Lecka - Talkability is very good and fits in with materials from social thinking. If you can get a chance to look at a copy you may find lots of ideas you can already incorporate. Oh and I completely agree about the therapists making it look easy. That is when you know you have a good therapist! I have learned so much from everyone who has worked with ds. Most importantly, I learned that while I can imitate and do my best to recreate what they do, it is also their relationship with ds that allows them to make those larger pushes for developmental growth. I can only make smaller nudges as his mom and safe place to fall.

I was told that often when you have speech you do have fine and gross motor delays as well. It was explained to me when ds was little that gross motor recruits fine motor which recruits the fine motor movements of speech, so u do think there is connection. I would seek out an evaluation from a PT and OT. In order to save some expense, you can always ask them for treatment plans you can carry out at home and perhaps check in with them every 10 weeks or so for some updates.

Oh I hope my post didn't make you feel bad about things. That was not my intent. I also don't think you have anything to feel sorry about. From all your posts here, I have always felt you have been doing a great job of promoting language development and fostering his overall development. These kids have so many puzzle pieces that seem to fit in so many categories it is impossible to say any one thing is the fit until they get a bit older. I certainly don't think you need to get any of the Hanen books, just thought you may like them and they may spark some ideas for you. Good chance your library will have one of them or maybe see if your slp has any she is willing to lend out. I would think you would find Talkability to have some good strategies for developing language and conversation skills. There are some samples on the Hanen site.

Fantastic! Will be interesting to see if he starts to branch out with how he plays with the playmobil set as you keep introducing new ideas with it! Hanen for us is very much what PROMPT is for your son. Actually we did both PROMPT and Hanen with our SLP. Anyway if your library carries any of the Hanen books they are definitely worth checking out. Really, Hanen has shaped most of the choices I have made with ds and I am very thankful I found it right away when ds first started with intervention. As for science what about just some of the Williamson Kids Can series of books? And maybe Science Chef - would give you a great way to go with his like of cooking and would also be a great way to work on sequencing and following oral directions with him.

Only, have a couple of minutes so here is a short reply that i will try to expand on later.... Well, I do believe the whole play is the work of children. What about working on moving his play forward? It sounds like his play can get stuck in a loop and he could benefit from you inserting yourself in there to move it forward. I am sort of thinking of the Hanen match model more principal. Of course, if he has some ridigity to his play you are going to have to make small steps in joining in and reshaping or changing the script. I guess I am picturing something like suggesting you go on a bear hunt with him (and I would use lots of sensory input on these hunts, have him commando crawl through the grass, maybe do wheelbarrow walk up the stairs/pretend waterfall, etc) and search out some different animal figurines then after catching these animals making habitats for them using those plastic clamshell food containers and some plastercine. Then maybe after a several hunts seeing if he would like to be zoo keeper and give a tour of his zoo and explain different facts he has learned about each animal and the habitats. Maybe you can see if he is able to consider making extra animal exhibits without the whole hunting thing and maybe even be a vet for the animals etc.... Just as an example of how you could maybe try to expand his play and provide lots of language and learning opportunities as well. Okay gotta go will be back later

Well, what you shared does raise quite a few red flags beyond quirky. I guess you have to ask yourself why is it that you think having a dx would be a negative and/or of no consequence. Seeking a dx is about supporting your child in ways that will provide the best outcomes for your child and your family. Also, it is important to keep in mind that many people have dealt with what they believe to be "x" dx only to many years later have the child evaluated and learn they were really dealing with y not x. For us my son was dx at around 2ish. I have never regretted having him dx. He simply would not be where he is without all of the early intervention and therapy he has received. Ds really could be a poster child for how crucial early intervention can be. The better understanding I have of my son through having him dx and being at every therapy appt over the years has also made me a much better teacher for ds and has allowed me to breakdown things for him in ways to facilitate his learning in not only academics but with executive functioning skills which are critical to his success in life.

I liked Freeing Your Child from Anxiety. We also worked through What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety. Is she medicated for the ADHD? Some of the meds can exacerbate the anxiety piece.

OP - for your little guy have you looked at the book Show Me A Story? It is a wonderful craft project book to work on story telling and writing. Lots of great ideas that you can use for his comprehension as well. We used her traveling puppet theatre idea for ds to retell stories he had read and also for things I had read aloud to him.

Sorry to hear many of you have been having a rough time this past while. Hopefully things settle down shortly. Also wanted to say thanks for sharing your experiences. It helps me to remind me to remain proactive about arming ds9 with as many "tools" for his "toolbox" as I can. Of course, I realize this doesn't mean we will be able to stop similar situations from occurring here. Kbutton - we always have had what appears to be a major regression of skills right before huge developmental leaps here. They always send me scratching my head wondering if I have done everything wrong. Then all of the sudden there is this huge click and stuff we worked on for months without progress is suddenly mastered and I am scrambling to find out what to do next....

I was once at a baby shower and heard this piece of advice given to the mom to be: don't feel guilty if you can't or don't want to to breast feed, only feel guilty if you don't feed the baby. It is so true! Don't feel guilty because you can't provide what you feel is the ideal situation, only feel guilty if you stop searching out a way to help move his education forward. You are doing what a responsible and loving parent does, looking for a way to best help your child and your family. I hope this school proves to be the solution for you and your family.

I can understand how you feel. Here the local events are quite good. We have a great local autism association which always has some sort of awareness event. The events they put on do seek to educate the community about autism and normally they raise money for the support programs they provide for families and also for their autism lending library. I just find the whole thing odd to navigate with ds.

I wish I had a helpful idea for you. I can feel your frustration. Have you had a meeting with the therapist yourself to share your concerns?

So please for you and your dd! I still have the sample of ds's writing from right before starting vision and one from halfway through. The difference is astounding.

Another program that an OT may use for behaviour is Zones of Regulation.

Three cheers for good days! Long may they continue!

Well I only have one and I do know that I wouldn't be able to do most of what I do without sleep. I am sure that is probably the biggest stumbling block you have right now. Of course that lack of sleep escalates behaviours and your ability and energy levels to deal with everything. I am sure you have already tried everything under the sun to try and get her to sleep though. So I mostly just wanted to add some hugs! Something that is helpful here is looking at everything ds does and finding ways to make tasks and his school work do double duty for therapy related goals as well. I am not sure I can explain this well, but I also find my mindset is the most important. I have the mindset that everything is an opportunity to work on goals with ds instead of just looking at lists of therapy ideas and therapy homework as a daily to do. I find this makes our days far more productive and rewarding for both of us. Also that always looking for opportunities helps me see the progress we are making and leaves me feeling energized. That allows me to make use of the little time i have to pursue my interests and to look after myself by working out.

Some games we have been enjoying lately are pajaggle, cool circuits and tribbit. I really love the last one. It is great for categorization and problem solving skills. Edited to add: what about some of the language games at super duper? Maybe some of them would be a good fit.

I have had more people suspecting languge difficulties, ADHD and SPD then I have had suspecting ASD. Perhaps part of the reason I get approached often is that my city has a huge culture of promoting whole child development, and a inclusive environment for those with differences. I do think that makes parents more open to exploring questions they have about their child.

It is always hard to wait for those results! One thing to keep in mind about those assessment, most SLP tests are for a wide age range and they generally keep going in a test till the child ceilings out, so not everything you see her having trouble with may necessarily be for her age. That is also why it is hard for the SLP to say much before she scores it and looks at the norms.

I am not sure why my experience is so different then all the previous posters! I seem to have become a go to person for some reason. I have had several people approach me about having their child evaluated for one thing or another. I have also had lots of calls from other friends who are concerned about one of their friend's children. I am a big advocate of early intervention and ds is pretty much a walking testament to how crucial it is, he was referred for intevention at 19 months and dx just afte he turned 2, so perhaps that is why. Since the people have generally sought me out they have followed through. I do remember one mom I met when ds was in K, her son was exhibiting many red flags for autism and I didn't really know her to approach her. So I just tried to befriend her and her son and do some of the playful intervention strategies we used with my son. After a month of so she asked how I was able to connect with him and that opened the door to talk with her.

Have you seen the book Learning the ROPES for Improved Exeuctive Functioning? The authors have a series of different graphic organizers they use for various executive functioning difficulties. One of them is called a basic thinking tool where you look at a situation, the action taken, and the resulting outcome. They also expand that to look at different actions you can take that lead to different outcomes from the same situation. It is a great way to help those with ASD link their actions with the resulting outcomes and see that their actions do result in the outcomes they get. Here is a link to the book, you just have to scroll down a bit. http://www.abtaproducts.com/publications.htm

Maybe this would be a good time to do some follow up assessments with an OT, PT and an SLP. Has anyone ever mentioned DCD with regards to your son? What you wrote about your son just made me immediately think about DCD. I know I have read about how you cant really dx a child with ADHD when you have significant motor challenges present. Here is a link to a site with lots of information on what DCD/Dsypraxia looks like in children. http://canchild.ca/elearning/dcd_workshop/index.html

The Hyperlexia kit did use anaphoric cuing/pronoun referent strategy that was extermely helpful for ds. I didn't really find the Drawing a Blank book that helpful, although I am now drawing a blank as to why, lol. It was a few years ago that I read it, but I don't recall really changing anything I was doing based on my reading of that book.

For my ds who is 9 and has ASD we have found visualize and verbalize very helpful along with the hyperlexia kit level 2 from linguisystems. Ds doesn't have hyperlexia, but the scaffolding provided in the hyperlexia kit and the way the program is structured allowed me to see where he was breaking down in his understanding and which strategy helped him For us, I think the biggest help has been helping ds with his social thinking, the gains he has made with that have allowed for some of his biggest gains in reading comprehension. We have done lots of work on inferencing with his slp and with various things I bought from super duper and linguisystems.

Sounds like a interesting strategy! My ds would not have had the perspective taking skills necessary to probably do much with it at that age. For us we did just model lots of self talk and then eventually ds started to do the same, except all his self talk was outloud, lol. Although it was helpful that his was voiced out loud for awhile, cause it helped in understanding what goes on inside that wonderful head of his.