Any ideas on these symptoms?

[Anonymous]

Ok, we've gotten several evaluations and there's nothing helpful that's come up (except for a need for speech therapy, which we're doing). But DS's preschool has brought up a few things - the speech/articulation/conversational issues, attention difficulties, stiffness in running and sometimes still having his arms up when he does, and still doing more parallel play than actual cooperative play. He's 3, almost 3.5. Does anyone have experience with these kinds of symptoms together? I want to be able to help him with whatever he needs help with!! TIA.

[Anonymous]

My thoughts:
Expressive Language Delay, Sensory Integration and Motor Coordination Delay.
Parallel play at this age is still normal. How is his eye contact and can he express his needs well?

[Anonymous]

OMG - thank you for replying...lol! His eye contact is good, although if he's distracted or you're telling him something he doesn't like not so much. He expresses his needs pretty well and is pretty much potty trained (which happened with no drama). He's definitely in the "I do it, I can do it, no mommy, I DO IT!!" stage. it's weird to me they are concerned about social stuff because to me he seems incredibly social. Always the first one to say hello, and will harrass people who don't respond (cheerfully). But he's incredibly active - doesn't stop moving until he's asleep at night basically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, we've gotten several evaluations and there's nothing helpful that's come up (except for a need for speech therapy, which we're doing). But DS's preschool has brought up a few things - the speech/articulation/conversational issues, attention difficulties, stiffness in running and sometimes still having his arms up when he does, and still doing more parallel play than actual cooperative play. He's 3, almost 3.5. Does anyone have experience with these kinds of symptoms together? I want to be able to help him with whatever he needs help with!! TIA.

I agree with the PP - in fact it could be a whole host of things or nothing more than some general developmental delays. Who did the evaluations and what did they indicate?

[Anonymous]

We had an evaluation through PIE, but it was about a year ago and they didn't even find that his speech was out of the range of "normal." They did find he was eligible for OT based on his attention issues, and we did that for a while and I think it helped. But the school didn't think the eval was good/helpful, so we also had one through a private developmental person, who just noted some mild developmental delays. More recently we had a speech eval by Building Blocks. We've also met specifically with his ped about everything. No one has concerns about him being on the ASD spectrum. And he doesn't have anything going on that is obvious sensory wise (to me) - no problems with sounds, textures, lights, anything like that.

[Anonymous]

OP again - and if it's "nothing more than some general developmental delays," do you DO anything or no?

[Anonymous]

15:49 here. Whether you do something or depends on how much you think he might benefit from intervention. At this point, it might be just fine to take a wait and see approach. At 6 months/year before he starts kindergarten, you might check in again but, honestly, nothing really jumps out at me for his age and it sounds like you've been following up like you should. Intervention is most important when the child needs assistance to acquire skills or if left on his own will compensate in ways that may not be optimum. More may be revealed when he starts school.

[Anonymous]

with such a young child...who know? probably nothing too serious, maybe some mild issues BUT - I have to admit, I really want to know - where does he go to preschool?

you may not want to reply, but is it in Falls Church?

some schools are perhaps hyper vigilant about these things and let's just say I have experience with one - not to say there's not some benefit in that, but it may drive parents needlessly crazy and on a wild goose chase for otherwise "normal" kids or kids with, say, very mild issues

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Was the OT with a sensory integration OT? That's an eval that I think will give you a lot of answers. It's not just sensitivity to certain input, it's the processing, speed of processing, etc, that I think it getting in his way with play. Where are you? In DC Leaps & Bounds and Lynne Israel are good for treatment, Lynn Balzer Martin just does evals but is excellent. In MD I've heard great things about ITS for Children and Families. Best of luck, the more you do now, the better his self esteem will be. Social skills are more than greeting, it's attention to social cues, and back and forth shared interaction. He is still ok for parallel play but they are seeing something that concerns them so check out what could be fueling the difference. Good luck to you and the little guy!

[Anonymous]

Agree with others. Play at that age-especially with boys can still be parallel. Nothing you reported sounds major, but I would get the intervnetion just to catch up and forget about it. If the therapist is decent your child will enjoy it. Does sound like sensory integration stuff with an OT would be helpful and enjoyable.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all - we're in Arlington, as is preschool. He's pretty social beyond the greeting...lol. So that's why that part was confusing to me. And he's very empathetic - in fact almost unusually so for his age. Anyway, will check out the sensory integration part.