frankies diagnosis

frankiesmom

frankiesmom

New Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
525
Reaction score
0
we took him to the developmental pediatrician this morning, and she has gone over the last 3 months of testing, and her own records, and she has diagnosed him with pervasive developmental disorder, and she says she will change that to "classic conner autism" when hes 3...i have never heard of conner autism and i looked it up with no success. she also said he has moderate teachable mental retardation, and no body awareness/low muscle tone, which is why he doesnt eat, and falls all the time and seemingly doesnt care.
so lots of new terms that i have never heard of, thats for sure!
 
Wow, you have a lot to deal with.

Your doctor may have been referring to the work of Leo Kanner (pronounced "Conner"). Here is a link:

Autism Language Development, autism speech, autism speech delay

"Leo Kanner (prounced Conner) was a psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. Kanner was the first to observe that children with autism often simply echo the words, phrases, or sentences spoken by others. This classical feature of autistic language, known as echolalia, is most typical of children who have very little practical language. "
 
PDD is what children like Frankie, who can't be narrowed down to any specific diagnosis because they don't fall into the diagnostic criteria are diagnosed with. "Conner" autism is generally used to refer to a child that falls on the autistic spectrum and also indicates an intellectual deficit based on verbal IQ. Frankie is just beginning to be aware of sound. With the addition of ASL, it cannot be predicted at this point in time where his actual language abilities will end up.

It is very difficult to project what Frankie will be doing at the age of 3. It is also extremely difficult to determine where he will eventually test out in IQ. I have seen kids diagnosed with PDD make remarkable gains with proper therapy and stimulation.

Medical doctors often look at things as if they are cut and dried. Issues like this are far from cut and dried. Results of therapy and eventual functional levels are dependent upon so much more than what a physician looks at. All they see is pathology. You need to look at strenghts. Capitalizing on those strengths is what will give Frankie an advantage over the child who is looked at from a pathological perspective only.
 
Beach girl said:
Wow, you have a lot to deal with.

Your doctor may have been referring to the work of Leo Kanner (pronounced "Conner"). Here is a link:

Autism Language Development, autism speech, autism speech delay

"Leo Kanner (prounced Conner) was a psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. Kanner was the first to observe that children with autism often simply echo the words, phrases, or sentences spoken by others. This classical feature of autistic language, known as echolalia, is most typical of children who have very little practical language. "
Click to expand...

ohhh ok yes thats it!
 
My younger sister first daughter was diagnosed with asperger when she was a child. I can't remember how old my niece was but I remember doctors telling her parents to forget about her ,as she will never learn anything! My niece graduated from collage this year as a honor student!! Doctors are not always right!
 
well, they said he definitely doesnt have aspergers..they said its completely different.
they are mainly concerned with his other issues anyways, this is just a side issue i think.
 
frankiesmom said:
well, they said he definitely doesnt have aspergers..they said its completely different.
they are mainly concerned with his other issues anyways, this is just a side issue i think.
Click to expand...

Yep. The reason he is diagnosed with PDD is because they can't, at this point, pin symptoms down enough to give a specific diagnosis. Listen to what they docs have to say, but also keep in mind that they are trained to look at Frankie as a physiological group of functions that have a norm, and anything that deviates from that norm is abnormal or pathological. They are trained to treat specificities and not the whole person that Frankie is and will become. They are necessary professionals, and their expertise is valuable...but it does have limits.
 
jillio said:
Yep. The reason he is diagnosed with PDD is because they can't, at this point, pin symptoms down enough to give a specific diagnosis. Listen to what they docs have to say, but also keep in mind that they are trained to look at Frankie as a physiological group of functions that have a norm, and anything that deviates from that norm is abnormal or pathological. They are trained to treat specificities and not the whole person that Frankie is and will become. They are necessary professionals, and their expertise is valuable...but it does have limits.
Click to expand...

This what I was trying to say about my niece, the doctors did not see her as
an indivisible person , she was being seen as group study . Some doctors can't think outside of the box and did this with my niece .
I trying to don't let the doctors keep you from doing can for your child.
 
I was diagnosed with Kanner's autism. And then later in childhood, upgraded to what they then call atypical autism as I exceeded expectations.

And I have grown up and had a really successful life, which is what I was trying to tell you before.

Autism is not the end of the world. I know more than one successful autistic.
 
honestly, the autism thing is the least of my concerns. i think that is the secondary issue anyways. we are far more worried about the mental retardation..she said he is "teachable", which is good. we are glad though that we know at least what we can expect, and how to go from here. its really not entirely different from what i suspected anyways.
 
frankiesmom said:
honestly, the autism thing is the least of my concerns. i think that is the secondary issue anyways. we are far more worried about the mental retardation..she said he is "teachable", which is good. we are glad though that we know at least what we can expect, and how to go from here. its really not entirely different from what i suspected anyways.
Click to expand...

Even on that...wait until you can get some definitive testing done. He may be far more than "teachable".
 
well, we shall see..i am not trying to be a bit negative, but as the months go by, he gets further and further behind..and that is fine! he is where he is able to be, and he is perfectly happy..she agreed with our stance of not pushing him too hard and basically just making sure he is happy.
 
frankiesmom said:
well, we shall see..i am not trying to be a bit negative, but as the months go by, he gets further and further behind..and that is fine! he is where he is able to be, and he is perfectly happy..she agreed with our stance of not pushing him too hard and basically just making sure he is happy.
Click to expand...

Oh, I understand you aren't trying to be negative. You have had a lot thrown at you in a short amount of time and are still trying to sort through it all. People are throwing words and terminology at you that often has a negative implication by the general population.

Try not to compare too much. I'm sure if you compared all of your other childen to each other, you would find that this one developed this skill earlier, and that one seemed to comprehend things at an earlier age, etc. What I am saying is that kids, even kids with problems like Frankie's, are individuals. We can say what the average child is able to do at the average age...but in practice there is a wide variance there. And what is average is not always what is considered "normal". Einstein exhibited what were believed to be developmental delays, and his IQ was questioned as a young child, as well. Gallileo was thought to be insane.
 
oh i agree with that!
unfortunately, his issues arent really a matter of comparing him with other kids because he is unlike ANY child i have ever seen. i dont think he is necessarily unique, but its fairly obvious we arent dealing with a mild falling behind of some milestones. honestly, i am just glad we had our suspicions confirmed..i feel much better about the whole thing, knowing how to proceed and such.
 
frankiesmom said:
we took him to the developmental pediatrician this morning, and she has gone over the last 3 months of testing, and her own records, and she has diagnosed him with pervasive developmental disorder, and she says she will change that to "classic conner autism" when hes 3...i have never heard of conner autism and i looked it up with no success. she also said he has moderate teachable mental retardation, and no body awareness/low muscle tone, which is why he doesnt eat, and falls all the time and seemingly doesnt care.
so lots of new terms that i have never heard of, thats for sure!
Click to expand...

Wow! Lots of new terms for you to learn. :shock:

In his pictures he just do not look mentally challenged. I guess there are different classifications that I am not familiar with?
 
whatdidyousay! said:
My younger sister first daughter was diagnosed with asperger when she was a child. I can't remember how old my niece was but I remember doctors telling her parents to forget about her ,as she will never learn anything! My niece graduated from collage this year as a honor student!! Doctors are not always right!
Click to expand...

Doctors tried to tell me that my 18 year old daughter would be blind, deaf, never walk, never learn, have cerebral palsy as she was born 3 months premature.

She is moving to Victoria, BC, Canada, to attend University of Victoria, next weekend, for pre-med. :giggle: She wants to be a forensic psychiatrist who profiles serial killers.
 
rebeccalj said:
Wow! Lots of new terms for you to learn. :shock:

In his pictures he just do not look mentally challenged. I guess there are different classifications that I am not familiar with?
Click to expand...

you would have to see him in person..its very obvious. hes still cute though!!!
 
it looks like that, but what hes REALLY doing is his very odd, repetitive head cocking thing, followed by a head tap. why? not sure! but it is very interesting to see. he also will follow up with his hand held over his eyes, as if he is shielding them from the sun. that picture, and the other ones that same day took FOREVER to take because he was doing that the whole time.
 
Back
Top