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Diagnosed Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified.. is it really ADHD/ODD
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<blockquote data-quote="WhyMyAlex" data-source="post: 355774"><p>I have to start out by saying that Alex is mild on the spectrum. Looking at him or listening to him on a casual basis no one would know that he has challenges that impact school, home, and play. When I compare him to other kids I have seen on the spectrum (and even Nadia - the 12 yo AS girl who got lost in FL) it is understandable that some people may question why he has a diagnosis at all. But a snap shot never gets it. </p><p> </p><p>Last year Alex started in the school's integrated preschool after I sent him through the child find process 3 (!!!) times. Even though he had a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified diagnosis they kept saying he was fine and his deficit areas would not affect school. He was accepted into the class as the NT private pay child and within 6 weeks was getting more support than all of the other children (including a little girl with Down Syndrome) and started on an IEP. Of course I was still paying full tuition. This year he is in full-day tuition based kindergarten. He started with a dedicated aide one hour a day but she now spends the entire day in class because of Alex and one other boy who requires an aide. He goes to a one on one with the school counselor 30 mins/wk, and has several smaller accommodations as agreed upon for his IEP. He also goes to a 60 min/week social skills class through a private children's therapy clinic. We chose to do the paid full day so that he would still get the same amount of non-Special Education school as a half day child plus his aide time (and to give me a bit of a break since I have 4 other children).</p><p> </p><p>He had a full neurological evaluation and was deemed physically healthy. When he was first diagnosed through Children's of Seattle they said at some point a psychologist may be helpful but at this point they did not feel he was receptive to talk therapy. The pedi agreed. The neurologist suggested it was time to try it (over a year after first diagnosis) so we did. He was on Ritalin and seemed to be doing ok and she (the psychiatric) said she did not see Asperger's and really questioned Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as well. She pretty much said keep up the medications and she didn't have anything for us. He was also in one on one speech but they were not able to help with anything beyond saying the L sound because one on one he never felt a need to flex his authority since he had the therapist's full attention. He was always a perfect angel in those settings. </p><p> </p><p>And that is were the problem lies. At first meeting or one on one Alex is fine. He has no preconceived notions of who a person is. Everyone is equal (equal being one level lower than him). But as time goes on and he learns how others respond to that person he almost seems to work in reverse from an authority perspective. The aide garners more compliance from him than the teacher, the teacher more than the principal, and so forth. He has so little understanding of social norms that he actually stared down the pedi and was trying to taunt him into getting angry. What normal child tries to tick off his doctor? (by the way he sees the pedi almost monthly so is very comfortable around him... more comfort means more likely to challenge). It's almost like the more other people seem to respect a person the less Alex does therefore keeping that person at the same level. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit in trying to figure that stuff out but the other adults in his life agree that that pretty much sums it up. Luckily this means babies are always safe from his wrath because even though babies get attention from others they are never seen as much more than helpless and that makes them below him by default.</p><p> </p><p>I understand the concept of using the most inclusive diagnosis but having Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified in his file is not helpful. The spectrum is too large and the possible traits are too numerous to know where to begin in finding answers. It's like looking at the weather report before you go on vacation and seeing rain in the forecast. Ok... fine I've got my umbrella but what they failed to tell me is that it was going to cause flooding, wind, mudslides, and lightning that can could kill you. That one term (rain or Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified) doesn't begin to prepare you for what you will face.</p><p> </p><p>A - What you were recommended is pretty much where we started with Alex. He has shown some improvement in understanding how both he and other people feel. But so far that understanding has not had a huge impact on how he treats others. The biggest change is that he is now able to express his own feelings to a point. He never used to get his feelings hurt. He was either mad or happy but now he actually gets sad and will cry if someone upsets him. Some people may wonder how that is improvement but it shows me that he is a least starting to become aware even though he does not yet know how to respond to situations.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WhyMyAlex, post: 355774"] I have to start out by saying that Alex is mild on the spectrum. Looking at him or listening to him on a casual basis no one would know that he has challenges that impact school, home, and play. When I compare him to other kids I have seen on the spectrum (and even Nadia - the 12 yo AS girl who got lost in FL) it is understandable that some people may question why he has a diagnosis at all. But a snap shot never gets it. Last year Alex started in the school's integrated preschool after I sent him through the child find process 3 (!!!) times. Even though he had a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified diagnosis they kept saying he was fine and his deficit areas would not affect school. He was accepted into the class as the NT private pay child and within 6 weeks was getting more support than all of the other children (including a little girl with Down Syndrome) and started on an IEP. Of course I was still paying full tuition. This year he is in full-day tuition based kindergarten. He started with a dedicated aide one hour a day but she now spends the entire day in class because of Alex and one other boy who requires an aide. He goes to a one on one with the school counselor 30 mins/wk, and has several smaller accommodations as agreed upon for his IEP. He also goes to a 60 min/week social skills class through a private children's therapy clinic. We chose to do the paid full day so that he would still get the same amount of non-Special Education school as a half day child plus his aide time (and to give me a bit of a break since I have 4 other children). He had a full neurological evaluation and was deemed physically healthy. When he was first diagnosed through Children's of Seattle they said at some point a psychologist may be helpful but at this point they did not feel he was receptive to talk therapy. The pedi agreed. The neurologist suggested it was time to try it (over a year after first diagnosis) so we did. He was on Ritalin and seemed to be doing ok and she (the psychiatric) said she did not see Asperger's and really questioned Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as well. She pretty much said keep up the medications and she didn't have anything for us. He was also in one on one speech but they were not able to help with anything beyond saying the L sound because one on one he never felt a need to flex his authority since he had the therapist's full attention. He was always a perfect angel in those settings. And that is were the problem lies. At first meeting or one on one Alex is fine. He has no preconceived notions of who a person is. Everyone is equal (equal being one level lower than him). But as time goes on and he learns how others respond to that person he almost seems to work in reverse from an authority perspective. The aide garners more compliance from him than the teacher, the teacher more than the principal, and so forth. He has so little understanding of social norms that he actually stared down the pedi and was trying to taunt him into getting angry. What normal child tries to tick off his doctor? (by the way he sees the pedi almost monthly so is very comfortable around him... more comfort means more likely to challenge). It's almost like the more other people seem to respect a person the less Alex does therefore keeping that person at the same level. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit in trying to figure that stuff out but the other adults in his life agree that that pretty much sums it up. Luckily this means babies are always safe from his wrath because even though babies get attention from others they are never seen as much more than helpless and that makes them below him by default. I understand the concept of using the most inclusive diagnosis but having Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified in his file is not helpful. The spectrum is too large and the possible traits are too numerous to know where to begin in finding answers. It's like looking at the weather report before you go on vacation and seeing rain in the forecast. Ok... fine I've got my umbrella but what they failed to tell me is that it was going to cause flooding, wind, mudslides, and lightning that can could kill you. That one term (rain or Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified) doesn't begin to prepare you for what you will face. A - What you were recommended is pretty much where we started with Alex. He has shown some improvement in understanding how both he and other people feel. But so far that understanding has not had a huge impact on how he treats others. The biggest change is that he is now able to express his own feelings to a point. He never used to get his feelings hurt. He was either mad or happy but now he actually gets sad and will cry if someone upsets him. Some people may wonder how that is improvement but it shows me that he is a least starting to become aware even though he does not yet know how to respond to situations. [/QUOTE]
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Diagnosed Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified.. is it really ADHD/ODD
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