SPD

Jack has always been my easy going, take everything in, kind of kid.  He's never been a big talker, but with two older very talkative brothers, it was okay with me that he was a little quieter.  At his 18 month check up, he still wasn't talking.  Not even a momma or dad.  The doctor gave me a checklist of early warning signs for autism.  I was 99% sure he wasn't autistic but I didn't want to be the mom who refuses to see the problem when it is blatantly obvious to everyone else.  So Jeremiah and I spent the next six months observing and discussing and really the only two symptoms he has are delayed speech and a large head (but he's a Seaver, so that's not really a symptom).  He is very personable and is happy and friendly in social situations.  He is not phased by changes in his routine and he is cognizant of an objects permanency, even in the absence of the object. 

So at his two year check up in June, when he still wasn't talking (he said "go" and you could tell by his intonation that he was counting, but that's it) our doctor referred us to the local early intervention program, Kids on the Move (KOTM).  They came out and did their assessment.  Jack was in the 1% in expressive language (communicating to others) and in the 2% in receptive language (understanding others), but not autistic.  So we started with a developmental specialist and a speech therapist.  In our second visit with the DS she noticed that when Jack got excited he started running around our couch.  She asked me about it.  I told her all our kids did it.  She played with him a little more, and decided an occupational therapist needed to come evaluate Jack, that there was something more than just delayed speech.

So the OT came out and did his evaluation and Jack was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder or SPD.  You can go out to the internet and learn lots more if you're interested, but essentially, your nerves can send too many signals, not enough, or the wrong signals to your brain.  This is a relatively newly diagnosed disorder for several reasons.  One, autistic kids often have it, and it was thought to be part of autism, not a separate disorder.  It can also incorrectly be diagnosed as ADD or ADHD, or several other disorders.  For Jack, he is a sensory seeker, he is under-sensitized so he is constantly trying to meet his sensory needs.  Because his brain is constantly seeking stimulation, it hasn't focused on language learning, hence Jack's delayed speech.  He is however overstimulated in his mouth, which is partly why he's a picky eater and on his skin, so he doesn't like long sleeves, jackets, hats, bibs, having his sleeves rolled up or clothes that don't fit just right. 

So we have the developmental specialist come twice a month, the speech therapist come twice a month and the occupational therapist come once a month.  As if I wasn't busy enough.  But I'm happy to have an action plan and hopefully we will improvement.