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insegnante
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| Posted: March 27 2008 at 3:10pm | IP Logged
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Hope that title makes sense. Have any of you had a child who was definitely "behind" for his or her age, but pretty much seemed like a healthy, happy, developing child of a younger age? That's what our 3 1/2-year-old seems like to me -- a typical child of maybe 2 1/2, 2 3/4. We will be consulting (again) with our pediatrician about this next week, but I just wanted to ask if anyone else had a similar experience, how did things turn out? If you had a child who simply seemed younger than his or her age, was there a specific "problem" identified, did the child start to catch up with his agemates through therapy, or did you actually have a professional tell you just to give him time?
I wrote about his language development a while back. That's the most noticeable issue. It started out "normal," and there was no regression, but it really slowed to a crawl between about 2 and just before 3, without much vocabulary acquisition and no real progress with phrases. Right around three he added lots more nouns and started learning some more adjectives and verbs. Since then he's been using phrases pretty regularly, and he first used (not quite grammatical) "sentences" some time in the fall, but it still seemed like a bit of a labor for him to put words together, especially in anything resembling full sentences. But over the past several weeks, that has changed. Just like it might in a "normal" 2 1/2-year-old or so.
However, it seems reasonable to expect that he may have trouble getting over the next "hurdle" in language development.
His pronunciation is also at about the level of his language, and I think some of his other skills, like drawing and using utensils, seem more in keeping with his language and speech development than his chronological age. In this case, the social/play red flags for autism and PDD have never been there. I just wonder about an overall delay of some sort. It is hard to tell with his language delay but I really don't suspect his overall "cognitive level" is that of a 3 1/2-year-old.
I guess I have this fear that professionals will always think it's worth "doing something about" a delay, just so you can feel like you're doing something. If the child progresses at all, it could be attributed to the therapy, even if he was progressing anyway. I do want to get his issues evaluated, and I think this might be a great time for any therapy that is truly helpful, because he seems to be in this stage of really active development, and is very agreeable a great deal of the time. At his 3-year visit, I was so unnerved by the way our (usually very likable) doctor seemed to evaluate his development based almost solely on the way he seemed in her office that day, and that I felt like we just barely got out of there with "permission" to just keep watching development. She seemed so tense and sort of disapproving when she challenged him to answer questions, that I don't think he would have even if he had understood what she was saying. It really put me off of getting him "evaluated" without giving him more time. I do want him to be able to overcome his hurdles easier than he has so far, if it is possible. I don't want him to have long-term learning difficulties unnecessarily, and it makes me sad that he may not be ready for the 3-6 Atrium this Fall even though he'll be 4, and we may not live somewhere that there is an Atrium by the time he's ready. That sort of potentially missed opportunity is why we are going to consult about this again -- I'm mainly starting with the pediatrician to see if more of an overall assessment is called for instead of going straight to a speech/language person. But I don't want to have him in therapy so we can feel like we're "doing something about it" if it turns out he's probably just going to keep happily developing at this pace regardless.
Someday, I might actually write a short post! Sorry, hope anyone who tried to read all this could follow what it is I'm trying to say/ask...
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Theresa
mommy to three boys, 3/02, 8/04, and 9/10, and a girl, 8/08
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KC in TX
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| Posted: March 28 2008 at 9:44pm | IP Logged
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Theresa, it wouldn't hurt to have him evaluated by a speech therapist. Even if you don't enter into formal therapy, if there's any sort of a diagnosis, you can have an idea of how to approach things. For me, the best thing about my son, LB, receiving a formal diagnosis was finally having an idea of what was going on. Although the path is rarely clear, it's there.
Praying for you.
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KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
Mama to LB ('98)
Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
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NavyMom
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| Posted: March 28 2008 at 9:53pm | IP Logged
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Theresa,
I do not think therapy could hurt him. If you have the time and desire and it is available to you, go for it! Thereapy has only helped us and perhaps we would be fine without it, but it sure has not hurt us.
Feel free to PM me if you'd like...
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Willa
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| Posted: April 03 2008 at 9:53am | IP Logged
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insegnante wrote:
| I guess I have this fear that professionals will always think it's worth "doing something about" a delay, just so you can feel like you're doing something. If the child progresses at all, it could be attributed to the therapy, even if he was progressing anyway. |
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That's what I've struggled with too. It is very possible -- who could really tell? I do get the services, though, "just in case". Aidan usually rather enjoys them. The therapists usually have neat toys and try pretty hard to make the sessions work for him.
Plus, if you sit in at the sessions sometimes you get ideas about ways to work with the child naturally at home. That has been a plus for me.
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Willa
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| Posted: April 03 2008 at 9:56am | IP Logged
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Also, I ought to mention that it is not uncommon for therapy to be "short term". Aidan is pretty much in it for life because he has mild cerebral palsy and brain damage resulting from a stroke. But his occupational therapist has signed off on many children during the years she has been Aidan's therapist. And you can make the therapy work with your life. Many therapists will meet with you less frequently and then assign "homework" you can do with the child at home.
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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4Real Forums : Special Blessings
Topic: multip delays w/no obvious problem (long)
