Hi. I am glad I saw this new forum, even though a few months after it was created. My name is Becky and DD1 is 5.5 and got a PDD-NOS diagnosis just after her 3rd birthday. She also got diagnosed at 2.5 with apraxia, verbal and global. She had fine and gross motor delays, low muscle tone, and is behind academically in K4. I have a background in child development so I was watching for things from birth but was still shocked to get the diagnosis. She met the first year milestones within the normal range but at the end of the normal range. Never really liked the bottle, would rather eat people food. Later I learned she doesn't chew her food correctly and has a tongue thrust. At 2 she had few words and lost some words she originally had, she would walk on her tip toes, she wouldn't step down stairs but would rather sit/scoot down them. Other people would say, she'll talk when she wants to, look how careful she is being, she might be a ballerina when she grows up. But I knew those things were not right.
I waited til she was 2 and then got the first hearing and speech evaluation. Waiting for EI took us to 2.5 and she is so stubborn that a half hour session with a therapist did nothing for her since she wanted to do what she wanted to do and would end up crying most of the session. Besides speech she had OT and special ed. This is when I began thinking there was more going on that her speech. She went to a special ed class at 3 years old and repeated it at 4 also. She got speech and OT and was in a classroom with only 5-7 other kids. She is aggressive towards other teachers and to her peers at times. She will hit and bit, sometimes. After we got the autism diagnosis we had to wait about a year for intensive in home therapy but since sept 2009 she had been getting 20-25 hours a week of in home ABA therapy. Right now she gets the therapy in the afternoon and goes to a regular K4 classroom with an aide. She needs constant help and supervision throughout the day.
She did get potty trained last year over Christmas vacation and that was a great success. She has a handful of words, lots more that are approximations but she finally said "mommy" right before mothers day last year!! we are waiting on approval for an ipad that we can use for a language device for her. she loves music, cards, people, and rough play. she has come a long way since starting therapy and I get sad thinking how far she has to go but she is overall a very happy little girl.
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Mom to
DD1 7-3-05
DD2 7-5-07
DS1 3-23-10