SPD or ASD?????

[SashaBreeze]

I am beginning to think our son may have the wrong diagnoses. I know ultimately it will be up to his medical team to decided, but I would deeply appreciate any input from all of you to see if I sound crazy or not.

I asked his therapist about this a few months ago and she said no Aiden does not have autism because he will often look in your direction if you say his name, smiles and does a few other various socially appropriate things.

Here is why I still wonder. While he will look at you if you call his name he doesnt.... you know, really look at you. Does that make an since? He will turn his face towards you but it is like he is looking through you. He laughs and smiles but it is really sort of sporadic and often we have no idea why he is doing either. He has rages that last sometimes for hours for reasons that we do not understand. We do everything we can to calm him but it is like we cant get through, they dont seem to be triggered by anything in particular and are once again sporadic. He is still mostly non-verbal, he will be 4 in June. They have tested him through speech and he is able to recognize everything, so we know he understands everything we say to him he just doesnt seem to have a desire to talk back to us and when he does even we can only understand about 10% of what he is saying. I have never seen him really play with a child, and it seems to really bother him when a child, including his siblings, attempt to. His favorite thing to do in the world is to find something and take it apart and look at...every....single....part he then will usually put it back together, if he can, once again looking at...every....single....part.
So am I crazy? His SPD comes from more physical motion. He can not seem to gage distance or height and his balance is very... "off". He does the classic SPD stuff like chewing on EVERYTHING and stuff but I dont know.... I just feel like there is something more going on here. I just wish I could talk to him and find out what is going on...

[TzippityDoulah]

I'm on the same road. I think my daughter's diagnosis is wrong (it was from 4 yrs ago however!) so I'm considerin having her reevaled. She's been diagnoses as SPD, and though she is clearly not on the severe end fo ASD, I think it's obviously more than SPD.


that said, regardless of diagnosis, you know your kids best.

[Lollybrat]

Originally Posted by SashaBreeze

I asked his therapist about this a few months ago and she said no Aiden does not have autism because he will often look in your direction if you say his name, smiles and does a few other various socially appropriate things.

Hugs. This is a very hard place to be.

First of all, a therapist (you did not indicate what kind of therapist this is) is NOT qualified to diagnose ASD or rule it out. ASD is a medical diagnosis and needs to be ruled in or out by a doctor who is trained in that area, usually a developmental pediatricain or a pediatric neuropsychologist.

Secondly, none of those things rule out autism. Many children with ASD will sometimes do the things you describe. The fact that the therapist indicated that this mean he does not have ASD shows how little she understands the disorder.

Thirdly, according to your description your child has several red flags for ASD. The language delays, lack of play skills, sensory issues, and social interaction difficulties are very concerning.

Personally, I suggest you get a referal for a developmental ped. Your child should have a thorough and complete evaluation. An accurate diagnosis can be a great help in opening doors to resources, helping you understand what is going on, give you a direction to go in, and provide you with a community of families facing the same issues.

[Linda on the move]

I totally agree with Lollybrat.

The most important part, the person who told you your son doesn't have autism isn't qualified to make that judgment.

I've had several not-qualified people tell my that my Dd doesn't have autism. I wish they were right. The Dr. her did her neuropsych eval is really clear on the fact that DD is on the spectrum, but atypical in several ways.

[BetsyNY]

Ditto PPs. It makes me so that therapists do this instead of saying, "I'm not sure. Why don't you get him checked out by a developmental pediatrician?"

My son, who has PDD, has always been a smiley, friendly guy who will engage IF he can set the parameters of the interaction. His neurologist also said he didn't have PDD, rather just PDD "traits" after only seeing him for five minutes. His EI team all concurred that he did have some of these characteristics, but maybe not enough for a diagnosis. He did get a diagnosis when I finally took him in for an evaluation, and I'm so glad I did. All that eye contact was really "fleeting" eye contact, where he would look away really quickly, etc.


Not to alarm you, but those are some serious red flags, and all the therapy in the world won't help your son if his therapists aren't working with him effectively.

[Magistra]

Ditto to the above.

We were initially told that there was no way our son was on the spectrum since he makes eye contact. Yet there were enough red flags that we persisted and ended up with an Asperger's diagnosis, which we think is the right one. His eval team commented that they didn't score him on eye contact (which means he made it consistently enough that it didn't add into the diagnosis), but that there's no question that he's on the spectrum.

As for SPD, all kids with autism have sensory issues, so it's still an issue. I've said, in regards to our son, many times that if we can just get his sensory issues under control, everything else would almost be a non-issue. His school-based OT agrees and works in plenty of sensory stuff with the motor skills he's officially in there for.

[SashaBreeze]

Thank you ladies, I am in tears here. It just feels so good to hear that I am not crazy to be thinking this. Bless my husbands heart he is a wonderful father and spouse but every time I try to talk to him about it he changes the subject often even to the point of walking out of the room. I understand that he is scared, but it leaves me feeling very alone.

So how do I get this started? Do I have to get a referral from his pediatrician to go to an evaluation? I have a scheduled appointment with her anyways for Aiden's bathroom troubles, so I could ask her then. He has never not once had a solid poop in his life and I think that may be contributing to his not attempting to be potty trained. He will sometimes pee in the toilet but when he has a bowl movement it is like he doesn't even notice so his pediatrician recommended I bring him in to test for a wheat intolerance.

Thank you all again. His therapist (OT and speech) are great with him but honestly after almost 2 years of therapy there just has not been much progress and if the diagnoses is wrong than an evaluation may be a starting point on us figuring out how to help our little guy more.

[RiverTam]

Originally Posted by Lollybrat

First of all, a therapist (you did not indicate what kind of therapist this is) is NOT qualified to diagnose ASD or rule it out. ASD is a medical diagnosis and needs to be ruled in or out by a doctor who is trained in that area, usually a developmental pediatricain or a pediatric neuropsychologist.

I bascially agree with you, but this isn't correct, exactly. ASD is a DSM-IV diagnosis and any licensed psychologist or therapist is qualified to make a DSM-IV diagnosis. They're trained in doing so, and in making differential diagnosis.

My husband has an MS in clinical psychology and is licensed as an licensed professional counselor (ie. he's a "therapist") in Illinois. He is qualified to make this diagnosis. (He's also a licensed RN, but that's another story.)

That said. I think it's a good idea to get an experienced MD who is well trained in neurology involved in the diagnostic process so that any medical issues can be ruled out.

Most psychologists that I know would recommend a medical screening to rule out other issues before they confirmed a diagnosis of ASD.

I totally agree that I would not rely on a diagnosis from an OT or SPLT alone. They're qualified to refer for ASD-like issues, but not to definitively say it's ASD.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by RiverTam

I bascially agree with you, but this isn't correct, exactly. ASD is a DSM-IV diagnosis and any licensed psychologist or therapist is qualified to make a DSM-IV diagnosis.

I think when she said "therapist" she was referring to a speech therapist, not a therapist as in counselor therapist.

It is my experience that the more people really understand about ASD, the less they say. People who don't know much (like neighbors and relatives) will easily pronouce children as being on the spectrum or not being on the spectrum, while people who've really studied this stuff are very slow to say much and want a LOT of information.

[SashaBreeze]

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

I think when she said "therapist" she was referring to a speech therapist, not a therapist as in counselor therapist.

Yes, it was his speech therapist.