Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Looking for help - DS3 has PDD-NOS

Hello! This is my first post at this forum. Good to be here!

My 3.5-year-old son was just diagnosed with PDD-NOS. He's clearly high-functioning - he's an affectionate, social child - but he needs extra help with joint attention, open-ended play, spoken language (he "keeps his own counsel" and doesn't say what's on his mind), and emotional control. He may also need OT to help with noise sensitivities and some minor physical issues, like toilet training, which just eludes him.

Meanwhile, at three, he reads better than any five-year-old I've ever known! I won't go into much detail in this post, but he shows many signs of giftedness. The evaluator agreed, and she put him through WPPSI-III and K-SEALS to formalize it. Yep, smart cookie.

He's in an excellent private preschool that goes right through summer, but our town's public schools can't even give him a full evaluation until the fall (let alone getting him services). Meanwhile, I'd like to start looking for therapists, or ASD/gifted specialists, or a developmental pediatrician right away. I want to get started helping my son!

We live slightly north and west of Boston, Mass. Can anyone here recommend professionals that can work with us?

Hi there:

I don't live in the Boston area (I am an American living in Sydney), but I can certainly relate to your circumstances. My daughter, who is now almost 5, was diagnosed with PDD-NOS when she was 3. A big tip off for us was her early reading -- far before she could meaningfully speak. She, too, is an affectionate, happy, energetic child, and is highly gifted.

While every child is different and may respond differently to differ forms of early intervention, we have had huge success with ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis), particularly in addressing DD's then language difficulties, joint attention, transitioning from activity-to-activity, and open-ended play.

What has worked for us is doing both a home-based ABA program and having some of our ABA therapists serve as aides in DD's preschool. We've complemented that with both social group therapy as well as OT (to address fine motor issues, but early on in DD's ABA program, there was a component to address her mild sensory issues).

Now that DD is progressing so well, we've shifted much of her program focus to school readiness and relating well to peers. Our therapists do less on the one-on-one drill side and more on helping DD with various social nuances.

I cannot begin to adequately describe the positive changes we have seen in our daughter since embarking on this intense (and unfortunately expensive) early intervention program. If I think about the little girl we had a 3 or even 3.5 and compare her to the confident, sassy, funny kid who is able to make meaningful friendships on her own and thrive in a mainstream environment, I get teary! She still has challenges to face, and is by no means "cured," but she is growing increasingly comfortable in her own quirky skin. That is all I can ask for as a parent!

All the best on your journey,

Kristen

Hi,

As Kristen did, we started DS with ABA, OT, and speech at age 2.5, both at home and in therapists offices. DS attended a preschool for kids on the spectrum at age 3, but outgrew it and went to mainstream preschool at age 4. He entered public kindergarten the following year and is now in the gifted 1st grade. Intensive early intervention is the key and while I cannot recommend anyone in Boston, I do recommend focusing on ABA. Most people have no idea DS is on the spectrum and are shocked to hear he was non-verbal til age 3. Of course all our energy and money has been geared toward his therapies, but it has been worth it to see the friendly (and quirky) boy he is! Nan

Hi--

Another pro-ABA voice here. We started late (age 5.5) but it is very effective.

I understand that Tufts U. has a center for autism spectrum disorders, but I don't know the details. You may find more resources listed at

http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/Home.aspx

Links on the left side of the page go to pages with geographically specific resources. There is also a good forum on this site; there is a lot of overlap between Asperger's and PDD-NOS.

HTH,
DeeDee