we need some advise for our 2 year old?

Question

our 2 year old has a gross motor delay, and a mixed receptive/expressive language disorder and his ot says he has sensory issues ans he is VERY under weight. his neurologist said he sees early signs of aspergers and so does his ped. he says about 6-8 words, he also has been repeating us alot latley but he does not use word spontaneously........we are hoping to get some answers when he goes back in the end of jan.....he gets therapy 3 times a week, is there anything else we could do for him?

Answer 1

aspergers usually does not have a language delay, so I'd wonder if that was truly an accurate diagnosis. At that young of an age, most psychs trained in autism would leave the diagnosis at pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDDNOS), and focus on the symptoms, DSI, speech delay, motor delay.

The underweight and sensory issues are probably tied together, it is very common for kids with sensory issues to have trouble eating foods, and also internally the muscles are very uncoordinated and have trouble digesting.

You don't mention what kind of therapy he has...but he should be in speech therapy, occupational therapy (focusing on sensory integration dysfunction), perhaps feeding therapy, and occupational therapy to help with the motor delay.

All those will still be available to you, without charge through your local early intervention group...usually you find it through the dept of health. He should be receiving speech two or three times a week, OT two or three times a week, and sensory therapy at least once a week. Also be sure that there are people training YOU so that you can continue the work at home as much as possible. The more intervention now, the more he will function as an older child.

I know it's overwhelming right now, it was especially hard to look at my little girl and think that she wasn't perfect. But she was, and she is who is will be, and every minute is a blessing. Please contact a local support group for autism (which often has parents dealing with everything from ADHD, aspergers, autism, sensory issues...because we all understand the invisible disabilities)

Good luck, God bless.

Answer 2

Your lucky that you are finding all this out while he is still so little. Be very grateful for that.

My son has/had issues as well. He is now 6. Last year after alot of research on the net I found out that food intolerances can lead to many of these symptoms. I am not saying that it is a cure but for some kids changes in their diets make symptoms improve. You can just do a general search for autism/aspergers and food intolerances.

You are definatly on the right track. Good luck with everything.

Answer 3

first off, listen to skeegs- kids with food intolerances can display all of those symptoms and doctors rarely figure it out. Such a simple solution most of the time, but not always. Make sure you bring it up to your doctor. Beware though, many doctors are still uneasy about diagnosing kids with food intolerances even though more than 1 in 100 people have them and don't even know it. Gluten intolerance is often misdiagnosed as Asperbergers and children with gluten intolerance are often underweight.
As for the talking- my friends two year old was having a hard time using words spontaneously. He would repeat words, but didn't "talk". Her doctor recommended using two word phrases as often as possible. Like "fat cat", "white cat", "big ball", etc. You get the picture. They don't have to rhyme but instead of saying "look at the cat" she would point and say "white cat, see the white cat" basically just use adjectives a lot in two word phrases. Less than six months later he talks extremely well for his age. They were really worried about him too. Its just a skill every child learns differently.
Of course, listen to your doctors and keep taking him to therapy.

Answer 4

Love him.

Follow up on all therapies.

Keep excellent record. If it is aspergers, you have a long road ahead and will find it helpful to have everything documented - medical, physical, developmental, etc.

Educated yourself on therapies, schools, medical issues etc. Start now educating yourself about school. If he will need special services, the public school systems ar usually a jungle. The educated parent fares much better.

Seek support groups as needed.

Seek services (case management, financial, etc.) as needed.

Best of luck.

Answer 5

Love him and pray for him. Sounds like you are doing everything you can for him. God Love you

Answer 6

the only thing that you can do is pray that everything will be alright at your next visit. good luck while you pray i will be praying too.