landj
After 4 years, 1000 posts!
Member since 7/06 1124 total posts
Name:
L
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Throwing myself a pity party over here...UPDATE
I have 2 sons: one is 4 yo and the other will be 11 months old on 3/5. My 4 yo DS is diagnosed with PDD-NOS and gets his services through a half-day preschool. His cognitive ability is fine and his readiness skills are great. However, he has a low frustration tolerance, low tone throughout his body, and a speech/language delay - especially in the area of pragmatics. He wants friends and tries to interact with other kids, but his conversations can only go so far. DS #1 is also a very sensory-seeking child. He doesn't seem to have an awareness of his body in space and will often trip or run into other kids and knock them over. I actually just had him evaluated for an outside OT eval at a sensory gym and he seems to qualify He only qualified for one time OT/PT a week through CPSE. I always attributed most of his difficulties to the fact that he was a preemie and had a multitude of health issues as an infant/young toddler. He had a history of chronic ear infections and lost much of his speech after that.
Now here's where my current concerns come in. My 10 mo DS seems to be developing normally. He was born full term and up until this point, has developed all of his milestones on time. I did notice that he had some low tone in his limbs but one of my peds dismissed it, even knowing the family history. She said his tone would be fine once he became more mobile. Well, DS#2 is now crawling, cruising, standing on his own for very short periods of times. He says "Daddy", "Mama" (and understands who is who), shakes his head "no", said "bye bye" once, and tries to say "Hi" and "No". He waves, claps hands, etc. I started to become concerned with his eating. He is on stage 3 foods but will not touch a puff, cheerio, yogurt puff, piece of bread, etc. He sticks his tongue out and pushes it out of his mouth. He still seems to have that tongue thrust reflex. His tongue frequently sticks out past his lips and I know this is not common anymore for his age. I worry that he still doesn't even want to try little pieces of food.
Anyway, DH brings DS#2 for a ped appt this morning. He was up all night crying with a fever. As it turns out, he has a double ear infection and a croupy cough. I asked DH to ask the ped about the tongue thrust and low tone. She picked him up and indeed noticed the low tone. When I spoke to another ped in the group 2 days ago (via phone), she dismissed it and said that if he was developing normally, he was probably fine.
So I'm very, very frustrated. I arranged for a PT eval tomorrow through a private practice that takes my insurance. I'm calling my former EI coordinator tomorrow and looking into a speech eval, etc. DS#2 really does seem fine other than the issues that I mentioned. He smiles, makes eye contact, responds to his name, plays with toys appropriately for his age, is curious about his environment. But this scares me so much. I can't help but think, "Why me? All of my friends have typically developing children, I did everything right during my pregnancies and beyond. What is going on?" I'm terrified that he's had 2 ear infections in a row, thinking it will be chronic for him as well. And I'm angry at everyone (including my pediatric group and extended family) who dismisses me as some neurotic mom. I see what my older son goes through on a daily basis. My heart breaks for him everyday, I just want to know that he will be ok. I am hoping that all goes well with the PT eval tomorrow.
UPDATE: Well, some good news for once. I took DS#for the PT eval (through a private practice to see if it warranted going through EI). He does have low tone but the good news is he's doing "excellent" according to the PT and would never qualify for services. All of his scores fell within the 50th to 75th percentile (average to high average range). As far as the tongue thrust, I've noticed it much less since his ear infection has improved. The PT told me to practice feeding him by entering his mouth laterally with the spoon, and pushing down lightly on the tongue as I'm doing so. Also, to wean him off the bottles and the binkies and get him accustomed to straw cups. I hate to take away that part of my baby being a baby  , but I know it's necessary. DS was babbling up a storm during the eval, and said "Grandpa" at lunch to my Dad  . So that all made me feel so much better. Thank you all for your kind words. And I am always up for a playdate if any of you want to get together. It's nice to have the support of others  .
Message edited 2/23/2011 7:49:43 AM.
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colesmom
Brady's mom too!
Member since 5/05 1989 total posts
Name:
Lea
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Re: Throwing myself a pity party over here...
I hear you --- I've had mild concerns about my little one, not PDD related, just general speech. It's beyond overwhelming to think of going through this process again. I mean, I did it, I've embraced it, accepted it, etc. for Cole, but I just can't even fathom doing it again.
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landj
After 4 years, 1000 posts!
Member since 7/06 1124 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: Throwing myself a pity party over here...
I'm concerned mainly about the low tone and possible feeding issues. I cringe thinking about going through this process again. Luckily, DS#2 seems very social and aware of his environment, which I guess is a good sign. I'll update once I get some more info from the PT.
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mom2aidan
2 boys & 1 girl :)
Member since 11/06 1874 total posts
Name:
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Re: Throwing myself a pity party over here...
I'm right there with you.
My Ds #1 sounds just like yours.
DS #2 crawled strangly. At 10 months I mentioned it to my ped and he recommended a PT eval because of our history.
I freaked. As colesmom said, I can't imagine doing this again.
I had the eval and he's fine. The evaluators were  because they thought an eval was not warranted. I explained that I don't really know what a typically developing child looks like and they said, "It looks like this."  I still tear up when I think about it.
Hang in there. I had 3 months of pity party this fall where I felt exactly like you. One night - during the worst of it, I said those words, "Why me? I feel alone. I'm the only one who's children have to go through this." And I got up from the couch and walked to my computer and turned on FB. There was a girl from HS posting that her son had just been diagnosed speech/language delayed. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, but if this had to happen to her, I'm so glad that God put us together to support each other.
If you want to have a play date, FM me!
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