It's been so long

AJ has been doing well.  He completed 2 years of Kindergarten.  We decided that a second year was a good idea.  He has a September birthday so he was a young 5 anyway and needed the extra time to catch up on reading and writing skills.  It seems that we spent all that time working on getting speech assistance for him and neglected the pre-K phonics a bit.  Anyhow he's doing much better after the second year and is READING.

I was so worried because so many apraxic kids have such challenges with reading.  AJ did and still does struggle with it but he can do it.  It's hard and he prefers not to but he can. 

Socially he is making friends and having fun.  I can hardly believe this is the same child who used to throw himself on the floor screaming with frustration at not being able to make himself understood. 

AJ has continued to have speech therapy through his school twice a week and has progressed from working on pronunciation to usage issues.  He will continue next year.  Overall a pretty rosy picture. 

We do have some new /revisited concerns.  I have always believed that AJ has at least a mild form of sensory integration disorder.  He was a pretty quirky child and had a lot of "soft signs".  Since he has grown out of most of them- sensitivity to sunlight, issues with food textures, intolerance of anything sticky on his hands etc.- I was not pursuing treatment for them.  However a few things have persisted/worsened.

AJ is constantly complaining that he is cold.  He can be in a room where everyone else is sweating and he states that he is "freezing" 

He has had two episodes where he has faced extreme disappointment and had hysterical meltdowns screaming that he is "itchy" and clawing at his skin to the point of drawing blood.  He also got very worked up about a blood draw at the doctor's office culminating in him screaming "itchy" again and clawing at the injection site!  He does have eczema and has woken from a sleep scratching at his legs etc. but this was EXTREME!  We have been treating his eczema for years, only use Aveeno products for bath and lotion, use dye free, perfume free detergents, and now have him taking zyrtec daily.  It seems to have improved but those episodes were scary.  He was completely unconsolable.

He has been having trouble focusing at school.  At first I thought this is behavioral or a sign of immaturity but after researching SID I am not sure.  He lacks focus at home to but not always... it's hit or miss. 

He has had a lifelong problem with constipation- recently to the point of developing encopresis- basically leakage around an obstruction.  I am concerned that this will cause social problems for him and after finally getting his dr. to okay a laxative and softener he is doing better. - Again this could be behavioral or there are some links to SID and constipation.

We have an appointment for July 12th to see a new pediatric neurologist.  I want to know just a few basic things.

Does AJ have SID and if so what can be done about it?

How much of his issues are SID related, behavioral, and/or emotional and how do we address them?

Can he recommend a pediatrician who understands neurological disorders better than our family doctor does?

My fiance thinks I am making more out of this than I need to and that it will all work itself out.  I just feel that if there is more that can be done to help AJ I want to pursue it.  If it turns out he is just being difficult- a possibility but not a huge one given his temperment- I want to address these things from a behavioral stand point.  If it turns out he need to learn coping skills or see a therapist I want to get a jump on that as well. 

Hopefully everything checks out and I AM over-reacting.  I just remember how everyone told me his speech issues would work themselves out and to just give it time.  Thankfully I went with my gut and we caught the apraxia early.  I hoping that if there is something going on we can help him deal with it as best as he can as soon as possible so that any negative effects on his education are minimal.