Let me introduce myself...well, rather let me introduce my daughter :) She is 4 years old (as of Nov 4th!). Within the past year she has been diagnosed with a mild verbal apraxia, mild dyspraxia, ADHD, disruptive behavior disorder-NOS (borderline oppositional defiant disorder), slight OCD, and anxiety. She is on the mild end of all her disorders except for the behavior. Unfortunately the area we live in doesn’t offer a lot of options for therapies and such. She has done speech/language therapy for just under a year now. She is very intelligent for her age (almost a 5 year age level for language comprehension & high average on the IQ testing)...she’s my world!

My ? is that I wonder if she falls under the autism spectrum. I have had a few therapists tell me they feel she might and I took a screening on childbrain.com that scored as a 72 mild PDD. I’m really not sure what that means...Anyway I just wondered if anyone could give me any advice/suggestions! I plan on setting up an appointment with her psychologist next week but just wanted a little more info to go on first :) (as I said our area isn’t over-flowing with child psychologists and I really don’t like hers that well LOL but don’t have many options!)

i would see if there is a regional center in your area. i hope that helps.

The best way to get a specific dx would be by a full evaluation through a neuro-psych. However, most do not take insurance.

Has she been evaluated through the schools? If not, that would be a good start. They will determine where her weaknesses are and if she qualifies offer her services to help. Who’s giving her the therapy now?

Other then that, I would find a neuro who specializes in Autism (any neuro at your Children’s hospital should know of one in the area).

And I ditto contacting the regional center. If you have an Arc in your area, you could contact them for information on doctors in the area. They will be able to give you names of people out there.


...and WELCOME to the group!

My little guy went through the local early intervention program that recommended his primary physician refer him to a "developmental pediatrician."

There are not very many in the country so it’s going to be a day trip if you do it this way, or potentially a couple day trip depending how far you need to travel, but it was worth it.

The doctor provided us with a VERY THOROUGH report and has the power to diagnose. Any time we want to apply for any programs or schooling for my little guy we make a copy of this report and it usually saves us a bunch of paper work, phone calls, and/or time.

The perk to this way is that insurance covers this doctor because in the end, although he/she specializes in special needs, he/she is still a pediatrician! (YAY!!)

No matter what you do, keep us posted!

Well we managed to get her in with a new psychologist so hopefully we will at least be able to get a more complete diagnosis. I’m hoping also to be able to get more info on things in the area to help her! Thanks for all the advice!!!...and to the poster who said I may have to make a day trip out of it...BELIEVE me I would if I need to! LOL She actually has an eye condition too called conjuctival melanosis and her eye specialist is 4 hours away! We take that trip every 3-6 months so...it absolutely doesn’t matter to me how far I have to drive for my children’s health :)

I would definitly start looking for some help in your area, someone should be able to help you find out about a therapist who could let you know if your child is/isn’t autistic. Please let us know what you find out, or if you get an appointment somewhere. Praying for you hon!!