Dyspraxia - should I ask our OT if our 20 mnth DS old enough to be diagnosed with it?

[katendmom]

If you read my earlier post - you might already know that DS (20 month old) was diagnosed with a speech development delay (wasn't saying any words at the age of 19 months) that was secondary to his sensory hypersensitivity (tactile - texture). He was evaluated by a team of an occupational therapist, a child development specialist and a social worker. They referred him to an occupational therapist (whom we are seeing for the 3rd time today).

We think she's really helping and we think DS is showing some nice progress... but what worries us is that he doesn't have like a definite diagnosis.

I even looked at Autism but he really doesn't have some of the "classical" symptoms. Then I stumbled upon "dyspraxia" ... and again - he doesn't match all symptoms but does match a good bunch.

So should I ask our OT if that is in fact what he has? But why did his evaluation team didn't say anything? Or is that because at this age he is too young to be evaluated for dyspraxia?

I guess I could wait a couple hours until our session and just ask our OT but our DS is our life and we worry about him so much... so any advises from you, experienced moms?

I thinbk it is a bit early to seek a label for such issues and nto sure there eis any benefot to having a diagnosis yet if he is already in the system. So many conditiosn overlap in their symptoms and 20 months is very young. The rate of motor and speech development at this age is so variable. Just let her help him as issues become apparent and see where it leads. OT's cannot formally diagnose anyway it would probably have to be a paediatrician.

I agree with LIZS. There are a lot of conditions where symptoms overlap. My ds1, for example, has a dx of ASD but equally has a lot of the traits of dyspraxia. At 20mths it would have been very difficult to say for sure.

You could ask the OT but I suspect that the answer would be that it's too early to say what your ds might have.

Thank you both. I did speak with OT yesterday and she said pretty much what you mentioned - lots of these disorders are spectrum disorders that are difficult to pin point with a 100% accuracy. Given that my DS is so little yet - it makes it even harder. She confirmed that he has sensory integration dysfunction - which can be a standalone condition or be a part of a disorder. She suggested that I get on a waiting list to see a developmental pediatrician - they're the ones who can diagnose and actually give out a diagnosis. Given that a waiting list is about a year long - by the time he gets his turn - he'll be almost 3 which is a good age when they in fact can diagnose.

In the meantime we'll continue with OT.

Thanks again for sharing your opinion.