Hi all! I just found this board. I was pretty active on these boards before the big format change in, when was it, '03? There wasn't a PDD-NOD board back then. Anyway, I'm so glad I found it!

My DS, Carl, just turned 6 and is in kindergarten. (Regular class, with a teacher who is just phenomenal. He is on the "list" as a borderline special needs kid that they are keeping an eye on, but for the moment he isn't getting special services.) His issues are so ill-defined that the developmental ped will barely even put him down as PDD-NOS, but this is as close as I think we're going to get. (I have a DD, Erica, who is neurotypical-really, now that I've watched her develop it's much clearer to me how atypical Carl was even early on.)

He used a ton of echolalia when he was younger, but it's rare these days. He spent about 1.5 years in ST for a receptive language delay, and he's much better now but still has trouble with auditory processing-which isn't helped by some major problems with attending. His speech can still be a bit stilted and stylized; he'll get stuck on a phrase, and he has a lot of trouble staying on topic.

His social skills have lagged. He tends to watch the other kids rather than join in until he's been around them a lot, and he can still drift into parallel play. He doesn't get social cues easily, but he's doing much better than he used to.

He does very little imaginative play, very rarely asks "why" or "how", and doesn't get verbal humor. (Which leads to its own kind of humor: one day when he and DD had just been pushing my buttons all morning, I finally said, "OK, are you guys trying to drive me crazy, or is it just working out that way?" Carl, very sincerely: "It's just working out that way.")

He has mild hypotonia. Not a real issue, but the developmental ped said it could be a "marker" for a future learning disability.

He has a low auditory threshold and a high vestibular threshold. At least he doesn't run and throw himself on the ground anymore, but he still loves swings and roller coasters. Hates loud noises.

He used to have a real problem with transitions, but around the time he turned 5 that simply stopped. He used to get violent-with adults, not other kids-if he didn't get his way. That stopped abruptly about the same time.

He doesn't have areas of restricted interest, and doesn't get particularly thrown by changes in routine-most of the time. Every now and then he will, but no more than a NT kid IMO.

He has started having a *real* problem paying attention in school. The developmental ped reminds me that we haven't ruled out ADD in addition to his other stuff-oh joy. We're having a psych evaluation this summer.

Anyway, sorry for such a long description, but it sounds like a lot of you can understand the complex issues that we deal with. I look forward to getting to know y'all!