PDD-NOS,talking about

[Italia]

Ciao,

Here in Italy it's time to go to bed....at least for me!;) Tomorrow it's another hard day at work,but before I go I want to ask for parents who has a child with PDD-NOS to tell me about therapy and situation of their child.OkI've already written a short introduction about me and my son just today,if you need further information about me.BUONANOTTE.See you tomorrow,if God ants.

[LIZARD]

Hey, Laura. :)

As far as I'm concerned, autism is autism, plain and simple. Drew's initial dx was PDD-NOS, but I figured it was all alphabet soup. ;) As we say here in the US, "If it looks, walks, and quacks like a duck, it a duck." I have learned that the most beneficial thing for any child dx'ed with any degree of autism is to tailor therapies that target the child's weak areas of development and use strengths to help compensate, regardless of what the actual label is. I see PDD as a label that attempts to describe the severity of the autism and agree wholeheartedly with Echo Fling (Eating an Artichoke) who termed PDD-NOS as "atypical autism." I think each "type" can mean any number of things and that any number of kids with the same type of autism can have any number of different weak and strong areas. My son receives therapy that allows him to go into various social settings and interact with others as well as learn basic life skills, such as purchasing items, asking for assistance from store personnel, and waiting in lines. He also received sensory-based Occupational Therapy after school once a week for about 2 years and now sees an OT once a month at home as well as OT at school a couple of times a week. His weakest area of development right now appears to be verbal communication, and his speech path at school (whom he sees each day for about half an hour) is helping me expand his abilities with some exercises we're doing at home.

I hope this answers your question. :)

LIZARD :)

[rbear4]

Well said Lizard!

As for us, we have tried a number of things over the years. Some work better than others. We use kind of our own modified ABA/TEACCH type thing at home. Basically tailored it around what works for our kids. Not the discrete trial portion (At least not anymore) but more for daily living skills, etc.

THe kids get speech therapy and OT. Used to be direct OT and now are getting OT consults for sensory stuff. They also have an autism consultant at school and 1:1 aides.

My 2 favorites are a bit different. Music Therapy and Theraputic Horsebackriding. I think music is a wonderful thing and this was really great. The both had individual sessions last summer and Mike now gets consults in school. Cait has been doing theraputic horsebackriding for 6+ years (paid privately). She is now also volunteering there and I believe I have found a future career for my girl. It has helped her in more ways than I can count but animals are her special interest. The volunteering really has helped her mature, raised her self esteem and happiness level as well as the physical benefits.

We use a low sugar/natural diet as well that has helped and I need to get back into using supplements again.

[Italia]

I agree with you Lizard that PDD-NOS is part of "autism spectrum"......but I also think that different kind of autism need different therapies,so I prefer doctors tell me the right diagnosis so I can choose the right therapy for Enrico....

What is OT?

Enrico has his personal teacher1:1 at nursery school,than he goestwo times a week to a private centre for occupational therapy and psicomotricit*.
Then he goes three times a week to a public center for the logopedia(I don't know the word in english,and I haven't the english vocabulary as I'm at work!:) )

Do you think it's enough?

Unfortunately during winter time he often gets ill and he kooses therapy for long periods,and this isn't good

[peglem]

Autism is one of those disorders where the diagnosis does not automatically suggest specific therapies. Its such a broad spectrum and has so many individual variations. You need to assess your child's needs and apply therapies that will address those needs, using your child's strengths to assist. So if your child has sensory processing problems, he is likely to respond to sensory integration therapy. Problems with expressive/receptive language would suggest speech therapy, etc. The therapy should fit the child, not the diagnosis.

[jasper]

Hi Italia,

I have a 7 year old boy on the autism spectrum. He is half Italian :) . My husband's parents came to Canada from Italy after the second world war.

We tried some therapies which didn't help our son. Now we do RDI (Relationship Development Intervention) and are pleased with the progress he is making. We are also starting home schooling. I don't know if RDI is available in Italy. It is a relatively new therapy.

All the best ... I'm sending my thoughts and prayers for Enrico.