Maybe Autism/pdd?

You need to see a Developmental Pediatrican. A speech therapist cannot rule out autism, that was totally inapropriate.

Call the nearest children's hospital, and find a developmental pediatrician. In the mean time, make another appointment with a differnet private speech therapist for therapy of the issues that you see, not for diagnostics, and just to bridge the gap until your appointment with a developmentalist, which may take several months.

Write to your school district. Request an evaluation because you suspect that your child has a disalbity. Ask for a meeting so that you can sign consent for evaluation, and for a copy of your rights under IDEA. Tell them that you would like to have the meeting scheduled in a reasonable amount of time, or ten school days. List your concerns, speech, langague, Autistic spectrum, issues with typical play, failure to understand and use receprocal speech, and sequencing issues. List anything you left out, especaily fine motor or gross motor issues, or other sensory concerns.

This kind of letter will get thier attention. Do not call. Write. Log on to www.wrightslaw.com and learn about referal, identifcation, evaluation, and advocacy. There may be a chance that he will qualify for school based services, but still continure with your private evaluations and private therapy. Schools are required to make your child functional, that is a very low bar to jump, you will always need to supplement what he gets from a public serivice.

On www.wrightslaw.com you will find a yellow pages. Find OK's yellow pages and look for a private therapist and for an educational advocate to help you if you do not feel like you can access school services alone.

M.

Start with your pediatrician and have them refer you to someone or someplace for an evaluation. The sooner the better. It can take a while to get an evaluation appointment. If there is a childrens hospital in your city, that might be where they send him. Good luck!

A speech therapist can give their opinion but they can't diagnosis Autism. Have your child evaluated by a neurologist.

UPDATE: I just read Martha's posting and I would like to make one clarification... your child is not yet school-aged and therefore may not meet preschool criteria. A school district does not and will not at this age pursue a diagnostic evaluation. They will assess your child to determine whether or not your child's delays are significant enough to warrant preschool services. Because your son is chronologically not school-aged, they will look at "percent delayed". He may qualify for speech or OT or other services, but it is not their responsibility to evaluate your child for a specific condition... you will still need to do that on your own! The district will step in when their ability to program for your child (if he's eligible) and assess your child is exceeded and they need to request an outside evaluation. There is a lengthy process and each state is different. I would still suggest making a phone call first to inquire about the process before writing for a complete evaluation.

I would suggest starting with your pediatrician and requesting a referral to either a neuropsychologist or a clinical psychologist who will work with non-school aged children. Your doctor will know to refer you to someone covered under your insurance. Be prepared... you will be scheduled for something in the 4-6 months b/c the clinicians are in demand and the evals take a long time.

In the meantime, gather lots of information about your child from multiple sources. As the preschool teacher to put her observations in writing and give her a heads-up that you are having your child evaluated. She will be asked to complete some rating forms and they can be lengthy.

As for a copy of your child's school records, medical records and make sure you have copies of the language evaluation you had done previously. Ask the neuro/psychologist if he/she would like this information ahead of time. At the initial meeting, bring your son's baby book b/c you will be asked a ton of questions about his early language, social and motor development and the more specific you can be the better.

Complete the rating forms quickly and be flexible with respect to time. If the receptionist knows that she can call you if someone else cancels, she will do so! I have had families get in much much sooner when they thank the receptionist for scheduling and then mention that with a few hours notice, they can take a "cancellation" spot.

Start a notebook or expandable file folder to keep track of your son's records. He may be too young for a diagnosis at this age, unless it's clearly in alignment with the diagnostic criteria. However, if you keep a chronological record of evaluations, report cards, teacher comments and medical records a pattern may emerge in a year or two!

I would also call your local school district and ask to speak with the administrator in charge of preschool services. They may be able to help you find a local evaluator, as they are required to keep a list!