Concerned About My Daughter's Development

Have you tried asking your pediatrician? I recently found a wonderful practice in Cape Coral. Dr. MacKoul's Ped.'s near the hospital. Dr. Jones is wonderful too. Perhaps a quick visit would help put you at ease.
Also, I work at Trinity Lutheran School which has a pre-school. Next year we will only have four year olds. If you want to put in an application call them I think our number is ###-###-####
Good Luck
L.

as for fluid it's easy, take her to her pediatricians to check her ears or any urgent care and they will tell you whether she has fluid or not. even though she's 3 years old therefore does not qualify to be evaluated by the early intervention progam (state funded free program) your daughter's pediatrician will be able to give you the info how to contact child find (also free).
did you pediatrician do an evaluation of her development at the 3 year old appointment? what was it said during that checkup?

people in your daily life, non-professionals, do not know nor are they able to diagnose your daughter. what you need to do is find the right agency/people to do the evaluation.
the fact that she took long to potty train does not mean a thing. mine are almost 3 and i have not even started potty training.
the language-read to her, also when you talk to her to not asnwer instead of her, let her communicate the best she can and then correct her. if she has a word of her own for water, let's say, and she says that word, you correct her; this is water. do you want water? etc.
there are things you could do to help her find 'language.' in meantime get to work and get her an evaluation. she definitely sounds to be behind in language, not sure how much for receptive and expressive language. that is why there are professionals to make the exact determination and recommend speech therapy for her. if you qualify through this agency the speech classes will be for free.
one of my girls had speech for a few months. she started barely saying a thing and now talks in full sentences. she is not even 3. i realized there was a problem and i did something about it.
so no reason for you not to do anything about it
good luck
V.

Angie,
My daughter experience much of what you are describing and i asked her teachers to give me a referral for testing for ADD. They did and then they did some testing of their own. We found that she is not ADD, she just has different motivators. She has poor speech, will need speech therapy, but ther's nothing "wrong" that won't resolve as she gets older. Ask your local preschool or friend who has a preschool child for a referral. Most places are willing to screen her. I wouldn't get too worried about it, I found it to be fruitless in the end. Good luck and God bless,
M.

hi angie! as a speech language pathologist, i can assure you that the only way you'll calm those nerves down is to have her evaluated by early invervention based SLP. the evaluation may be covered by your insurance. the 'echo' or echolia as its called in the field is whats concerning me. a full evaluation should evaluate her expressive, receptive and pragmatic use of language, but should also include a behavioral/play analysis. let me know if i can provide any assistance and best wishes!

hello, try contacting Cheryl @ Early ____@____.com work with getting different types of therapy together for the kids. 3 of my kids were and are getting speech, occupational and behavoiural therapy. they are awsome, they will work with you pediatrician and you. it is covered thru your insurance or them selves if needed. i was worried about asking for help but i am SOOOOO glad that i did. my 3 year old is doing so much better and it even helped get him into a voluntary pre-k program at endeavour elem.

good luck and it is at least worth a call and if it does not sound like it is something for your family, you are not forced to participate.

B.

I would definetly take her to her pediatrician and discuss your concerns with them. They should then let you know whether or not you should see a psychtriast for diagnosis if they believe it might be autism. My son is autistic and we had to get diagnosis from neurologist and psychiatrist. If you feel that there is something wrong it is better to find out now than later. If there is something wrong the treatments have a better chance of working the sooner you start implementing them. If you have any more general questions regarding autism, please feel free to ask me. My son is 7 1/2 and was diagnosed at age 3.
A.

Hi Angie
I am a mom of a 4 1/2 yr old boy who has some deveolpment delays also. You definately need to get this checked out. I dont know where you live but the state of Florida offers evlauations and therapy for free. It is through a service called CHILD FIND. MY son has had speech therapy for the last year and a half with them, it has been very helpful. We also sought out a deveolopmental peditrician who diagnosed him with PDD which is a mild form of Autism. AS a parent, that seems like a scary word to hear but it is not. MY son is learning and developmenting every day. If you need more info, I'll help however I can, just e-mail me ____@____.com
K.

Check with CHILD FIND, or Early Steps. You should be able to find them in the phone book. They can evaluate her for everything you are concerned about. Have them check her hearing also. Anything your insurance won't cover is covered by the state.

I don't think the things you described sound like Autism or ADD but I'm no expert. If they are concerned that she may have one of these problems they have to go through many steps before they can give that kind of diagnosis. So I wouldn't be extremely concerned with her being misdiagnosed. However, please keep in mind that there are a few things that can mirror these disorders. Things like Auditory Processing Disorder, Sensory Integration Dysfunction, and Landau-Kleffner syndrome, have been misdiagnosed because some of their symptoms are like those of ADHD or Autism. You may want to look these up and do a little research on them, because they are not all that well known.
Hope that helps.

A., let me begin by saying i could write a book on this subject, but i will try to keep my response short, i will howver, apoligize in advance for the lengthiness. First of all, let me say the most important thing for you to do is NOT to jump to any conclusions and try to avoid reading up on autism as from what i found, almost any child could fall into the category of what they call "the spectrum": ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder. This could range from mild to severe autism and symptoms include things like walking on toes (a lot of kids do this)lining up toys (a lot of kids do), not responding to name (a lot of kids do this too) and so on. Unfortunately, i believe autism is the newest "hot" label and "the spectrum" is an easy label to give a child as if a child does not clearly fall into a category, they can label her ASD and it can be "VERY MILD". Many children have these "red flags" and if they arent speech delayed, considered normal quirks. Let me tell you my story in a nutshell. At 2 my daughter hadn't begun putting together 2-word sentences. My ped, who is VERY cautious, recommended a speech eval. The people i went to, told me (after a 4 hour wait, 1 & 1.5 hour general development eval and finally a 5 minute speech "eval") that yes, she was speech delayed and she should have therapy. At this time, they also mentioned she could have a ASD because they felt she didn't give enough eye contact(???). Come to find out these peopel were in NO way experts and had no business even mentioning anything of the sort. I however, was shocked because developmentally i had no concerns as she has always been ahead of all other milestones and until that point was not even so concerned that her speech delay was so serious either as she did have a vocab, just no sentences. 2 months later i finally located a reputable speech therapist where they did a REAL speech eval on her (took about 1.5 hours) and came to the determination that at that time, she no longer met the criteria for speech delay. In 2 months she had really come a long way, even tho not speaking as much as some of her peers - she did however, fall within the norm. But, because i had obsessed about the autism, i wasn't thru. I made an appt to go to Dan Marino Center in Weston for them to evaluate her. They found they could not place an Autistic label on her and told me the most important thing to remember: As long as she continues to progress in her speech and other areas, she should be fine. If she starts regressing in her speech or if any other concerning things appear, bring her back. They also explained that all the little quirks that they say are "red flags" for autism are meant to be SEVERE. So, for example, my daughter did like to line up her toys...i used to freak out when she did this - thinking OMG- look she's autistic. BUT, what i failed to recognize, is that her toys didn't have to STAY that way - if i knocked them out of line, she didn't freak - she would laugh, and knock them out of line herself. She didn't HAVE TO HAVE her things lined up and freak out when they weren't. Additionally, as i'm sure you know, kids develop differntly and speech is no different. BUT, when there language isn't coming fast enough, sometimes this affects other behaviors like their eye contact and attentions more than a kid that has a large vocabulary. And the rule is ALL autistic children have a speech delay (this is the only common denominator in autistic children - other traits can vary), BUT NOT all speech delayed children are autistic. THe latter is what some would lead you to believe - ignore them. Finally, i wouldn't say to ignore the issue - just ignore uneducated, unqualified people. If there is a problem, you want to know right away. Go with your gut - try to think clearly. What i suggest (to be safe) is finding a highly qualified and recognized speech therapist to evaluate your child. Who knows, she just may need a little help to get her mind wrapped around language - a little kick start. They will tell you if any further evaluation is needed. Additionally, i found a book called "The Einstein Syndrome" that really helped me in varied ways. Even if just realizing, there are alternatives to the autistic label. There is also a yahoo group based on this book called the natual late talkers - it is very interesting. In a nutshell, don't know if you know this or not, but Einstein didn't talk til around 4 or 5 years old. He was thought to be retarded or autistic. Not suggesting that my daughter is "an einstein" but if you go to this site you might learn that there are a lot of kids out there like yours and mine that not only are late talkers but exhibit some other similar characteristics and highly inteligent behaviors. (late potty training is one of the characteristics that many of these children demonstrate). They also learn thier numbers/letters early and are early readers (despite language issues), and learn these things practically all on their own! Just worth checking out. If nothing else, they have some great resources to help to improve speech development. I hope my response was helpful. I rarely respond to these emails, but have found it my duty to try to help other parents avoid the mistake of allowing anyone to put anything in thier head about autism, because before you know it, you'll do nothing but analyze every move they make and think "is that an autistic trait?" and all the while miss out on enjoying your daughter and her achievements. Again, i'm not suggesting to totally ignore it, just don't let people put things into your head unless they are QUALIFIED, and even then, get a second opinion. Best wishes to you and your daughter.

Hi A.,

I would recommend having your daughter formally evaluated by professionals in the field as soon as possible. It may be nothing to worry about, but if there is something wrong, the sooner the interventions and therapies begin generally the better the prognosis. Try contacting the Early Steps program through Miami Children's Hospital (you can find the number on their website) or call information. Also, if your daughter is found to have a particular diagnosis or developmental disabilitiy, check with State of Florida-Agency for Persons with Disabilities and get her enrolled, as their is a huge waiting list and the sooner a child gets on the better. Keep in mind that APD only accepts children/individuals with (Mental Retardation, Autism, Spina Bifida, Cerebral Palsy, and Prader Willie Syndrome) at this time. Hopefully she won't need these services, but if she did, just wanted you to be aware of this additional resource.

funny. I just posted a question a question about my son's speech condition (known as Cluttering). I recomended having her evaluated by a speech language pathologist. They have helped my son tremendously, and knowing what was actually the problem allowed me to stop worrying and focus on helping him.

If you dont have insurance, or it isn't covered, try your local school board.

Best of luck to you.

If I were you I would get her ears checked and get her tested for developmental delays.

I would have her screened for her speech. My daughter is 3 and was doing all the same things. I brought her for a screening and she is one year behind on her speech and 10 months behind developementally. They say thats b/c she hasnt been in any daycare or school yet. I'm a stay at mom and do the best I can to teach her things. My daughter starts pre-school in august and they have recommended that my daughter go to a special school b/c the classes are taught by speech therapists and they know how to deal with children like her. My daughter also cant sit still for more than a minute. They noticed that too. But they said she is too young to diagnose her with ADD. They said she's probably just acting like that b/c she cant communicate or b/c she does have ADD but they can't tell at this age. But I would def. bring her for a screening. I know here they also screened them for there hearing and vision at the same time. And everything was fine. Call the school in your area and see if they have it. I just brought my daughter to the school by my house where they have the pre-k screening. I hope this was helpful. Let us know what happens. Good luck!

A.:

You can have her evaluated through Florida Diagnostic Resource (FDLRS) ; It will not cost you anything !
There number is ###-###-####. Express your concerns and
set-up an appointment. There is a wide spectrum which is known as pervasive development disorder (PDD) and you daugther
may fall under it or nor. She could just have a language delay.
Good Luck!