Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy New here

Hi...I am new here and was wondering if anyone has had the same experience with their child.

My son started Early Intervention at 20 months for a minor speech delay (expressive). He had a huge vocabulary and could label MANY things but would only use the words 'juice and milk' and point for everyhting else. When this EI lady came in, she started with ....'he's too young to recognzie letters and numbers, that's a red flag...he toe walks...red flag'etc. My husband and I NEVER thought our kid was anywhere near the spectrum but we agreed on an evaluation.

At his first evaluation (25 months), he had was seated in a wooden chair with a bar across his lap. The 'psychologist' sat there with a timer and timed him putting a monochromed puzzle together, etc. He did well but at one point he refused to cooperate. He was given the diagnosis of PDD NOS for only the following reasons:
*did not look at his parents enough to share his joy (he was not having fun but at one point did look back at us when she set off a baloon)
*she said he liked to line things up based on her observation...he was looking at a beaded venetian blind cord for 10 seconds....YES REALLY! My kid never lines things up.

The whole thing was pretty weird....and consequently we never got the report from her after several calls.

We just had our son re-evaluated with 2 pshychologists in the room (30 months). His diagnosis was lifted and we were told he may be gifted. The exact words that were used to describe him:
*intense
*charismatic
*very bright, possibly gifted
*high energy, high maintenance

So now my 2 and a half year old (that is speaking in 6-7 word sentences) is possibly gifted.....yeah we knew he was smart....

Has this ever happened to you? I feel like screaming at these aholes (EI and the 1st doctor). What did you do or what would you do in this situation?

Do the EI people have any power over you or your son? If the diagnosis has been lifted, is there anything they can do to affect your son's future path?

If not, I'd say it's a grit your teeth moment. Feel free to gripe about it here, but don't let it eat you up.

I'd bet that this is probably the first of many such attempts to diagnose your child. Many of us here had someone sometime try to tell us that our kids were on the spectrum, though granted, your experience came earlier and in a lot more clinical fashion than most I've heard!

In future, random strangers may tell you that your child is on the spectrum because of a strong interest in whatever floats that child's boat. Nevermind the fact that GT kids regularly show such interests, too.

It's frustrating, but the best thing to do is learn all you can and vent to people who get it. It sounds to me like you're doing just great!

Anyone who restrains a kid and then stands over them with a stopwatch needs to be tested. Seriously.

Completely agree with this.

Well they were instructed by us and the 2 phsychologists not to notify the school system about the re-evaluation in hope that he would get preschool for free. Yes, I know....I don't want to be a hypocrite but if you knew the BS I went through, therapy, prozac the scare tactics etc. it was the least I could get as payback. They agreed, EI said they would not but this stupid EI therapist told on us. The economy has been tough on our family and it would've been nice to get a break from preschool tuition...it's 3,500 for the year. Now this stupid EI bimbo is telling me to report the original Dr. to an ethics committee. His ABA therapist suggested I sue for malpractice...no formal report etc. The reason I am assuming we were not given a report was because she did not take our questionnaire into consideration. I think she realized her gaffe....plus she admitted to us that she has put kids on the spectum that are not ASD...wtf?

Yes, his EI therapist was 'concerned' because he loved trains so much. I had to point out that he played with other toys and how he didn't have problems trasitioning onto something else. The kid is so driven by 'new things, I want something new mommy, something new!'.


Thank you!

When my son was three he too had speech difficulties, especially with the letters "C" "ck" sound, and "T"'s. We took him to be evaluated and that's when we realized he was diffrent.

The speech therapists would put photos in front of him and ask him to identify the object and tell them the name. The first object was a candle. He wouldn't say the word, he picked up a crayon and spelled the word out on a piece of paper. This went on for about 15 minutes, until they realized this wasn't a fluke.

Six months later we discovered why he had a speech problem, we are bilingual my husbands side of the family is Italian, and the way my son's gradmother pronounces some English words are very different, and my son was mimicking her:)

I too was worried that my son would be diagnosed with something like Aspberger's because of his lack of talking, however, at almost three he began to speak in full paragraphs and blew us away. The doctor said that he was focusing on learning other things and talking wasn't important to him yet.

My son was obsessed at that age about trains, and a few others things.

Hang in there -- and keep searching for answers and don't rest until you are satisfied.