Today was his developmental and behavioral ped appointment. It went really well, I think. We didn't do any tests at this time. We just talked to the dr, answered questions, asked questions and they observed Owen (there were 2 doctors). The dr's opinion is that he may or may not have PDD-NOS. He does not have classic autism (I agree 100% with that). At this time Owen is getting all the therapy he needs (I can't think of another therapy I want him in that he needs an autism diagnosis for) so we are just going to let it be with this opinion of he may or may not have PDD-NOS. The dr says there are definately developmental delays. Huge speech delay (which kinda sucked to hear because Owen's made SO MUCH progress in the last year with his speech, but he's still got huge delays). His eye contact sucks, but it's there sometimes. He definately has sensory issues (btw- today is, apparently, another no shoe day. I'm thinking I might go to the store later with him and see if he'll wear Crocs since they won't be as tight on his feet as sneakers are).
So the plan is to start him in preschool this fall (not sure where. It'll either be through the public school or through one of 3 preschools specifically for kids with developmental delays). The dr said that this school district is great for kids with developmental delays so he wouldn't hesitate to utilize the free preschool program. We will look at all of them in the next couple weeks and decide which fits Owen's needs best.
We will go back and see this doctor in about 6 months, after Owen's been in preschool for about a month. I have some questions that the dr wants me to have his preschool teacher fill out before we see him next, along with a set of questions for me to fill out.
In 6 months we'll see where Owen is and how much progress he's made. He did give us some suggestions on things to do with Owen and suggestions for his daycare teachers to do with him to encourage him to interact with the other kids (something he's really delayed in as well).
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LOL...Brandon's therapist and I were talking about PDD-NOS today (not for Brandon, clearly he's autistic and meets all criteria for such). Be careful with a PDD diagnosis--it's not in the DSM-IV as a "real" diagnosis, so many insurances won't cover treatments for that if that's his primary diagnosis.
Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't at least get an Asperger's diagnosis...PDD-NOS is like the really mild version of Autism, even more mild than Asperger's. But, the good news is that PDD is on the very mild end of the spectrum, so the chances of him eventually functioning as close to neurotypical as possible is pretty darn good! So, that's probably the best news you've heard in a while about Owen. :)
And I'd agree with the Classic Autism too--if you compare Brandon (who has Classic Autism) and Owen, you can see a HUGE difference, especially in the social arena...Brandon's still functioning at the 6 month level socially according to the Vineland-II he just had done last week. And Owen's way too social to be straight-up autistic. But I thought you were looking at regressive autism anyhow, since the wiggy stuff started after his MMR?
Ok, this is really long. Why the heck don't you just join BOLU already so you can talk about this on the special needs board? LOL!
That's actually part of the reason we're not persuing a diagnosis right now. Right now he's getting all the therapy he needs. We do not want to get a diagnosis (again) and have his insurance stop paying for his therapy! So for now his primary diagnosis is "developmental delays".
Asperger's- correct me if I'm wrong but aren't children with asperger's typically not speech delayed? I know I'm not totally up to date on all that (never considered it for Owen) but I thought kids with Asperger's have good vocabularies at an early age. That's not Owen at all.
But, yes, a PDD-NOS diagnosis would put Owen on the mild end, which is great. As his doctor said- if we can get away with saying Owen just has some quirks- great. If he doesn't NEED a diagnosis then we don't want to give him one. Obviously if he needs a diagnosis to get help I wouldn't hesitate to do it, but at this time he's getting all he needs.
Oh, and the other weird thing... So, 2 neurologists and 1 geneticist has noticed/commented/mentioned Owen's spots. All of them have called them Cafe au laite spots. This doctor doesn't seem to think they are cafe au laite spots. He didn't mention what else they could be, just said they don't look like "classic cafe au laite spots". Except one, on his neck, that we actually just discovered when we cut his hair. That one he said is definately a cafe au laite spot. So, that was kinda weird. Don't know where to go with that thought.
LOL...you should have just come to Brandon's therapy today. We also talked about the Aspie/language thing. Apparently now they are starting to discover that some Aspies still had language delays. We're hoping Brandon will get "upgraded" to Aspie one day, and he had a complete language regression.
That, and sometimes speech delays and Aspergers can be two different things, especially if you toss in a little sensory processing disorder and frequent ear infections. :)
OH, and chalk this up to a good vocabulary. I'm pretty sure reading is also considered a good vocabulary, and Owen has that. He just has pronunciation difficulties. But he knows the words and probably knows what they mean...
Who knows though. Like you said, he could just be quirky, and that's ok. Less monitoring and testing and the like. Once they start school, you can't get away from a diagnosis like autism--it will follow Brandon forever, which kind of sucks (unless he gets his therapies covered because of it. LOL!)
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