit the criteria at this point.  She sees more of a risk for ADHD and possibly ODD. It's hard cause SPD can look very much like autism.  I had never even heard of SPD at the time.  I would contact EI and get eval done, also get eval with ST,OT (OT is the one who can diagnose SPD).  I would also get devel peds eval.  In many states this takes a long time because there aren't a ton of devel peds around, so takes a long time for appt. But don't wait for that time, get a jump on things now.  Everyone has told me that they best thing is to get early treatment and therapies going before turning 3.  And as far as sounding stupid, there is nothing you need to feel stupid over, it's hard to have a special needs child and you want information, so you are doing the right thing by asking those questions.  There are a lot of great ladies on here with special needs kiddos who can give you a helping hand of advice.  Good luck to you.

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