Hello! My 6-year-old son may possibly have SPD. I know I will not get definitive answers here or anywhere else, but any advice or info would be very much appreciated. I'll give you a background of what has lead up to this point....
As a baby:
-He would get so upset at loud gatherings/events, that I would have to remove him from the noise and bring him somewhere quiet to calm down.
-He would drool so much that he would soak through his clothes and mine when holding him.
-He would overeat to the point of constant spit-up or vomiting.
-Chronic diarrhea (gritty/light in color/acidic-smelling)
As a toddler:
-He knew his ABC's at 18 mos., would always look for letters while out/almost obsessive about it
-He would line his cars up behind his back often
-He would organize his blocks by color
-He would get so angry at times that he would automatically pick up the closest object and throw it at me/dad/sister.
-When angry, he would also bang his head on the floor
-Only spoke 5 words at 2 years, I had to insist on speech therapy (he had therapy for a year, successful)
-At age 3, chronic diarrhea changed to chronic constipation that we are still battling. He sees a GI specialist for this ( that I also had to request referral for)
-Around 2.5-3 years started this "pill rolling" with his hands that dad and I just thought he did to stimulate himself. Sometimes when he was playing alone, other times during computer time.
-Still drooling and now sticks his tongue out to the side when playing alone or using hand motions.
As a pre-schooler:
-Pre-k teachers had concerns about his fine motor skills. This was brought up to his pediatrician.
-Every time he dressed himself, his clothes were on backwards (every item) or upside down (socks with grey heels would on top of his foot).
-Tried soccer. No focus, would do the pill rolling on the field. Happy to just kick the ball around & cheer on teammates. We did this for spring/fall season & decided not
to enroll him this spring : (
-Would get VERY angry when hungry & still does. Always seems to be hungry.
Now, we are up to kindergarten. His teacher had concerns about the hand motions and how he would "zone" out sometimes while he was doing this. She had the school psychologist come in and observe him. They then called me in. It was decided to bring this up to his pediatrician with the concern of seizure activity. We had a 1.5 hr. EEG performed that incidentally found the trait for nocturnal benign rolandic epilepsy. No cause for concern. A lot of kids have this without ever knowing & outgrow by tween years. Ok. We did get a diagnosis of ADD ( not hyperactive). Then, after Christmas break, teacher notices these "spells" are getting longer & now he is regressing in some skills. Another meeting. We now get set up for a 24-he EEG (no seizures found) & an MRI (neg). I'm just so overwhelmed at this point, but I also feel relief as the school psychologist brings up the possibility of PDD. We agreed to have an IEP set up as he qualified for services under "other medical" due to ADD dx. The IEP has been set up to where he's going to receive OT for his fine motor issues, PT for his coordination problems (i have to watch him consistently or he will walk into/off things), & 1:1 special ed help to keep him focused.
I have been a mother since the age of 18. I had 2 children before this little guy. As a mother, you know when something is not right. Upon reading up on PDD, I learned about SPD. Mind you, my son sometimes sucks/chews on his clothes. He says he does it when he's nervous. He's typically home when he does this. He also had major issues with going to school for the first 4 months. He kept saying he wanted to go back to pre-k & he hated kindergarten. Didn't make for good mornings.
Here's (finally) my question to you: There is a center here locally that i can have him evaluated at. The wait time is 6-9 months. I just read SPD is not being recognized in the new DSM-V. Does he seem like a kid with SPD? Should I push on? I feel like the only person(finally) that agrees and sees what I'm seeing is the school psychologist. Not the pediatrician and not my husband.
I'm sorry about the long post but i'm at a loss and don't know if i'm fighting an imaginary battle. I welcome any insight on this.
Thank You!