Hi,
My daughter is 7 and just recently she has been diagnosed with Intellectual Disability, also, Developmental Co ordination disorder and DLD.
My daughter hit all milestones as a baby, I had no concerns, until she started talking. She would babble in "her own language", I could understand her, but others couldn't. When she started nursery I shared my concerns regarding her speech and was told she would get better with it as she got older.
Her speech definitely improved but I could also see she was delayed with it. Also her work at school. This continued through school.
We moved and she started a new school in year 1, this school was VERY supportive of her and helping with her speech and delays in work. Also, the teacher said for me to contact my GP so she could be put on a waiting list to see a pediatrician. The GP done this and also the speech and language therapist waiting list. This took around a year, while myself and the school supported her. Her teachers were concerned she wasn't processing information properly as well as her speech being a concern.
After a year on the waiting list she was assessed over a month by a speech therapist and diagnosed with DLD. A couple of weeks later diagnosed with the rest by a pediatrician.
That's her story so far.. diagnosis wise. She is now 7.
What she is like as a 7 year old with these diagnosis.
She is unable to write out the alphabet, she cannot correctly write her name or numbers. She needs prompting and assistance with washing and dressing. I do a lot of work with her when it comes to her speech and language. Every aspect of her life she acts more like she is 4 years old. She doesn't understand or process information and instruction well, meaning things can be a little more dangerous in certain situations.. as she may not realise something may be dangerous.
She is also happy, confident, excellent at drawing, ambitious, friendly, polite and loves to make people smile. She loves hugs and attention, also really, really tries her best with everything she does.
For myself, I feel over whelmed, more so as I worry about the future for her as I don't know what it looks like. Day-to-day, it's just like having a child that is younger than they are, in my opinion any ways.
Days sometimes are harder than others when it comes to her following instructions and repeating myself or changing the way I may be wording something as she doesn't understand.
I find that having support at school is massive. If I didn't have the support from the school this would be a lot harder. I know when she's there, they support her, they're aware of her diagnosis and support with work and follow the strategies from the Speech and Language therapist.
Looking back at this entire journey I wish I had pushed more when she was younger, as I knew she was delayed and it wasn't something she was going to "grow out of" , but I am happy we are where we are and at 7 years old she is diagnosed and I can help even more so knowing what is happening with her.
Sorry for my long reply lol. I didn't want to read your question and leave!