Not to ignore you, mnmom23:) But I don't know how ELD presents itself at an older age. The best way to know, is to find a recommended Speech and Language Pathologist that specializes in CAPD and ELD. They will be able to tell you if it is either. ELD can be a precursor "alert" to CAPD; but they won't try to diagnose CAPD until a child is 6. And we are not there yet.
My DS5 can tell me stories to type for him, and I can't keep up; but, when he has to write it down, it is much different; but he is only 5.:) And it would be something like retelling me parts of the movie Cars that he has seen a bazillion times; but he does rattle it off. So, he is not in a constant state of not getting his thoughts together. It is extremely apparent though, a lot of the time, that he has issues getting his thoughts into words/finding the words he wants to say to explain something. So often he over-simplifies what he wants to say and uses "stuff" and "things" often and descriptors. You can tell that he doesn't want to though. It is cute when he starts using some really big words, not typical 5yr old - Daddy words.:) You can tell that he has been practicing them and likes the words, i.e. "certainly" for "yes" (although yes and yeah are still prevalent:).
About the "I don't know's," that is something my DS does a lot; but I don't know if it is an ELD thing. The tester should have said "give it your best guess" and given him time. Our 1st psych tester did that as well; but my DS was 4 and non-cooperative for him. The psych couldn't think outside the box and had no tricks up his sleeve. My DS knew tons of things that he didn't feel the tester was worthy of his knowing that he knew.:) I am sorry that you had a bad one as well.
Like I said in the post above, there are so many things tied together; and I am not an expert (not degreed, that is).;) I just have to research and see what I can find. Just make sure that the person that you see is actually recommended to you AND that they do specialize in ELD and CAPD. Those two things are very, very important! There are tons of SLP's out there that do not know enough to make this kind of diagnosis without giving them "the CAPD test." They have to know the signs, etc. to be able to make a proper diagnosis. One last thing, find out now. Your son is probably very bright, but has been using coping mechanisms to get by all along. The sooner he gets the help, the better, for his self-esteem more than anything.:)
Good luck; and ask as many questions as you'd like.
