Social Anxiety/Processing/Autism

[Seasonofthewitch83]

Hi All

I posted a few weeks ago as I was concerned that my 2.5 year olds behaviour was becoming quite extreme due to her total aversion to other children making noise, coupled with a speech delay (speech ok at home, behind in terms of function/expression) but she does not talk outside the house.

She had her ears checked, they said she reacted to every sound that was needed for speech but didnt comment on the fact she was very startled and upset at one of the frequencies.

We had a private SALT assessment yesterday and DD surprised me by talking while she was playing, just like she did at home. She has always been pretty much non verbal at nursery but she was counting, saying one words but has stopped.

She followed all the instructions and showed understanding e.g Find the horse, the horse is hungry, can you find some food and feed it to them?' She got upset at the puzzle that made animal noises and wanted to leave.

The therapist suggested there was something that made DD file language as a low priority, such as anxiety, processing disorder or autism. Obviously she did not diagnose but suggested.

Has anyone else heard of something like this?

The therapist will be observing DD at nursery as the next step before suggesting therapy but am curious if anyone else has had similar experiences?

Anxiety, autism and processing difficulties can all affect language/communication/interaction. If the SALT is suggesting this I would ask for a referral for further assessment.

Is the nursery providing support?

Yes, nursery are fantastic.

SALT will be able to refer down the line if she feels it warrants diagnosis.

I would question why the SALT thought it relevant enough to raise the possibility but doesn’t think it warrants referral for further investigation now.

Is that unusual? I thought on the basis of a 45 minute observation would be jumping the gun to make a diagnosis hence why they will also observe DD at nursery away from us to see the behaviour that concerns us.

She has said she will refer once she has enough information as to how to progress and who to refer on to.

I didn’t suggest a diagnosis based on a 45 minute observation, I suggested a referral for further assessment which may or may not lead to a diagnosis. If they think it is relevant enough to mention now then it is relevant enough to look at referring now.