Has anyones children with GDD caught up?

[gezelligheid]

Hey everyone, so my 2.5y son has suspected GDD and is under investigation for this as well as ASD. The ASD traits are very obvious and my older son also has ASD so I've enough experience with that side of things.

However, I have no experience with GDD. He has been delayed in 4 areas of development in all of his development checks from 24 months (he's had extra development checks because of the delays). I feel he IS making progress, just not the progress they'd expect and he's definitely not at the same level as his peers.

Is there any chance he'd he able to catch up a bit to his peers of similar age, or will a child with GDD always be significantly delayed?

That's something I don't know sorry @gezelligheid.

What support is he getting? Is he having anything like Portage or SLT?

Thank you for your reply @TinyMouseTheatre . He is under SALT and has daily activities to complete and appointments every 6-8 weeks, and he has a portage worker and a sensory diet from OT

He also attends three groups per week, one for children 0-4 with SEN/ASD, one for children 0-3 with development delays and one general sensory toddler group. He struggles to stay for the full session at each and he doesn't interact with the other children at all but I'm hoping it's all still helping

he doesn't interact with the other children at all but I'm hoping it's all still helping

I'm sure it is. It all sounds very intense for you

My 4yr old has GDD and autism. He was diagnosed with GDD at 2 years old. I have been told that he will never catch up and the gap between him and his peers will widen. I've always taken that with a pinch of salt though as not sure how they can predict that. I would say at this point although most areas are delayed, progress has been made even if slow progress. There are a couple of areas where he is on a par with this peers. Until he was 3, he wasn't demonstrating any knowledge or understanding. Then in 1 day he started naming letters, numbers and shapes. He's come along a lot since then. Nursery and now school told me that he clearly observes others and is taking information but he keeps it all to himself and will very occasionally on his terms only show that he knows something. This rings true to me with what we see at home too. The fact that he is progressing however slow allows me to relax and just go with the flow x

I would try if you can not to focus on comparing him with ‘normal’ children and thinking about the gap. Focus on your child and watching the little steps of progress as these will be there. Comparison is the thief of joy and your son will bring you so much joy through what he achieves in life, so focus on that. Many children and adults have brains that work in different ways and this brings variety and amazing strengths to the world. I’d try to ignore anyone who wants to make predictions and enjoy the journey you and he are on. Get lots of advice, attend the appointments with professionals and look into specialist educational support when the time comes. Hang out with other parents who are going through the same thing and try and make those connections as they will also be invaluable.

He won't catch up, but he might end up with a spiky profile where he is "normal range" for some areas and much lower for others. This could also vary day to day.

I'm not sure that the right description is "catch up", in asking whether children with GDD eventually do everything at the level of their same age peers.

Development really depends on the child. My DC in primary school has just this year become aware of toilet training. It's taken a few months, but we're almost there. It's a huge milestone for DC, though about 5 years later than their mainstream peers.

Similarly with speech. Although my primary DC cannot have a conversation in the same way as their mainstream peers, they can sing any song they hear word perfect and in tune. DC's speaking sentences are very functional "Please can I have a drink/toast/ball" and focussed on need. DC can also read anything you put in front of them.

In my case my DC has come on leaps and bounds since being diagnosed with GDD and autism at 2 years old, but is not at the same development level as their mainstream peers, which may or may not happen in years to come.

My 6yo was globally delayed in every area, she didn't even walk until almost 3. Couldn't even have a basic conversation like "What is your name?" until 4. Not toilet trained until a week before starting Year R.

She's now doing very well, fully verbal, we can have long conversations about all sorts. She has some language areas that are behind with regards to very abstract concepts but apart from these comprehension issues you would never know. She runs, jumps, climbs. She's academically on track.

Year R she was very emotional, couldn't sit still/focus and regularly wouldn't follow instructions, very behind with her language, she started off with a 1:1. Now in Year 2 she just needs the odd bit of extra support from the teacher/TA. She stays at the desk and can do her work. She's made amazing progress with her emotions, we haven't had a meltdown in a good while. She gets speech therapy once a week still to catch up that last bit of language, just working on things like inference etc. I'd anticipate no longer needing it once she starts Juniors.

If you met her now you wouldn't know she was any different. She can be very demanding but this really shows the progress she's made as she can verbalise not wanting to be alone in a room for five minutes or wanting someone to play a particular game with her.

She's diagnosed with ASD so will always be autistic but I know she will do well and become independent.

Thank you so much for all of the responses ❤️ I really appreciate it.

I'm just going to focus on his own progress and carry on doing everything I can to help him thrive in his own way, rather than worrying about what other children are doing.