expert opinions needed on 8 month old
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expert opinions needed on 8 month old
| Fri, 06-17-2005 - 7:38pm |
hi, I need expert opinions on my son Jacob. Here's some background info. jacob is 8 months old. He was a month early. At 2 months I knew something wasn't right. He never made eye contact with me when I was nursing. So, being a special ed teacher I immediately concluded that he was autistic. I cried to my pediatrician and she sent us for a diagnostic eval. The eval concluded that at the time (6months) there were "no real red flags" for autism. They thought he had "variable visual regard" meaning he would become overloaded from stimuli and not be able to make eye contact. His eye contact has improved. But now at 8 months, I am not sure what is going on. He does not babble. Just started making some b's, g's and m's. He doesn't notice me walk into a room if he is playing with a toy. He does not consistently respond to his name (which I know is a major marker for autism). But on the other hand he does some things that are totally appropriate for his age. For example, when we were at a birthday party I put him next to a baby who is the same age and Jacob reached out and touched him. Looked at him, smiled.
Today he went to the dr cuz he is sick and he looked at her, smiled, then put his arms up to her to be picked up. I also engaged him in a lengthy game of peek-a-boo today.
He loves to look at our cats and pull on them. But then at times I feel like he isn't responding to things that he should be. Like when my 3 year old screams--he just looks at her then looks away. But he cries when I run the vacuum. I am so confused by this child. I have been reading the Child with Special Needs and it just seems to be making me feel worse. I am unable to figure out what his processing issues are. At my last recheck with the developmental pediatrician and team, they thought maybe there was a language delay. I am confused, frustrated , and sad. Now that I am off for the summer I spend all my time trying to evaluate this poor child and I know I should just be trying to enjoy him. Another interesting thing the dr's have mentioned is that they think some of this is just his personality. DH is really laid back, so maybe jacob is somewhat too.
I would love any input. I hope this isn't too scatter brained for you guys.
Thanks so much
Sonya
Today he went to the dr cuz he is sick and he looked at her, smiled, then put his arms up to her to be picked up. I also engaged him in a lengthy game of peek-a-boo today.
He loves to look at our cats and pull on them. But then at times I feel like he isn't responding to things that he should be. Like when my 3 year old screams--he just looks at her then looks away. But he cries when I run the vacuum. I am so confused by this child. I have been reading the Child with Special Needs and it just seems to be making me feel worse. I am unable to figure out what his processing issues are. At my last recheck with the developmental pediatrician and team, they thought maybe there was a language delay. I am confused, frustrated , and sad. Now that I am off for the summer I spend all my time trying to evaluate this poor child and I know I should just be trying to enjoy him. Another interesting thing the dr's have mentioned is that they think some of this is just his personality. DH is really laid back, so maybe jacob is somewhat too.
I would love any input. I hope this isn't too scatter brained for you guys.
Thanks so much
Sonya

hi... you probable have already done this, but have you had his hearing check?
my niece was 1yr before they found out that she is deaf, her mom always thought that there was something not "right"..she kept tell her Dr.but he kept blowing her off, as an over worried mom. she is 3 now, with hearing aids, and done great... she just learned to ride her bike.:)
a girl in ds's class,hears 30% MORE than the average person, she speaks like she's deaf, and the sound of an electric pencil sharpener sends her to tears, but she has learned to tune out people talking,crying,ect....
just a thought...or he could be a very relaxed, easy going kid!!!
stop worrying...enjoy your summer
hi and welcome!
#1, i am the furthest from an expert. however, i can offer my opinion.
i can sympathize (sp?)with your concerns. i think with your spec ed background, it is going to make you extra intuned with your child. there are a couple let's say light pink flags as you stated, but you also listed some very typical behavior which is great! the child with special needs may be overwhelming, but i think you can get alot of useful info out of it for your information. for instance, zone in on the developmental ladder stuff, levels 1-3 for now. those all take place in the first year of life with typical children. you can do greenspan's floortime without harming any child. it would just enhance his development and your relationship together.
the first level of greenspan's ladder is regulation. your son sounds like he might have some sensory issues. do you know any OT's from your work? do you have sensory background of your own? you could check out the out of sync child.
also, you might enjoy the boy who loved windows by pat stacey. her son did not get a diagnosis, but she started very early with floortime and helped him overcome his delays.
i applaud you for being on top of things. i would try not to concentrate too much on the word autism, cause your child is so young that it really would be a stretch to call it that. 18 months is about as early as diagnosis is being done in our area (NY). but you can use this time to work with him.
best of luck, valerie
just a side note here--i was worried about about my son from 12 months on. the ped kept saying he might have a delay, but he was a boy blah blah blah. so at 22 mos, he did get a diagnosis, only after i made contact with early intervention. i am not saying that it always happens, but i feel a parent should be true to their gut feeling, as doctor's do not know your child. after our ordeal, i only have limited faith in doctors and don't depend on them half as much as i use to.
valerie
Sonia,
I used to work in early intervention, and my PHD is in developmental psychology, so I really know where you are coming from. My son showed subtle signs by 6-8 mos too, but everyone kept saying inconclusive things. Our ped saw nothing unusual at all. We qualified for early intervention, but they never mentioned ASD, just kept saying that he was a "different sort of learner" or that he was "peripherally unaware." I finally had enough definitive information by the time he was 2.5 yrs to get him a dx of PDD-NOS, however at that point my husband was laid off, and we essentially lost everything (house, savings, etc.) from a year of unemployment. By the time we were stable again (moved 3 times in one year), we got DS a dx of PDD-NOS with no difficulty, except that there was a huge wait period for seeing the dev ped. He eventually got services by age 4.5, and the teachers who started working with him could not believe I ever had trouble getting a dx of ASD for him.
So, yes, I think you are seeing some important signs. I think you should keep watching him and take video footage plus written notes of your areas of concern as much as possible. Do you note any developmental delay areas yet? If so, you should have him evaluated by EI, and they will at least have specialists begin working with him. Even without a dx, EI can go in with Speech Therapists and OT's and help you start figuring out his differences and treating them in a productive manner. At this point, I would encourage you to not obsess about the specific diagnosis your son may eventually get, but look into his specific deficits, such as lack of responding to his sister or looking inconsistently when his name is called. Work on these specific skills, instead of trying to find a label for him, and you will do more good at this point than if you keep worrying about where he falls on the spectrum. Once I got to a point where I saw my son as "on the spectrum" and moved on to treating specific issues, my energies were spent more productively each day interacting with him.
If you need to talk about specific behaviors in your son or how to work on his abilities, please feel free to email me at mom2cassian@yahoo.com. Several others on this board have done the same.
Suzi