Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder
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Anonymous
We did at Metropolitan Speech in NW DC: http://www.metspeech.com/ My information is a bit dated, but when we did it you could do the first couple of sessions and the company would determine if the child was likely to benefit based on preliminary results. As I recall, you could get an almost full refund if the child was not deemed qualified. Metropolitan ran intensive sessions in the summer done with a group of kids. We did the first part one summer and the second part the next summer. The second had okay results but nothing to compare to the first session, for which the results were stellar. I believe you can now do this at home with your child, but that wouldn't have worked for us as I work full time and have relatively frequent travel. While the Metropolitan session was run with groups, each kid spent most of his time working alone with headphones. But they could socialize during breaks, which it made it a little more fun for them. |
Anonymous
So, if your child is not MERLD,, and something very different, why are you posting regarding a MERLD question? |
Anonymous
How is that really therapy if kids work alone on computers/tablet with headphones? |
Anonymous
No, dipsh*t, my kid has a MERLD diagnosis from several years ago. (And yes, kids have been diagnosed with both autism and MERLD under the previous DSM.) You're just one of those prejudiced parents who balked at the autism label--no, horror, not my kid. So what if your kid has autism or not. There's not much that's different about your kid and one with autism, Tourettes, etc. It's all brain wiring. The point is that the OP should be getting a diagnosis that is actually in the current DSM. Her kid's issues will probably fall under the topics MERLD was folded under. (I sincerely doubt he has autism if he's already 12 and has been assess previously and that's not one of the areas in any case.) So get off your "but my kid's not autistic" soapbox. No one cares. OP, if this was a private evaluation, then you may want to address this issue with the tester. If you're trying to get accommodations written into your IEP, e.g., preferential seating, you'll need an up-to-date diagnosis. |
Anonymous
Kid had MERLD, dx'ed by SLP, neuropsych dx'ed PDD NOS based on language problems plus "stereotypical behaviors," psychiatrist saw the language problems and agreed with SLP but disagreed with PDD and dx'ed tic-related OCD, later re-dx'ed at NIH as PANDAS. So in essence DS had two things: MERLD and PANDAS, and he did not have autism. The language problems plus the tic-related OCD caused the neuropsych to dx PDD NOS instead--no longer in the DSM I understand, but a variant of autism. If all of that sounds confusing, you can imagine how confused I was back in the day before autism was a very frequent dx and PANDAS had barely been heard of. |
Anonymous
You are a very charming person who has yet to address any of OP comments and have strictly made it about you. You didn't read the OP post nor addressed anything except to talk about your child which has no relevance to OP. This really has little to do with autism and has to do with MERLD. |
Anonymous
It is a computer based program where the kids learn to identify how various phonemes sound through games that increase in difficulty. Each day's results are uploaded to the company, which then downloads the appropriate games and levels for the next day. Fast Forward improves auditory processing, deficiencies in which can greatly affect receptive language. It is also used to improve reading. Strangely, however, my DS had no problem learning to read. The SLP told me that just reading his language test scores she would have predicted a 99% probability he could not read. That he could she attributed to the teaching skills of his very experienced first grade teacher. |
Anonymous
A lot of clinicians disagree with some DSM-V classifications, just as many disagreed with things in DSM-IV before it. There is no requirement for a professional to diagnosis according to DSM-V, except for insurance purposes. If they need to give a DSM-V diagnosis for any reason, they will just write the closest official diagnosis, but that doesn't change their opinion. |
Anonymous
Hi PP. It feels/seems that DS is FINALLY turning the corner academically although he has a while to go still. When he was in MCPS he fell a little further behind every year - even with an IEP. it was a snowball effect and it had to stop Also, while in public he saw a tutor once a week to try to help close that gap just a little. She has been his tutor for at least 5 years. Now that he's in private he sees her once every few weeks as a "check in" and she has noticed a significant difference in his reading comprehension, and his critical thinking has also improved. Now we are steadily working on the social part too via a weekly social skills class. It's a very slow and steady process and sometimes you wonder if all this stuff you're doing is helping. You just have to trust it, align yourself with the right team of people. My experience, and others may disagree, is that MCPS is just not equipped to handle kids with complicated learning profiles. I believe they do try, and many of them have their hearts in the right place - but it's a really broken system 
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Anonymous
| Dr Stephen Camarata at Vanderbilt University is an expert on this -- it may be worth a trip to see him. Our son had the same diagnosis, and Dr. Camarata is the best. |
Anonymous
In person he is good, especially with kids. His report was worthless as someone else wrote it and there was no diagnosis or recommendation. Just raw test scores. He knows these kids but just too busy now to do wha he used to do. |
Anonymous
Not accurately. It's right there in the definition. Do you also not think the sky is blue? |
Anonymous
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FWIW, we found that school and neuropsych didn't have enough experience to diagnose MERLD. Only the SLP did the testing at the finer level to get at the individual pieces of our DS's language disorder.
Also, IME, MCPS is terrible at dealing with SLP problems. From their perspective, if a student is successful communicate verbally to others at the most basic level, then there's not an "adverse educational impact". Our DS had an articulation disorder which MCPS explicitly refused to even consider addressing until age 8, and even then refused because they said he could make himself understood despite the lisp. FWIW, for a struggling kid with a diagnosis of ADHD, dyslexia and a language disorder, I'd consider placement in a private SN school specifically geared toward language learning disabilities. My child spent time at the Siena School. It made a huge difference to have daily small group instruction tailored to dyslexics, dysgraphics and those with other language-based learning disabilities. If not private school, invest what you can in private tutoring. IME, public schools suck at dealing with dyslexia and its ripple effect thru the student's education. |
Anonymous
You can't have MERLD with ASD. Part of the definition of MERLD is that you don't have ASD. There are many conditions that can cause expressive and receptive language delays, such as ASD, and ID, and Hearing Loss. However, there are also kids who have expressive and receptive delays without a larger syndrome that explains them. Those are the children that qualify (or qualified as this is an older way of categorizing) for MERLD. |
Anonymous
Stating that ASD was incompatible with other diagnoses was a very controversial part of DSM-IV's approach and one that was routinely ignored by clinicians, who could plainly see that their patients suffered from multiple disabilities. That's why DSM-V now allows ASD kids to have other related diagnoses. But even under DSM-IV nobody blinked an eye if you got multiple diagnoses, except maybe the DSM-IV committee and their groupies. |