In Need of Help, Ideas, and Thoughts

[Jessica14]

I have found this to be a friendly board so I hope you can help me out. I have concerns about DS6. I think there is something wrong, but I can't put a finger on it.

Some background first. He lived in a halfway decent Chinese orphange until he was two and half. As "good" as it was, it was still an orphanage. He has a partially repaired cleft lip and palate. His skull is slightly flattened on the back right side since he spent so muich time in one position in the orhanage. He didn't speak much until he came to us. He had now been with our family since May of 2007.

He has recieved speech therapy since before he turned three and has come along well. His vocabualry is age appropriate. He is a great builder and can sit for a long time with Legos, etc ans come up with many creations.

My concerns lie in the fact that his learning appears delayed in some ways and he is very fidgity a lot of the time. He doesn't like to respond when called (his hearing has been tested and is fine), he will look at you when he is being affectionate, but a lot of the time he is looking all over the place. He is really easily distracted. He is very difficult to talk too because he just doesn't seem to concentrate or listen to what is being said to him unless it is something he is really interested in (which wouldn't be us explaining why things should not get flushed). He is still very capable of turning on a dime and throwing a temper tantrum. He used to be much much worse, but he will hit and throw things and has no problem doing this in public. I have been teaching many years and find him very immature for his age. He cries very easily. His short term memory does not appear to be too good. He was recently tested and all his tests place him in a high average category.

He is in first grade but really should be in kindergarten. The district would not give him speech services if I held him back. So while it appears that for
1st grade he is delayed, I think actually for his age he is OK. He recieves reading assistence as well as speech.

Sorry this is long, but I wondered if anyone thought this sounded like ADD or just immaturity due to a rough start in life. Any suggestion on what next step I should take would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Jessica

 

[livndisney]

I have found this to be a friendly board so I hope you can help me out. I have concerns about DS6. I think there is something wrong, but I can't put a finger on it.

Some background first. He lived in a halfway decent Chinese orphange until he was two and half. As "good" as it was, it was still an orphanage. He has a partially repaired cleft lip and palate. His skull is slightly flattened on the back right side since he spent so muich time in one position in the orhanage. He didn't speak much until he came to us. He had now been with our family since May of 2007.

He has recieved speech therapy since before he turned three and has come along well. His vocabualry is age appropriate. He is a great builder and can sit for a long time with Legos, etc ans come up with many creations.

My concerns lie in the fact that his learning appears delayed in some ways and he is very fidgity a lot of the time. He doesn't like to respond when called (his hearing has been tested and is fine), he will look at you when he is being affectionate, but a lot of the time he is looking all over the place. He is really easily distracted. He is very difficult to talk too because he just doesn't seem to concentrate or listen to what is being said to him unless it is something he is really interested in (which wouldn't be us explaining why things should not get flushed). He is still very capable of turning on a dime and throwing a temper tantrum. He used to be much much worse, but he will hit and throw things and has no problem doing this in public. I have been teaching many years and find him very immature for his age. He cries very easily. His short term memory does not appear to be too good. He was recently tested and all his tests place him in a high average category.

He is in first grade but really should be in kindergarten. The district would not give him speech services if I held him back. So while it appears that for
1st grade he is delayed, I think actually for his age he is OK. He recieves reading assistence as well as speech.

Sorry this is long, but I wondered if anyone thought this sounded like ADD or just immaturity due to a rough start in life. Any suggestion on what next step I should take would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Jessica

Sending you a pm

 

[dclfun]

OP- you might want to put this in the community disabilities board section so that more people can read it. As this section is for dealing with disabilities in the theme parks, your post might be overlooked.---Kathy

 

[brat]

could be one of many issues but do you have contact with others with adopted kids who come from orphanages? My kids come from Russian orphanages.Two did have some mild issues with attachment but some in our parents have major issues with either attactment.

 

[bookwormde]

It is a lot harder when you do not have a full background, but I would ask for an full IDEA evaluation including sensory, social/TOM and executive function evalution including an auditory processing evaluation. Make sure they have you do the WPS SRS evaluation questionare. Also looking at his pragmatic language presentation is a good tool also since if he is exceptionally formal or adult in his speech and "misses" a lot of the illogical structure of speach or if he has "issues" with pronouns that is a souce of guidance

It could be PTSD or ASD or just his natural personality but it is important to find out.

The fact that he hyperfocuses is a good clue, especially is he likes image based input and interaction.

 

[mickey&minniealways]

I would have a full neuro psych eval done. Get a prescription for one from his pediatrician. I would also find a good educational advocate. However make sure he/she works for a not for profit charitable foundation. If funds are tight they will work with you. They will also have knowledge of the laws in your state. They can also show you what agencies and services are available to you. Unfortunatly those that are not associated with a non profit tend to be to aggresive in meetings with a school district. You want to maintain a good relationship with them even if you do not agree with them. Not all are like this but most that I have run across. You can pm me if you want more info.

 

[Jessica14]

Thaks for your ideas everyone! We have a very good adoption agency who does lots of follow-up care. They do this free of charge and until now, it totally went out of my head. I have considered the full neurological work up just to see what's going on. I want to make sure that I'm not saying its the orphanage life (shich it could be) when its really something more.

I have to talk to our school psychologist again. She was adopted from Chile and became part of an Irish family so she would have unique insight into those issues with DS. Its the behavioral aspect that I remain concerned about. I will contact our pediatrician soon!
Thanks again!
Jessica

PS-Thanks for moving this to the right spot!