dyspraxia/autism ?

[kerry0115]

my 3 1/2 yr old has had letter from hospital consultant,he goes for mri scan next week,week after sees physiotherapist. letter says he very quiet,would only maintain eye contact with myself not consultant,walks with awkward gait,had occasional stumble,increased tone in all four limbs, .gp who refured him said he may have dyspraxia, i see lot signs dyspraxia and autism,he hates being out routine,covers ears when there a noise,covers eyes if sees lots people,wont walk more than 10 mins so has use a buggy still. he goes bk consultant in aug but im not sure if he think autism,dyspraxia a possibility.letter so confusing

Hi Kerry it is confusing Im still waiting for someone to say my dd whos 4.3 has dyspraxia.
Everyone I see says she is too young to diagnose as yet, she has many signs of it to.
Hope you get an answer soon.

thanks,iow its going be a long process but wish diagnosing wouldnt take so long.i know something not 100% as ive 4 older than him.how long you been waiting now ? my son was first refured in march and seen june this yr.

If you think he has dyspraxia make sure you push for a dx, he could have dyspraxia and ASD (they are similar but its possible to have both). Dd1 was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 4, we mentioned that she had week limbs and struggled to run (was late to sit etc..) but no one took any notice, the pead was more interested in her AS traits. She's now 6 and has clear dyspraxia traits and we are struggling to ger her referred back to pead and OT. Good luck xx

thanks will do im goin to go to his next appointment more prepared as i do feel he showing sign of dyspraxia and asd,

Iv been waiting ages dd didnt sit up till she was 1 so was refered but all they ever say is come back in 6 months.
She didnt walk until 2 and was very clumsy for ages.
She still cant talk ,well only about 5
words.

She has mild hypotonia to.
When we get reports back it just sas development delay

good luck hope she gets sorted soon. xx

Hi Kerry.

It does sound like some sort of neuro-developmental dysfunction, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to labels like ASD or dyspraxia at the moment. These are merely descriptive labels; - descriptive labels which are applied to groups of symptoms which are grouped together. It is the underlying cause which is important and it does sound neurological in nature.

The problem with the labels I have just described is that that they form convenient pigeonholes to place children in. Unfortunately for the medical profession, most children don't fit into convenient pigeonholes because a brain injury is unique to the individual child and symptoms can and often do, overlap many areas. My own son for instance had symptoms of cerebral palsy, (spastic and athetoid), autism, microcephaly, learning disabilities, epilepsy, Lennox - Gastaut plus a few more! Now did he have all these things, or was he just brain injured?

The reason I say this is that I now run my own child development agency which provides programmes of developmental stimulation to children like my son and I see so many children who have overlapping symptoms, who cannot get a diagnosis because they don't fit a neat little pigeonhole.

Anyway, back to your son. I presume he is at nursery of pre-school? They should have access to an educational psychologist. Ask them to refer your son to him. He will then carry out a full developmental assessment and give you an accurate picture.

You could also read my book. 'Brain Injured Children. - Tapping the Potential Within. But now I'm being cheeky

Hope this helps.