My six-year old son can't retain the names of colors, his age, and a few other concepts. He's bright, has had a psych test to confirm that there are no pervasive learning disorders, and is currently doing OT to help with fine motor skills. He can name every Star Wars character (having learned them from books read to him), complete movie plots and arcane knowledge about people and places. But when asked his age he can't settle on one (3? 5? 6?), and can not tell you what color an object is when asked directly - but when asked to go get the X color ball, can do it every time.
We saw a complete waste-of-time Ped at Childrens, and I'm not sure where to go from here. Since he's in K, his differences in this area are even more stark and worrisome...he's starting to be bothered by it too. I'm not sure who we should see to help us unravel this and help our son - any recos?????
A new "what happened". We ended up seeing Dr. Sedberry, who diagnosed our son (in conj with a neuro partner) as having early evidence dyslexia. After doing some additional reading it became obvious that YES, this is right on. It seems so clear now! We're now looking for an educational therapist, but I feel like I have some place to go. Thank you to the moms who answered and especially the mom who gave us Dr. Sedberry.
Dr Deborah Sedberry, MD
Behavorial and Developmental Pediatrics.
45 Quail Court, Suite 201 in Walnut Creek.
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I think she is a genius! She was an amazing help to us with our son.
Good luck and Happy New Year!!
D.-
hi paige, i'm so sorry that you're going through this. why is he seeing an ot for his motor skills issues? are you aware of the cause of them? what is the ot saying about his sessions, his progress? i think the ot would be a good starting point in regards to pointing you in the right direction for figuring out whats going on.
i would check every possibility, including autism. 5 year old nephew was just diagnosed with mild autism after a few years of wondering what's going on with him. although amazingly bright, able to understand and grasp the most remote concepts, he couldn't speak intelligibly, nor was learning/grasping/retaining/recalling things (like colors, numbers, stories, etc) in the 'normal' way- which is what and got us worried in the first place.
when you said "He can name every Star Wars character (having learned them from books read to him), complete movie plots and arcane knowledge about people and places. But when asked his age he can't settle on one (3? 5? 6?), and can not tell you what color an object is when asked directly - but when asked to go get the X color ball, can do it every time." is what made me think of my own nephew because that's a perfect example of what was/is going on with him. not saying that that's what's going on with your guy, but at least explore it! my brother and sister in law fought having my nephew evaluated for 2 years, and now in just 3 short months of therapy, he's doing so much better - the difference is striking!
i hope it's not what's going on, and i hope that something i said has or will help. i wish you luck and blessings.
angela :)
Hi Paige,
Your son sounds like my oldest child. He could watch a movie and almost recite the whole thing... and yet couldn't remember how to make the letter "j". He was very verbal and could carry on amazing converstions with people, and that hid his 3 seperate learning disabilities. We didn't identify them until he was in 5th grade. Public schools do IEP where they test the child and put together an invidual plan to help them become successful. I would speak to the teacher, give them time to observe your son on a daily basis and work towards getting an assessment. I know you've already had a psych test done, but obviously something is going on with your son and the sooner he gets help the better.
Hi Paige,
It sounds to me like he may have some processing (auditory??? visual?) problems. If he is in public school, I'd talk to his teacher and the principal and ask for an evaluation, which the school psychologist in your school district will give you. Also, some kids, especially boys, are slow developing in certain ways.
Take care,
E.
