OP here. I was going to start another thread, per 01/13/2014 09:47 PP’s recommendation, but never got around to it. I’ll post updates here, because I found helpful in my research to find updates to posts similar to mine. 01/29/2014 21:58, it may be nothing, but based on my experience so far, I would not wait for the evaluation. I found that many pediatricians are misinformed when it comes to autism, for instance, and wait too long for a referral. It took us two months from scheduling the evaluation to starting the therapy. I’ll post in the following two posts updates regarding second evaluation and therapy; and next steps. I beg anyone who’s been through this before and has any advice in how to navigate the system to post. TIA!

Op, please take comfort in the fact that you are taking action towards helping your DS. He is very lucky to be starting to address some of these things at such a young age. Early intervention can make all the difference. I work in early intervention and it is really sad when you see families that have waited too long hoping that things would clear up on there own. And not to make light of your sons scores....but these are not terrible. Some of the test time can really impact the scores so if there was an item your child refused to do the whole point could knock his score down by a month. Once your therapies get started I think you will see really nice progress. Keep us updated!

Op, reading the evaluations can feel brutal. I recommend a lot of wine and, once you've come up with a plan, filing them in a box in the basement.

OP, its very easy for parents to miss social delays because we accommodate our kids, unconsciously. I know I was similarly surprised when my DS got an ASD diagnosis. Seeing him with other children (he was older) clarified things for me.

OP, I was perusing this forum because I have some concerns about my 12 month old, and both your initial post and your follow-up after the evaluation really make me think I need to have my son evaluated. (His pediatrician mentioned at his 12 month appt that if we didn't see some language development at his 15 month appt that he'll be referred, so this has already been on my mind.)

Right now, DS babbles a bunch but it's mostly the same few sounds (mostly vowels, some consonants), and he says dadadada and mamamama but they're not specific to DH or me; he says dadadada to everything. He does not have much receptive language. He knows his name, but I don't think he knows the name for any object (maybe bottle, but not sure). He does not bring things to us, he does not point (though he does reach for things he wants that are out of his reach), he doesn't shake his head no. He claps often, but only waves occasionally, and doesn't do it at the right times. He loves to play and wants us with him, but he doesn't play interactively (doesn't roll a ball, doesn't share a toy or try to get us interested in it). He does very well with eye contact, and like OP's child is very social - he loves seeing other kids and wants to be around them, and loves to smile at adults who pay attention to him. He does not have much separation anxiety, and only one fear at the moment - he grabs on to me more tightly when we go down the stairs. Gross motor wise he seems pretty typical - he rolled both ways by 4 months, began crawling and sitting well independently around 8 months, has been pulling to standing for a few months, cruises very well now and is experimenting with trying to take a few steps on his own. He had feeding issues through about 10 months (could only do super smooth purees without gagging/vomiting), but he's doing a lot better with eating now (still pushes some food out, like beans, rice, ground beef, steak), but he doesn't seem to dislike flavor so it may be a texture issue.

DS was born a little early - 38 weeks by emergency c due to fetal distress. It was a high-risk pregnancy, and we were borderline IUGR diagnosis due to slowed growth starting at 31 weeks and a small head measurement. DS's head is still very small - 5th percentile, and it's been at 5-10th percentile since birth. His head is not proportionate; he is 60th percentile for height and 50th for weight.

I guess my question is... does it seem like there is a reason to evaluate, and if so, should I call the pediatrician to get a referral for an evaluation now, rather than waiting until his 15 month appt? It seems like if there's a potential issue, it doesn't do much good to wait... but of course I'm new to all of this, and don't know whether DS might just be a bit behind the curve and will catch up on his own in the next few months.

Any feedback that experienced parents could provide would be extremely helpful. Thank you.

You have alot in your update. You might try starting a new thread with your questions. I'll address one of your comments. You likely will not be able to get the kind of predictive answers you're looking for in terms of statistics. You child is very very young and I think you are still at the anything is possible stage in terms of improvements. Stay strong as you gather information. You will definitely feel better as you learn more.

Anonymous wrote:OP here with the update:

DS scored: cognitive 11 month level; speech: expressive 9, receptive 7 months; 10 mo. for social/ emotional; motor skills: 11 mo. for gross, 9 mo. for fine; adaptive 13 mo.
The evaluator said the upper limit delay to qualify for the program is 11 months, so he’ll need treatment for all areas other than adaptive skills (i.e.: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social and emotional development)

Like the other mom on this thread http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/353898.page, I was shocked by his low score in social/ emotional, because we (parents, pediatrician) thought he has very good social skills. The evaluator explained that he scored low because he doesn’t do things like comfort others in distress; repeat activity that makes me laugh; bring me toys. It’s true that he doesn’t do the latter; but he does repeat things that makes us laugh (although not always). We have a regular playgroup of 5 same-aged children, and if one of them cries, all the others stare or just continue to mind their own business, so I never thought him not comforting the other kid would be a bad sign!

The receptive language skills are also lower than expected, partly because he doesn’t always respond to his name. I swear, if this kid is playing with something that really interests him, he can’t be bothered. So the evaluator wasn’t sure that he recognizes his own name.

The next step is to meet for a team evaluation with an educator, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist, who will do their own assessment and come up with a recommendation.

The evaluator wasn’t able/ willing to tell me anything else about what this means, and she said they would have to meet DS for several sessions before they can tell me more. Of course, the questions floating in my head are: what does this mean for my child? How bad/severe is this delay? Is this a neurological issue? What is the likelihood of him outgrowing it? I realize that an accurate prognosis is not possible at this stage, but what I want at the next evaluation is an answer along the lines of: “Out of 100 kids with these type of delays at this age, 30 outgrow it by 2 y.o., 30 catch up by 4 y.o., and 40 end up diagnosed with X, Y, or Z condition and need different treatment”. Is this expectation unreasonable? Not knowing what the possibilities are is maddening.

Also, does anyone know how speech therapy would work for bilingual toddlers? His other language is not a widely spoken on (like Spanish), so chances of getting a speech therapist that speaks it are close to 0.

OP here with the update:

DS scored: cognitive 11 month level; speech: expressive 9, receptive 7 months; 10 mo. for social/ emotional; motor skills: 11 mo. for gross, 9 mo. for fine; adaptive 13 mo.
The evaluator said the upper limit delay to qualify for the program is 11 months, so he’ll need treatment for all areas other than adaptive skills (i.e.: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social and emotional development)

Like the other mom on this thread http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/353898.page, I was shocked by his low score in social/ emotional, because we (parents, pediatrician) thought he has very good social skills. The evaluator explained that he scored low because he doesn’t do things like comfort others in distress; repeat activity that makes me laugh; bring me toys. It’s true that he doesn’t do the latter; but he does repeat things that makes us laugh (although not always). We have a regular playgroup of 5 same-aged children, and if one of them cries, all the others stare or just continue to mind their own business, so I never thought him not comforting the other kid would be a bad sign!

The receptive language skills are also lower than expected, partly because he doesn’t always respond to his name. I swear, if this kid is playing with something that really interests him, he can’t be bothered. So the evaluator wasn’t sure that he recognizes his own name.

The next step is to meet for a team evaluation with an educator, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist, who will do their own assessment and come up with a recommendation.

The evaluator wasn’t able/ willing to tell me anything else about what this means, and she said they would have to meet DS for several sessions before they can tell me more. Of course, the questions floating in my head are: what does this mean for my child? How bad/severe is this delay? Is this a neurological issue? What is the likelihood of him outgrowing it? I realize that an accurate prognosis is not possible at this stage, but what I want at the next evaluation is an answer along the lines of: “Out of 100 kids with these type of delays at this age, 30 outgrow it by 2 y.o., 30 catch up by 4 y.o., and 40 end up diagnosed with X, Y, or Z condition and need different treatment”. Is this expectation unreasonable? Not knowing what the possibilities are is maddening.

Also, does anyone know how speech therapy would work for bilingual toddlers? His other language is not a widely spoken on (like Spanish), so chances of getting a speech therapist that speaks it are close to 0.

At 15m my former preemie had <3 words, didn't walk, and her favorite thing to do was spend an hour putting a key in a lock, turning it, taking it out, repeat. At 3 she scoring in typical range in all areas, was denied an IEP. We still think there is something going on with her, but she's happy and really pretty typical.

It's good to be aware and to follow-up, but there's no point freaking out about what you don't know and can't control (and I say that in the kindest and most positive way possible!)

Sounds like my son at 15 months. He just turned 2 and we are still working on actual diagnosis but initial thoughts are MERLD/ speech and language delay. He has improved dramatically in past few months with speech therapy. Definitely worth evaluation just to make sure genus getting any treatment he needs as early as possible. No need to jump to my conclusions, just have a professional tell you what you should be concerned with if anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My completely normal child had fewer words and was barely walking at 15 months. Keep an eye on things but don't worry. The mchat is for 18 months and up - a LOT happens in 3 months!!

You're right, I don't know how I missed that! Thank you!

And just remember, they're all completely normal even with a diagnosis.

Good for you for being on the ball, OP. And don't stress, just go one day at a time.

Anonymous wrote:Just wanted to chime in to say that whether or not your son has some delays or other issues, he is lucky to have a mom who loves him and is diligent about getting him the help he needs. This will do him well whether he needs early intervention services now or not, with whatever challenges he faces in life (and we all face something!) OP you have gotten good advice to try to avoid Google (as hard as that is) and know you are doing the right thing by getting him evaluated. Happy holidays.

Aww, thank you! I promise I'll stay off Dr. Google until the evaluation!

Just wanted to chime in to say that whether or not your son has some delays or other issues, he is lucky to have a mom who loves him and is diligent about getting him the help he needs. This will do him well whether he needs early intervention services now or not, with whatever challenges he faces in life (and we all face something!) OP you have gotten good advice to try to avoid Google (as hard as that is) and know you are doing the right thing by getting him evaluated. Happy holidays.

Many thanks to all PPs! I really appreciate the responses, and already feel much better than I did this morning. I'll update after the evaluation. Happy holidays, everyone!

Anonymous wrote:All kids are different but there a lot of similarities here with one of my sons. Born at 36 weeks, but IUGR, really tiny. No real red flags developmentally except for late speech. Clumsy, loads of drooling, some difficulty with food (like easy gagging)--but all seemed like things he would grow out of. Also incredibly social and smily. I had him evaluated at 19 months for speech and he didn't qualify for services--he was just at the very bottom of what is considered typical. I had him evaluated privately at 24 months and started speech therapy, which was incredibly helpful very quickly. The two issues she identified right away were weak fine motor muscles (especially the oral motor muscles) and some motor planning challenges. We started OT for both of these but there are plenty of easy things you can do for the oral motor muscles, including things like drinking from a straw, blowing bubbles (or tying to), putting on chapstick and kissing a mirror... this kind of thing cannot hurt and it could help so it is an easy way to start. Within a year he had a huge vocabulary and had graduated speech therapy. My son is seven now and, while it is obvious to me that lots of things (riding a bike, swimming, writing) don't come as naturally to him as to others, he can learn anything with extra practice.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Luckily, DS loves to blow bubbles whenever he drinks.

Anonymous wrote:Oh and for pointing - try reading those Usborne "that's not my ..." books. Pretty sure my son learned to point from those.

Thank you for the tip!