Struggling with Diagnosis - Social Issues and Speech Delay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The socialization will come when the speech comes. You cannot have social play well without speech (as does imaginary play). My five year old has expressive and receptive and it started to show improvement at 4, and now at 5, he still struggles but its pretty mild per the testing. Socially at school he's doing great. Beginning of the year was a bit of a struggle but his teachers are amazing and now have no concerns. If anything, a few comment he talks constantly and they have to tell him to be quiet (they are thrilled). There are features that look like autism that are common in speech delayed kids, which is why many often get an autism diagnosis when its really a speech issue.

Given he's just turning three, I would not worry. There are a few late talker Facebook groups that are wonderful and really supportive. But, you may need a different school enviroment.

Np: did he by any chance have repetitive play at 3 as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't wholly rely on a regular pediatrician to be able to catch a developmental delay. So if your annual check-up wasn't revealing, you really should go to a developmental pediatrcian.

Our regular pediatrician flat out told me that my son's arm flapping was nothing to worry about, even at three years old. He has since been diagnosed as ASD and his flapping is now worse. I'm just saying that if it's a concern, get it checked by a specialist.

And fwiw, my ASD son makes good eye contact and is very affectionate and engaging with family so it was hard for me to see it until the picture became clear from his pre-k teacher reporting that he didn't interact properly with other children.

And, we had the opposite experience. Developmental ped made a huge stink about features my son had, such as poor eye contact, some flapping (but he will stop if you say stop), spinning (he was in gymnastics at the time), lining up toys, and other stuff. Now, a few years later, none of the signs are there.

I would be concerned, but if OP is doing speech, hopefully 2-3 times a week, except ABA there isn't anything more that can be done. ABA is not necessary for speech delayed kids and if you have the wrong person, can do more harm than good.

But, I agree don't rely on a regular pediatrician. However, be careful with developmental peds as they don't specialize in speech issues.

FYI, many kids on the spectrum naturally outgrow the hand flapping, lining things up, and spinning. I think the question here is how the OP can improve her kid's social interactions.

Yes, but kids with speech delays are often misdiagnosed too. Time and lots of speech therapy. Forcing it will only create stress. From 3-4 it will be very obvious, but most kids start socializing more with speech delays between 4-5.

[Anonymous]

I suggest you try to see either Stephen or Mary Camarata in Nashville at Vanderbilt university. They can tell you what's wrong, what's the best educational approach and where you can expect him to catch up.

Like many pp have said. Language and social go together, you can't reall socialize if you can't
Communicate.

[Anonymous]

What county are you in? Try putting him in a supportive preschool

[Anonymous]

Speech delays definitely foster social delays. It's not a new diagnosis. It's an issue secondary to speech. I've seen this with my daughter. The arenas of life are intertwined.

Have you considered a speech camp for summer, like National Speech? That would help with both issues, speech and social.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The socialization will come when the speech comes. You cannot have social play well without speech (as does imaginary play). My five year old has expressive and receptive and it started to show improvement at 4, and now at 5, he still struggles but its pretty mild per the testing. Socially at school he's doing great. Beginning of the year was a bit of a struggle but his teachers are amazing and now have no concerns. If anything, a few comment he talks constantly and they have to tell him to be quiet (they are thrilled). There are features that look like autism that are common in speech delayed kids, which is why many often get an autism diagnosis when its really a speech issue.

Given he's just turning three, I would not worry. There are a few late talker Facebook groups that are wonderful and really supportive. But, you may need a different school enviroment.

Np: did he by any chance have repetitive play at 3 as well?

Yes, three was a very hard age as there was very little speech and a lot of quirky behavior, tantrums (because he could not tell us), etc. Our repetitive behavior was more lining up cars or toys during play but I think he was copying adults who did it playing with him. One thing that surprisingly helped us was around 3.5-4 when we started letting him watch tv and he got into Disney Cars, and later Planes. We'd get him the toys from the show/movie and he'd copy how to use the car/plane and that was a game changer. I wish I allowed more TV back then. He had good gross motor skills, but very poor fine motor (still struggles a little) so that also impacted things. Other kids with speech delays have gross motor issues. Every kid is different and how it impacts them is different. 4 & 5 as the speech improves, everything has changed for the better. No one has any autism concerns, even the doctor who diagnosed him (but refuses to get rid of the diagnosis saying it is based on history) - another issue to deal with later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't wholly rely on a regular pediatrician to be able to catch a developmental delay. So if your annual check-up wasn't revealing, you really should go to a developmental pediatrcian.

Our regular pediatrician flat out told me that my son's arm flapping was nothing to worry about, even at three years old. He has since been diagnosed as ASD and his flapping is now worse. I'm just saying that if it's a concern, get it checked by a specialist.

And fwiw, my ASD son makes good eye contact and is very affectionate and engaging with family so it was hard for me to see it until the picture became clear from his pre-k teacher reporting that he didn't interact properly with other children.

And, we had the opposite experience. Developmental ped made a huge stink about features my son had, such as poor eye contact, some flapping (but he will stop if you say stop), spinning (he was in gymnastics at the time), lining up toys, and other stuff. Now, a few years later, none of the signs are there.

I would be concerned, but if OP is doing speech, hopefully 2-3 times a week, except ABA there isn't anything more that can be done. ABA is not necessary for speech delayed kids and if you have the wrong person, can do more harm than good.

But, I agree don't rely on a regular pediatrician. However, be careful with developmental peds as they don't specialize in speech issues.

FYI, many kids on the spectrum naturally outgrow the hand flapping, lining things up, and spinning. I think the question here is how the OP can improve her kid's social interactions.

Yes, but kids with speech delays are often misdiagnosed too. Time and lots of speech therapy. Forcing it will only create stress. From 3-4 it will be very obvious, but most kids start socializing more with speech delays between 4-5.

These are broad generalizations. (This PP makes them quite often and then will list a bunch of links about over diagnosis of autism b/c she's projecting on her experience.) Kids on the spectrum with speech delays and kids not on the spectrum with speech delays can still have difficulty with socialization and will benefit from speech therapy, play dates, etc.

OP, don't let about a possible autism diagnosis prevent you from getting your kid evaluated by a developmental pediatrician.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't wholly rely on a regular pediatrician to be able to catch a developmental delay. So if your annual check-up wasn't revealing, you really should go to a developmental pediatrcian.

Our regular pediatrician flat out told me that my son's arm flapping was nothing to worry about, even at three years old. He has since been diagnosed as ASD and his flapping is now worse. I'm just saying that if it's a concern, get it checked by a specialist.

And fwiw, my ASD son makes good eye contact and is very affectionate and engaging with family so it was hard for me to see it until the picture became clear from his pre-k teacher reporting that he didn't interact properly with other children.

And, we had the opposite experience. Developmental ped made a huge stink about features my son had, such as poor eye contact, some flapping (but he will stop if you say stop), spinning (he was in gymnastics at the time), lining up toys, and other stuff. Now, a few years later, none of the signs are there.

I would be concerned, but if OP is doing speech, hopefully 2-3 times a week, except ABA there isn't anything more that can be done. ABA is not necessary for speech delayed kids and if you have the wrong person, can do more harm than good.

But, I agree don't rely on a regular pediatrician. However, be careful with developmental peds as they don't specialize in speech issues.

FYI, many kids on the spectrum naturally outgrow the hand flapping, lining things up, and spinning. I think the question here is how the OP can improve her kid's social interactions.

Yes, but kids with speech delays are often misdiagnosed too. Time and lots of speech therapy. Forcing it will only create stress. From 3-4 it will be very obvious, but most kids start socializing more with speech delays between 4-5.

These are broad generalizations. (This PP makes them quite often and then will list a bunch of links about over diagnosis of autism b/c she's projecting on her experience.) Kids on the spectrum with speech delays and kids not on the spectrum with speech delays can still have difficulty with socialization and will benefit from speech therapy, play dates, etc.

OP, don't let about a possible autism diagnosis prevent you from getting your kid evaluated by a developmental pediatrician.

Let me guess. Your kid is on the "spectrum" and you do not believe in other issues or diagnosis that are different from your child's. Developmental ped's are lousy at weeding out autism from other issues. They generally go by a quick observation, short amount of testing and a checklist for diagnosis. Kids with autism can have speech issues. But, it is very different than speech delays and the services are very different. ABA for a speech delayed child is not helpful to a disaster. Intensive speech therapy is much better. For an child with Autism, its very good. To tell someone who has a speech delayed child, which you don't have experience in is going to set them up to fail.

Play dates are not helpful until child has some verbal and social skills. Otherwise it is upsetting to parents to see the differences, most other parents don't want their child around yours as your child is different, and forcing two kids together is not going to get them to play together.