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What could be wrong with my son?


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He's 4 years old. I've always suspected something was wrong, he just doesn't seem to understand/listen to instruction a lot of the time. We had an IEP evaluation in the spring and he tested just a few months below his age, not enough to need help from IEP. Well, he started pre-k a couple of weeks ago and his teacher, who sat in on our IEP meetings, said she wants me to have his hearing tested. I scheduled the appointment for next week but I don't think it's his hearing. He does seem to not hear us when we're talking to him sometimes, but it's very inconsistent. I've tried whispering to him and he hears me just fine. I feel like he isn't fully comprehending us.

 

It's very difficult teaching him anything, colors, letter, numbers, shapes. He has gotten alot better in the last few months but when asked "what color is this ball?" he would answer "Chicken." or "Spiderman.", when asked "What letter is this?", he would answer "Letter!" Like I said he's gotten alot better but it's VERY inconsistent. Sometimes he'll get a correct answer and then you ask him the same question later and he gives a response that is so off the wall, crazy! When playing soccer, his coach will yell for/instruct him to do something and he just stands there like he doesn't know he's being spoken to.

 

Any ideas on what this could be?

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:iagree: Yes, this!

 

Sounds almost exactly like my son, who has an auditory processing disorder. If your son does have APD (or, sometimes, CAPD), keep an eye out for other sensory-related issues. Sensory Processing Disorder, Visual Processing Disorder, the list can go on! Not to say that every kid with APD has these other issues, but it is a possibility worth exploring.

 

Check on the special needs board for testing resources and other information...there are many parents in the same boat over there! ;)

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My son did this. He was first diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and later with PDD-NOS which is under the autism umbrella. Their hearing is fine but they just literally can get so involved in something that they don't 'hear' you.

 

What also clued us in that something was wrong, was his oddball statements and questions. He came up to me one day when he was 3 and said, "Are you going to put me in the frying pan?" He'd ask us what a mall was when he'd been to one often. We opened a closet and found it stuffed full of all the birthday balloons -- he'd collected them up and put them in there because they made such a loud noise when they popped.

 

These things all make me smile now but back then we had no idea what was going on inside that little head of his!

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Earlier today I was trying to test his hearing. He was washing his hands and I was standing a foot away from him, in a low voice, I asked "Do you want a piece of candy?" Nothing. Then a few minutes later in the same low voice, and with him 10 feet away from me, I asked him again and he said "Yes." I asked him, "Yes, what?" He said, "I do." I ask, "What do you want?" He says, "Yes." I could not for the life of me get him to say candy, but he seemed like he really wanted it.

 

 

Thanks for giving me a place to start! I'm off to research APD, I've never even heard of it before!!

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It could very well be his hearing. Children that are hard-of-hearing are very "inconsistent" as you describe it. I am hard-of-hearing myself and I missed it in my own daughter for quite a while. It could also be auditory processing disorder as others have said. If you have an appointment with a good pediatric audiologist, they should be able to test for CAPD if they rule out hearing loss.

 

Praying things go well and you get some answers!:grouphug:

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My middle dd had speech delays. I got her hearing tested several times because I didn't believe the results when they came back negative. Her problems were caused primarily by an auditory processing delay. Remediating that issue made an enormous difference in her speech (went from 2yo level at 4yo to low end of normal at 4.5yo).

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It could very well be his hearing. Children that are hard-of-hearing are very "inconsistent" as you describe it. I am hard-of-hearing myself and I missed it in my own daughter for quite a while. It could also be auditory processing disorder as others have said. If you have an appointment with a good pediatric audiologist, they should be able to test for CAPD if they rule out hearing loss...

 

It could be his hearing. Have his hearing fully examined by an audiologist. Not just an in-office screening at the ped. My DS passed every "screening" at the pediatrician. It turns out that his hearing is normal in the upper tones, which is what his pediatrician tested. It's at the tones of normal speech, particularly male voices, that his hearing is almost non-existent. He now wears bilateral hearing aids.

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It could be his hearing. Have his hearing fully examined by an audiologist. Not just an in-office screening at the ped. My DS passed every "screening" at the pediatrician. It turns out that his hearing is normal in the upper tones, which is what his pediatrician tested. It's at the tones of normal speech, particularly male voices, that his hearing is almost non-existent. He now wears bilateral hearing aids.

 

:iagree: I didn't stress the "audiologist" enough in my first post. My DD actually *faked* her way through a screening at the pediatrician's office - with a *SEVERE* bilateral hearing loss! Based on what you are describing, he needs a full evaluation by an audiologist that specializes in working with children.

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I don't know where you are, OP, but in my state, the state has a department of rehabilitative services. Early Intervention is one of the services that operates from there. The pediatric hearing clinic is set up specifically for testing children as young as non-verbal infants. The audiologists there specialize in children. They were able to explain to me why DS continued to pass the usual screening tests at the pediatrician's office even though he had a severe hearing loss.

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Do searches on auditory processing and language processing.

 

Yup - and a basic hearing test won't show these, as it is in the brain, not the ear (been there, done that.). Won't hurt to have the hearing test - just if it is fine do not let school folk ignore the problem. Find a professional trained to look for auditory processing.

 

My kid's severe auditory processing delay was in part a result of petit mal (absence) seizures, most occurring in deep sleep cycles in the language-processing part of his brain (when language learnt during the day would be moved from short to long-term storage in the gray matter.) The abnormal activity only showed up on an over-night, unmedicated EEG. He did have some activity during the day (mere seconds of staring spells) but mostly at night. Probably NOT your kidlet's problem, but a possibility to be aware of, just in case.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We have had 6 children. Three of them have this. I was diagnosed through a non hearing written test at 18 in 1978. They said that I had Auditory Short Term Memory and problems processing information. Anyway, I had thought maybe I was ADD which CAPD is closely like. We never had the money to take them to a specialist. We bought The Listening Program which was spendy and it didnt help our son. He is now 20 and works very slow and methodically at his job at the grocery store and really enjoys it. He has a mechanical mind and very detailed. He could never takes "notes" in a school situation but would have to record it or get the notes from the teacher or other students. He could never remember what he wanted to write down because his hands couldn't get it out fast enough through his brain or is it the other way around.

Our 18yr.old daughter is Very....quick witted like her father but cant sit still. She works at a different grocery store and is always moving and loves her job. She could never stay focused with her schoolwork.

I only had one or two that seemed to be "normal?" if there is such a thing.

With my problems and theirs it was and is hard to homeschool but I never gave up.

Cyndi

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My ds (5) has problems with visual processing, not auditory. He just had an EEG and it showed seizure activity. We are working on finding the right medicine to see if that solves the problem.

 

My ds(16) has been incredibly inconsistent in every aspect of his life. He was diagnosed with ADHD about 2nd grade and has been medicated ever since. It helped during the good times, but the bad time kept getting worse. He started having grand mal seizures a few years ago, but on multiple EEGs there was no sign of any other seizure activity. He had an inpatient EEG this summer that showed activity. He is totally different now that he is on a new medicine. He will see the neurologist tomorrow to see about totally stopping his ADHD meds once he is at theraputic levels on the new seizure meds.

 

I was with both of my boys when they had their EEGs and saw no sign of any seizure activity. I am so sad that it took 9 years of the wrong diagnosis and treatment to get him help.

 

I think that checking into neuological issues should be considered, especially when other treatments are not working well.

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