Ella Bella
Find a Conversation
Ella Bella
| Sat, 05-13-2006 - 12:44am |
I just can't figure her out but I'm starting to get a little concerned. Her speech is very unclear and in the past week both my sister and her OT told me they can't understand her very well. She now seems to have a very mild motor planning problem(dosen't like to tip her head back)this is something new we've never seen before. She has trouble knowing how much pressure to apply to something for instance, after we get back from a walk I always let the kids ring the door bell but she has a hard time doing it. The OT thinks it's because she was so tactile for so long and wasn't using her fingers to explore her enviroment that now she has a hard time judging how much pressure to apply. I'm not explaining this very well. She also has a little trouble sequencing and 2 step commands. Still no obsessions but she is very controlling and has major meltdowns which is typical for a 2 year old but she seems a bit extreme to me.Jake was just more obvious at this age because of the obsessions I just can't tell with her. Her eye contact is good and she's social and she's not as aloof and in her own world as Jake was at that age. ARRRRGH!!!!Could this be all sensory? Did your child have an obsession by age 2? I'm calling the hospital that Jake was diagnosed at to set up an appointment for an evaluation for her but last time I had Jake there for a check up the developmental ped took a quick look at her and thought she was fine. I'm wondering if she has a mild case of AS. Any ideas or suggestions?
Teresa
Teresa

Cait had obsessions though I don't think I really recognized them at 2 as obsesssion and they weren't really intense with Cait until she was 2 1/2. Of course it is animals but at 2 I think that would have been hard for me to tell with her. She just kind of seemed out there. She did say doggie as a first word and loved small plastic things especcially animals, but animals weren't all consuming to us until her communication got better (after 3 and school). it is possible she had them before then but didn't communicate it as well.
Mike was the same. Looking back now he had the same obsessions he has now but we didn't recognize it as such and didn't think it was abnormal for a child his age. At 2 he had this one video he really loved (it was a sing along video) he would dance and sing along. He would carry around these props just liek the show though we didn't realize that at first. We thought all was cute and just typical toddler stuff. It kept him calm so we put it on alot for him and just figured it was his favorite. No big deal. however, now we can look back and see it was his first obsession show. Since then mike has always picked a show or video he likes and plays it over and over and obsesses on it.
Mike doesn't have typical asperger obsessions. He doesn't read everything on the solar system or star wars and just tell you all the data on one thing. BUt he does not have normal play skills either. He only is interested in legos, movies and video games and toys that are from that movie or video game as far as dress up stuff goes. He won't play with figurines (dolls) and never has. so while in his Star Wars obsession he may love a light saber or darth vader mask, he will not play with a star wars figurine at all. He may read some of the star wars books but didn't obsess on learning all the details. That is only starting now with Harry potter, which is actually fading.
At 2 though, it was 2 sing alongs featuring sebastian the crab. Then it was blue's clues for about a year. But I never would have guessed what an obsession it was because my kids aren't great communicators, they just don't have an interest in much else.
Renee
Powered by CGISpy.com
Teresa,
How is she with peers? That was one of the things we noticed with Siobhan. She didn't really interact with kids her own age. She was very echolalic also.
She didn't have obsessions like Peter did (Peter's first obsession was Thomas. -very Aspie), but she had and has a 'thing' for bags, cameras (those are straight from her Da) and small containers: boxes, bottles etc, which she usually puts in her bags.
So having said all that: Now that she is 6, I am thinking she may not be on the Spectrum at all, but I am going to wait awhile before her next eval to be sure, to be sure.
It is so hard when you have two kids with issues -very different issues to try and figure out what is going on. You really don't know with some kids until they are older, and you can drill down to the crucial Theory of Mind question. Siobhan acted much more Aspie at 3 and 4 than she does now, and I don't know if she has learned to compensate, and "act more normal" or if it really isn't there. And yes. all the OT and services we got for her helped her enormously.
I say if in doubt, check it out. Keep having Ella evaluated and keep pushing for more services for her, whether you think her OT need to be intensified, or she needs other interventions.
just a BTDT note: I learned a long time ago to not accept "s/he's making progress" as a reason not to intensify services. I have always pushed for my kids to make the maximum progress of which they were capable, It is often a tough sell, but worth it.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Teresa, looking back I say yes, my son had obsessions from the start.
Teresa,
First, Happy Mother's Day!
My ds is definitely AS, but he also has/had alot of sensory/fine and gross motor issues. Alot of what you describe sounds like alot of the sensory stuff we ran into with Ryan. Particulary the motor planning, fine motor stuff. These issues also affected his speech, kind of like not knowing how to move your lips and tongue to produce the correct sounds, something like that. In Ryan's case, he had alot to say, but we couldn't understand him, which made him VERY frustrated. Some of his meltdowns were because he couldn't really communicate his wants/needs. But we really didn't start getting him therapy until he was closer to 4, so the fact that you're addressing it now is great. It may ease your mind to have her evaluated by a dev ped. But have you already looked into evals for speech or physical therapy? Just a thought.
I wanted to write more.. but dh and ds are making me pancakes and they're done!
Kate