Hi, I am the mother of a beautiful 4 year old boy with SPD who also has a severe language delay/disorder. My son has been diagnosed with some characteristics of a sensory modulation disorder and a sensory-based postural disorder. We have been attending speech therapy for approx 20 months now with not a great deal of success and have recently started OT once per week. While I am reading books and researching information to help my son, I am still in the early stages of trying to find out his triggers. My greatest concern for him is his limited language, which makes it harder to help him. His expressive is better than his receptive, but still poor.

I have taken him to so may paeds who keep telling me he is a round peg who doesn't fit in a square hole. They also say he is ADD/ADHD. I ask how I can be sure it is ADD/ADHD and not just SPD and they don't know. They don't really seem to know anything about SPD. He also doesn't make eye contact, but has been ruled out for Autism at this stage.

I am so relieved to have found this website and know that we are not alone in this. Has anyone else had similar problems with language delay and can they be overcome?

From your description my first instinct would have been Autism. What factors ruled it out?

Does your son understand what you say, even if he can't form words you can understand? What about sign language? Can he master Yes and No type concepts in sign?

Have you had his hearing checked?

Can he hear simple words like cat, dog, fence, and milk, and then point to pictures of the corresponding item or creature?

What about computer interface usage? Can he play simple children's game on an electronic device on his own or with an explaination from you?

In my personal case, my challenge with reading is my light sensitivity. Without my Irlen glasses, I have problems with reading a block of text or small print. The Irlen lenses block out the wavelengths of light that irritate my brain so much that words become incomprehensible. Earlier today I was attempting to read a professional paper written by a friend, but she and another friend were so noisy I couldn't concentrate. I read the same word over 30 times. Once I asked them to stop talking for a little bit, I was able to get into the paper and when they started talking again it became more difficult.

Hi Beck,

Thank you for your quick reply. My son does have a couple of hundred words. I'm sorry for not being more specific. He finds it hard to organise a sentence. He can understand the familiar things I say each day and possibly a little more. It seems to me like he has problems processing the whole short sentence. He seems to have a good long term memory, but not such a good short term one. He can say a lot more than he can understand, which they say is very unusual for a language disorder.

We have had his hearing tested and whilst it was difficult for them to complete the test because he couldn't understand the instructions, they determined that he had good enough hearing not to have a problem with speech.

We have bought him an IPAD which he loves to use and can master most of the age appropriate games once I've shown him what to do. The instructions on his own would be difficult for him to comprehend.

The reason all paeds have ruled him out for Autism to date is because he shows empathy, has imaginative play, social when very familiar with people and no stand out repetitive behaviour. However, he is starting to want a little more alone time when he has had enough of things.

Kindest regards

Don't most Autistics and Asbergers individuals have imaginative play? My neice sure does. My niece is probably closer to having Asbergers. She is very smart, but she can't focus on anything more more than a few seconds. She can look people in the eyes, but goes out of her way not to especially when a picture is being taken. She is actually moderately social, but her sheer number of Autistic quirks put her on the spectrum. My niece also has SPD (we are not blood related). My niece is overly empathetic, but can't always express that empathy in a way that is socially acceptable. She lives in her own large universe.

My niece is placed in normal classes, even though they don't challenge her much. My sister in law did have to get the paperwork filled out for the school for the Autism, because otherwise they kept penalizing her for constantly wandering off.

She sometimes has major problems with her older sister who has very little empathy. My older neice is "normal" if way too much on the Narcistic side.

Thank you for this information. We are seeing a new paed in 3 weeks and I will bring your points up and see what she says. I really appreciate your feedback.

(03-22-2012, 06:11 PM)boyfromoz Wrote: Hi Beck,

Thank you for your quick reply. My son does have a couple of hundred words. I'm sorry for not being more specific. He finds it hard to organise a sentence. He can understand the familiar things I say each day and possibly a little more. It seems to me like he has problems processing the whole short sentence. He seems to have a good long term memory, but not such a good short term one. He can say a lot more than he can understand, which they say is very unusual for a language disorder.

We have had his hearing tested and whilst it was difficult for them to complete the test because he couldn't understand the instructions, they determined that he had good enough hearing not to have a problem with speech.

I've read your posts and to me, there's signs of auditory issues. Just plain hearing isn't the same as auditory processing, and an adequate hearing test doesn't mean the brain is understanding what is coming in the ears. My son has significant auditory problems. FWIW he didn't speak at all until 26 months of age. No babble, no cooing noises, he just started speaking when he was good and ready to do so.

Do you need to make eye contact for your son to understand what you say? Can he tolerate background noise (radio, TV) in the home? does the brightness of the light in the room affect his ability to understand you? (that makes a big difference to my son at times).

Push for testing for auditory processing problems, which is not a hearing test and has to be done by a tech specially trained in the subject.