Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

My DS is about to turn 4. He has some issues that have me caught between - is he just immature for his age or is this something more? I'm just looking for any insight any of you might have.

First, he has a speech problem. He's been evaluated 3 times and finally the 3rd time was the charm and he qualified for CPSE services. His only issue is articulation but it's a big issue. He's very hard to understand and the evaluation concluded that he is only understood 5% of the time. He also has some sensory issues. He runs a lot, he fidgets constantly, he touches everything and puts things in his mouth that are inappropriate at his age. He also has fears of loud noises and wants to only wear loose fitting clothes or he has a meltdown. Because of this, he also qualified for OT. He started speech and OT just this week.

However, there's also a big behavior issue mostly at daycare. The district agreed to get him a separate behavior evaluation via special education but I'm still waiting on that. He has a very hard time listening to the rules. He can tell you what the rules are and then he'll turn right around and break them. He runs during class time, he makes lots of loud vocalizations at inappropriate times. He has zero impulse control. If you tell him not to touch something, he will immediately go and touch it anyway. And he's very defiant. I have similar issues with him at home but it's worse at daycare. His issues were bad enough that they moved him from the preschool room to the pre-k room earlier this year in the hopes that the smaller class and more structured program would help him. His behavior will come in waves. Like for a few weeks he'll be amazing and so well behaved. And then out of nowhere, it all goes in the toilet and we're back to square one.

The daycare director mentioned ADHD and I'm certainly not surprised, I know it's a possibility. I'm leaning towards maybe ADHD or maybe it's more of a sensory disorder. He has his yearly well visit coming up in a month so I'm going to speak to his pediatrician of course. But I'm considering going to a developmental ped too. I'm 34 weeks pregnant so I'm hoping to try and do my research now before I get distracted by the new addition. Any advice? If you made it this far - thank you!

Re: Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

It sounds like ADHD and possibly ODD, but I would definitely make an appointment with either a pediatric neurologist or developmental pediatrician. There is quite a bit of a wait though for the appointment... In my experience it was around a 4 month wait.

Message edited 4/1/2016 9:27:14 AM.

Re: Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

Yes. Sounds like it could be ADHD or ODD. Did they also have him evaluated by a psychologist or special Ed teacher for CPSE? It sounds like he could benefit from a special class.

His behavior is similar to one of my sons. We did have him evaluated and ped felt he had impulse issues and control but nothing diagnosable. His school has helped him tremendously. He receives speech also. A lot of it was that he was frustrated and having trouble communicating. Once his speech started improving, he started articulating much better and verbalizing. He had a para assigned to him for the first month of school because of his impulse/behavior issues. At first I cried that he had to go to a special school and now I am so happy it happened. He has changed because of his teachers, assts, therapists. I am so thankful. Just wanted to let you know it can get better with the right support in place. Good luck!

Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

Thank you! We are waiting on a behavioral eval through special ed, I had to argue my case with CPSE but they agreed to do it. I'm hoping that will give us more answers and help. In the meantime I will look into a developmental ped. Thanks again!

Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

It sounds a lot like ADHD to me, although he could have ODD or sensory issues also. You mentioned the behavior sometimes comes in waves. Have you tried keeping a food journal to see of you can tie his behavior into something he's eating? There are many trigger food dyes and sweeteners that can cause a flare up in behaviors.

Re: Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

Re: Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

Does your child go to a regular daycare? Because my daughter did many of the things your describing so our district gave us a choice of a few schools to go to instead. It was So much better for my DD than the regular daycare center. She was in a class of 8:1:1. Also They are paid for by the state so you will not need to pay for the school or the transportation.
We chose DDI and my daughter did excellent there!! They were really amazing with her. She received all her therapy there all while receiving Social skills...which my daughter need badly! I highly recommend DDI if you have one by you. I really miss her being there.
Also make an appt. with a pediatric Neurolgist. We are working with one now trying to get my dd diagnosed.

Message edited 4/5/2016 3:35:01 PM.

Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

Yes he's in a regular daycare. It would be amazing if they offered us something like that but I also hope it would work with our work schedules. Unfortunately we don't have much help at all from our families (not their fault, it's just not possible). We do have a DDI near us, I will keep that in mind!

Thank you all for your kind words and advice. I've felt very alone in this struggle with DS and I'm super emotional on top of that being that I'm about 14 months pregnant lol. I really appreciate it!

Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

Your son sounds very similar to my own who will be 3 in June. They think it may be sensory related although he does seem very scatter brain, which i personally thought was ADHD. This is what has helped... Cutting all dyes, especially red, from his diet (Feingold Diet), consistent sleep pattern no matter the battle it will cause, fidget toys (he loves squishanimals from amazon). We also got rid of 85% of his toys so that he doesnt get overwhelmed by having so many in his play room. This has helped him focus tremendously. We avoid situations where there are lots of kids... Sometimes he just doesnt do well and i very extremely stressed about it. My son also gets very defiant and causes problems with his speech therapist. I just end the session early if i need to. Im very very firm with him because he will literally see a moment of weakness as an opportunity to act up. Ive also just become more patient about the whole situation... Read 'the spirited child'. First few pages i literally felt so much better... I dont know where you live, but many therapy places have summer camp classes you can enroll him in. I plan on combining that with regular camp.

PS- make sure he is taking his vitamins and fish only as well... I see a drastic difference when we skipped these

Message edited 4/6/2016 7:03:10 AM.

Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

Thank you for the advice! I am pretty strict about his sleep schedule because he's pretty much always had sleep issues and I notice he's way worse if he hasn't slept enough. I haven't tried the diet, I will check it out. And I agree that it's best to be firm and patient. I've had the firm thing down for awhile but I've only been able to truly be patient over the last year or so. And I'm not perfect, I definitely slip up and lose it every so often. Luckily his newest daycare teacher is very firm but also very loving and I think it's doing him a lot of good. He will still need some sort of intervention in the classroom I think but she is very good to him.

Re: Looking for opinions and advice - LONG

adhd and odd are my sons dx. Feel free to go to a developmental ped as well. My son was dx at 4... it is clear as day now that we know so much. That documentation from developmental ped will help you get more services that could help ur kiddo