Hi!
My youngest is a happy, bright boy... who I knew at age 2 was not picking up speech as quickly as he should.
Of course, I was ignored by pediatricians until he was 4, at which point he started preK and someone besides the mom stepped up to say "yeah, he does have a problem".
At which point doctor proceeded to blame me for never having put him in daycare (apparently before daycare was invented no children were verbal. Jeez.)
He did GREAT in preK, and has made huge strides in his speech with a terrific therapist and consistent at-home work. His PreK teachers were the most awesome people ever and he socialized REALLY well.
His speech delay is articulation caused by a high palate and weak tongue. He will simply skip sounds that are hard, and blended sounds at the beginning of words are hard as well as L -comes out as W- and T - comes out as D.
His handwriting is very faint, so the speech therapist just referred him to Occupational Therapist (OT) for evaluation. He is amazingly strong otherwise, just his grip is weak. His fine motor skills are good - he can play extremely intricate video games that require precise movements better then his older brother and sister!!
Another batch of things have cropped up in the past 6 months since preK ended, however, and they are all sensory. (He is a VERY tactile learner, and the one thing he did have problems with in preK was constant touching everything and everyone - never in a mean way, just wanting to touch!)
He has started putting his hands in his mouth (he has never done this, did not suck his thumb as a baby nor did he have a pacifier - of my 3 kids, he was the best about NOT putting stuff in his mouth). If asked why, he says he needs his hands to be wet.
He has started putting his hands over his ears when HE talks. Especially if he is in a room with a vibration (air conditioning hum, etc).
He has also gotten very sensitive to the light when going outside or driving in the car.
He really doesn't like his socks and shoes. He will wear them when we go out, no problem, and wears shoes at bowling, no problem - a little complaining occasionally about them feeling wet and sticky (humid Georgia!) - but as SOON as we get in the door off come shoes and socks. He will literally sit down right inside the front door and take them off and rub his feet. He makes his feet stick out of the covers at night also. He also has gotten very picky about his waistband of his pants or the tops of his socks leaving lines on his skin.
He used to love riding in the car - we moved to GA from TX last year and drove 800+ miles in 2 days and he was an angel. Now he prefers to stay home and his tolerance for being in the car is about 15-20 minutes before he starts getting agitated.
He is very leary of new foods. Fortunately, he will eat very healthy stuff that he has always loved, which is great since I was pretty solid on healthy foods, but he has really slammed the door shut on new stuff. Also he cannot stand even mild chewing gum, says it is too spicy and drinks water like mad.
Something that I always loved about him but that I am now realizing is tied in - he wants me to rub his back every morning and night, very firmly. He will lie there forever and let me rub his back, or pat it, or scratch (I have no nails to speak of) and always wants me to do it "more, Mommy, harder".
So... all VERY sensory related. Touch, taste, hearing, brightness. I just realized he has started being very attuned to smells, too, so that's all 5 senses...
He isn't shy and he talks a blue streak. He does have a HUGE vocabulary that startles the heck out of people if they can get past the articulation to understand him. He makes eye contact, no problem there, and is a huge hugger and kisser and cuddlebug.
So... We have an appointment with the Occupational Therapist (OT) lady, and with his not-a-douchebag new pediatrician, and looking for referral for a full psychiatric evaluation and so on.
We (my partner and I) feel it is likely some sort of sensory processing thing.
We weren't sending him to the public elementary school here because it is so horrible and we already pulled the other two children and started them in cyber academy.
However, in light of how well he did in preK, and the fact that a lot of this stiff he is doing is really new and showed up after school ended, we are scraping and scrimping to put him in private Kindergarten as soon as possible to see if that helps him get back on the track of progress (in the meantime I am schooling him in cyber academy and trying to get him out of the house and around other kids as much as I can).
Some kids need socialization more than others... so maybe the doctor WAS right and this is all my fault for keeping him home with me since I ran my own business and I could keep him home...
Any comments are welcome. I'm in the deep end here and trying not to be terrified and committed to doing whatever my little guy needs to make his life as great as possible. I'm just really new to all of this and would love some input.
Thanks.
My youngest is a happy, bright boy... who I knew at age 2 was not picking up speech as quickly as he should.
Of course, I was ignored by pediatricians until he was 4, at which point he started preK and someone besides the mom stepped up to say "yeah, he does have a problem".
At which point doctor proceeded to blame me for never having put him in daycare (apparently before daycare was invented no children were verbal. Jeez.)
He did GREAT in preK, and has made huge strides in his speech with a terrific therapist and consistent at-home work. His PreK teachers were the most awesome people ever and he socialized REALLY well.
His speech delay is articulation caused by a high palate and weak tongue. He will simply skip sounds that are hard, and blended sounds at the beginning of words are hard as well as L -comes out as W- and T - comes out as D.
His handwriting is very faint, so the speech therapist just referred him to Occupational Therapist (OT) for evaluation. He is amazingly strong otherwise, just his grip is weak. His fine motor skills are good - he can play extremely intricate video games that require precise movements better then his older brother and sister!!
Another batch of things have cropped up in the past 6 months since preK ended, however, and they are all sensory. (He is a VERY tactile learner, and the one thing he did have problems with in preK was constant touching everything and everyone - never in a mean way, just wanting to touch!)
He has started putting his hands in his mouth (he has never done this, did not suck his thumb as a baby nor did he have a pacifier - of my 3 kids, he was the best about NOT putting stuff in his mouth). If asked why, he says he needs his hands to be wet.
He has started putting his hands over his ears when HE talks. Especially if he is in a room with a vibration (air conditioning hum, etc).
He has also gotten very sensitive to the light when going outside or driving in the car.
He really doesn't like his socks and shoes. He will wear them when we go out, no problem, and wears shoes at bowling, no problem - a little complaining occasionally about them feeling wet and sticky (humid Georgia!) - but as SOON as we get in the door off come shoes and socks. He will literally sit down right inside the front door and take them off and rub his feet. He makes his feet stick out of the covers at night also. He also has gotten very picky about his waistband of his pants or the tops of his socks leaving lines on his skin.
He used to love riding in the car - we moved to GA from TX last year and drove 800+ miles in 2 days and he was an angel. Now he prefers to stay home and his tolerance for being in the car is about 15-20 minutes before he starts getting agitated.
He is very leary of new foods. Fortunately, he will eat very healthy stuff that he has always loved, which is great since I was pretty solid on healthy foods, but he has really slammed the door shut on new stuff. Also he cannot stand even mild chewing gum, says it is too spicy and drinks water like mad.
Something that I always loved about him but that I am now realizing is tied in - he wants me to rub his back every morning and night, very firmly. He will lie there forever and let me rub his back, or pat it, or scratch (I have no nails to speak of) and always wants me to do it "more, Mommy, harder".
So... all VERY sensory related. Touch, taste, hearing, brightness. I just realized he has started being very attuned to smells, too, so that's all 5 senses...
He isn't shy and he talks a blue streak. He does have a HUGE vocabulary that startles the heck out of people if they can get past the articulation to understand him. He makes eye contact, no problem there, and is a huge hugger and kisser and cuddlebug.
So... We have an appointment with the Occupational Therapist (OT) lady, and with his not-a-douchebag new pediatrician, and looking for referral for a full psychiatric evaluation and so on.
We (my partner and I) feel it is likely some sort of sensory processing thing.
We weren't sending him to the public elementary school here because it is so horrible and we already pulled the other two children and started them in cyber academy.
However, in light of how well he did in preK, and the fact that a lot of this stiff he is doing is really new and showed up after school ended, we are scraping and scrimping to put him in private Kindergarten as soon as possible to see if that helps him get back on the track of progress (in the meantime I am schooling him in cyber academy and trying to get him out of the house and around other kids as much as I can).
Some kids need socialization more than others... so maybe the doctor WAS right and this is all my fault for keeping him home with me since I ran my own business and I could keep him home...
Any comments are welcome. I'm in the deep end here and trying not to be terrified and committed to doing whatever my little guy needs to make his life as great as possible. I'm just really new to all of this and would love some input.
Thanks.