It's likely PTSD. When my then 8 yo had major surgery, a friend in the psych field alerted me to the chances of PTSD developing afterward. It was very depressing because it's not like it was elective surgery. It just had to be done whether we liked it or not.

Seriously. Count me in.

As someone who had to be on the type of antibiotics they use for gut infections, you have my sympathy. I remember thinking, "How can I survive two more weeks in this stuff?!!" I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Keeping you and your dd in my thoughts and prayers!

If she really seems to be able to hear accurately, and isn't fooling you about that by compensating with her brightness, I don't know what you would do. My DD most definitely has a significant auditory problem in certain environments. She is great in others, and never had any articulation, reading or spelling problems. However, she wasn't an early reader at all and a covd optometrist suggested she has the style/timing of a dyslexic. Her spelling scores from NP testing were also lower than I expected. Because the audiologist put it as a rec in her report, she got an FM system through her college but it did not turn out to be very helpful because she's in a specialized program where classes required a lot of discussion. She also has a lot of music classes. It may have been more helpful had she had a lot of lecture type classes. The college later moved to the smart pen that records. The report also recommended at notetaker, but the pen takes care of that, too. The NP did not give her a developmental coordination disorder diagnosis but noted that weakness on her report. She said she would have made a case for it and recommended OT had she been younger. She made the recommendation of extra time on the report based on the low fluency scores which she felt were motor-based. Her achievement scores were not low enough for a label, so she probably would not not have made the cut for accommodations on the SAT or even at a huge state college, but her college accepted the fluency issue for extra time... unless she got that for the CAPD. You can file that away for the future. Sorry if these details are boring but they'll give you possibilities to consider if anything applies in you case. I honestly think three things we did really helped her. One was doing a ton of read alouds. I don't know if this was a natural strength, but it certainly helped her develop skills as an auditory learner. The second was music. That was brain and motor training, and emotional therapy because it was something she loved to do and helped her connect with people. The third us understanding her difficulties and accepting them which enabled us to be more patient and appreciate her gifts rather than focusing on the problems. As she understood and accepted her difficulties, she became better able to advocate for herself and became extremely compassionate to others. I see her as a young woman now, but I already know the focus of her life will be helping others through music or whatever. â¤ï¸

Not sure if you need this: The ipsilateral reflex is when the reflex triggers in the ear on the one side, if you give a stimulus to that same side. Contralateral means the the opposite ear's reflex is triggered. My DD is missing both contralateral and one ipsalateral, according to the last testing. Her hearing acuity is normal, with some mild but within the range of normal loss in the ear with the abnormal ipsalateral reflex. FWIW, she needs time to process what she hears. She has a big problem with sound in noise, like trying to listen to someone when there's background noise. She also has a problem with competing signals. So when some talks on her left side, she may not even know someone is talking to her on her right side. A neurologist once described this as an auditory attention problem.

It means you have my DD! This is what we did: She got the ABR done which ruled out auditory neuropathy. We visited a researcher of auditory neuropathy in his lab, who had no answers for us after all his specialized testing. He then contacted his big name mentor who recommended a brain MRI to rule out lesions of any type. DD got the MRI, and the neurologist who ordered it had a special neuropathy-radiologist read it. He found nothing, though we were told sometimes things are just too small to see even with an MRI. We went to another neurologist recommended by the auditory neuropathy expert. He told us he sees the absent reflexes in his patients sometimes--even acoustic reflexes that come and go--and he said not to worry about it. She once had normal reflexes, so hers disappearing was weird. And, yes, reading the articles meant for audiologist about what this means is scary, but I'd like to reassure you, Terabith. My DD had now had three more MRI's since that time because of another issue, all over about four years or so. An nothing has developed or shown up to explain it. And I don't think anything has become worse in her functioning either, with the CAPD or anything else. The thing is, from what about your situation, we're dealing with some similar stuff. Very bright but glitches. My DD actually seems to have all the processing difficulties of someone on the spectrum but has very good social skills and any issues there seem to come specifically from the processing troubles IYKWIM. She also has the NVLD split on the WISC but that NP didn't think she had it. So basically, you have wonkiness (auditory/visual/motor/visual-motor/sensory) but nothing quite clear enough for a label that would provide a really good explanation. She gets overwhelmed easily and benefits from alone time as a young adult. But she is just a wonderful DD to have, and in her last year of college. To be honest, I have wondered about Lyme since that can effect the cranial nerves.

Is it possible to sit with him and go back through all the exponent material in Jacobs so you can catch any fault reasoning that has to be remediated?

Not helpful perhaps, but we used a coop class that allowed DD to use either edition. So they are probably similar enough.

Just sharing my thoughts on the pencil grip. From my experience with three kids, I would do a couple things before making a pencil grip an issue. I would start with an OT to figure out what the underlying issues are. I had children with different mixes of an underlying intrnsic muscle weakness, one with a verified coordination problem, visual and visual motive issues, suspected ADHD affecting motor planning, and joint hypermobility. All of there things can affect pencil grip, and usually we won't know unless we get things checked out by people who are aware of those things. The thing to keep in mind is that, they may be able to pull off a good grip for a short time, which gives us the impression it's in their control and that if they don't it's a discipline problem or a character issue or an "unteachable spirit due to pride." Accusing a child of not trying hard enough for whatever reason without a full understanding of the underlying problems can be dangerous on many levels, including faith. This is just my opinion after dealing with my own kids and seeing the risks of different approaches and the benefit of others.

I haven't had the greatest success with OT for sensory, but that's the ones we've had. As Elizabeth said, they vary a lot. I've had four with SPD, the life-impacting variety. I know what it's like not to be able to get clothes on them so you can go out and live life. And I know what it's like to feel humiliated by the crazy mismatched outfits, boots in summer, sandals in winter. I believe we have finally reached the point of being confident of an affirmative response to the question, "Are you wearing underwear?" I never want to go back to the days of constant issues with shoes and clothes. Never. I will say surely puberty, even the very early stages, has made a huge difference with the clothing issues. Suddenly, looking nice becomes more important than discomfort, at least to a degree. I'm finally reaching that point with my youngest. Woo hoo! There also comes the ability to articulate discomfort before a major meltdown hits. OT could probably get you there sooner. As someone here has talked about, SPD often morphs into anxiety later because of those signals being out of whack. Be aware, it's a physical thing, not psychological. So if you need to seek help for that someday, make sure you have a specialist/therapist/psych who gets sensory or else you might waste time and create other problems. You will get through this and it will get better. Offer patience and understanding and grow a thick skin. Get whatever help you can through OT. SPD has not affected my kids as they got older in terms of what they are able to accomplish. I have one who goes to concerts wearing ear plugs and carrying a bag to throw up in in case she gets massively overstimulated. But she goes and each time her confidence grows about her ability to accommodate. The same kid might only be able to shop for 30 mins at a time but shopping isn't nearly as important as music to her. And another kid who wouldn't get dressed happily wears a uniform now, heavy, clunky shoes and all. And when she's not in uniform, she can dress rather glamorous. This is all to say, be hopeful. Things change. They grow out of some parts of it or they learn how to accommodate the SPD to accomplish what it's important to them.

No, it was some for lunch, some for a snack, and some for dinner. Before I knew it, they were all gone. Then I looked at the can and added it all up.

The other thing is that in very straightforward, simple social situations, you will often see good manners and behavior as long as the child is well rested, fed, feeling well, and not stuck on something. But life is not often that way. Then the teen years come and the complexity of social interactions can become even more overwhelming.

There's definitely a thing that happens with HFA, when they know what's appropriate and can articulate it in a one on one setting but don't or can't do it in a real social situation. I think it can be the social thinking but I've also wondered if disordered processing plays a part, as in too many things going on in a real life scenario to coordinate appropriate behaviors and responses. I have a kiddo who corrects the things I say and do in public, because it's not part of her mental script of how a social interaction is carried out. She has that script of what people do and say in social situations. But it's not like she can implement that perfect script when she has the chance.

My life seems really boring. The ladies out there who cc seem like Charlie's Angels to me.

Seriously. No wonder I haven't lost that last five pounds.

Keep giving us updates!

Wow! You took the plung with Writers in Residene! And you love it!

Rereading, I see you are disinclined to go for a diagnosis. It's your choice. But I would consider it now and again and again as the years go by, because the social stuff and anxiety can really get worse as you get into the teen years. So keep re-evaluating whether this is in his best interest. I'm very sorry if this sounds harsh or judgmental, and I din't mean that. I only say this as someone who did not get any of our diagnoses early and saw my kids suffer for it when they would have been helped by getting appropriate interventions earlier. But it's very hard for even specialists to understand the needs of higher functioning kids because they tend to be rather well-behaved one on one and they don't often get to see what really happens when a kid like this gets stuck. I also think regular therapists have a typical developmental trajectory in mind and don't appreciate the extent to which ASD kids can deviate from their typical peers in their development more over time without the right support.

Maybe I'm missing something. If you have insurance, why not let insurance cover it? OT evaluation is hundreds of dollars where I live. This isn't such a big deal to come up with a diagnosis based on symptoms. Primary care providers have to do it all the time for referrals because when you first make an appointment for any kind of specialist, you don't usually have a clear diagnosis beforehand, just some symptoms and suspicions, whether it's OT, cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, etc. The people who make referrals are experienced with this and it's usually easy for them to find a code that can fit to cover it. I wish I could remember what reason was on the referrals for all the OT we had. Once it was AHDH for one kid who it turns out doesn't technically have ADHD. But we've gone three other times with other kids and I have no idea what the primary used. For the neuropsychologist evaluation, the code for the referral was a head injury from years ago and headaches. I would always try to get a purely medical reason down for the evaluation because that can avoid issues later. I wonder if a motor skills problem would be a good bet?? Also, I think we've needed authorizations for OT evaluations. So if there are any issues that come up you can trouble shoot.

Prayed with DD for him tonight.

You know, it might very well be in the range of normal. But you've got two other kids and a mommy gut. Therefore, I would try to find a recommended place for a speech evaluation. You might need a referral from your pediatrician, but they should advise you on what you needed to do. My overall sense is not to wait with speech issues because there are some issues where early intervention can be helpful. Also, problems with word retrieval can can cause frustration and ensuing behavior problems. So I recommended just checking it out for your peace of mind. I did that with one kid with an articulation problem and treated therapist was able to tell me it was normal and when it should resolve. And that was worth it to me. ETA: re-reading little details in your post lead me to believe it's frustrating her and causing meltdowns. All reasons not to wait for her sake. FWIW, DD enjoyed her speech eval.

You're right. We only had one doctor do this. In other cases, I had to make the request to the pediatrician myself.

Two kids here needed meds. It's a tough decision but in our case definitely necessary and for the best. One started with a really amazing psychiatrist, and I loved her protocol with Zoloft. She started her on one quarter of the lowest dose for three days, then half the lowest dose, then three quarters. Each for three days with instructions to keep at that level if headache or nausea developed, and until those side effects resolved. We were told to call if any worse side effects appeared. She had no problem. The other kid was a lot older and just started at the lowest dose, also with no problem. In both cases, we saw the positive effects very quickly, sooner than we anticipated. The only real problem I've seen among my friends and their kids with these meds is starting at too high a dose or increasing a dose too quickly. So I always suggest going slowly.

Probiotics made a big difference for me. I rarely catch viruses now and when I do, it tends to be less severe compared to the rest of my family.