FOOD INTOLERANCE NETWORK
SYMPTOM DISCUSSION
Pervasive Development
Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
Pervasive Developmental
Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified is a condition in which some, but not all of
the features of autism or another Pervasive Developmental Disorder are
identified. It can also be called atypical autism.
PDD-NOS
generally includes impairment of social interaction, communication, and/or
stereotyped behaviour patterns or interest. While deficits in peer relations
and unusual sensitivities are typically noted, social skills are less impaired
than in classical autism and intellectual deficits are less common.
A Reader Story
PDD-NOS and failsafe
Our
daughter Beth is five and a half. At four she was diagnosed with Pervasive
Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, a bit of a mouthful but it
sounds like Asperger's shadowing. She is not ASD but has a lot of symptoms in
common: developmental delay in speech, fine motor and gross motor, attention
deficit, poor eye contact, argumentative, very poor social skills, being in her
own world. She has also had a tendency towards being constipated.
We had
basically trained the argumentative streak out of her by about age five. Speech
therapy helped a lot, her attention span improved a bit but she was still
really bad with me doing home exercises. Gross motor skills were improved by a
couple of years at kindergym. Preschool helped with social skills with adults
but not much with peers.
THEN we
went failsafe and what a blessing it has been!!!! I
am very exited about this bit ... Beth's outside playtime at preschool, with up
to 24 other kids, always involved getting herself a few toys and sitting by
herself. Her favourite place was a large ball with holes in it that she could
climb inside. 2½ years of preschool had not changed this. Ten days after
starting failsafe, Beth suddenly began running around with all the other kids
talking and interacting with them!! This has continued. Her special needs
assistant at preschool says Beth used to move away when anyone sat next to her,
even if they were not interfering with her activity or game. Now she doesn't
move away and will answer questions and talk to the teachers.
Beth has
always had trouble holding her pencil properly. With about two years of
correcting, the best I could get her to do was two fingers and thumb. She would
generally prefer four or three fingers if pushed. On the tenth day of failsafe,
Beth was at Speech therapy (her second session) and held the pencil with three
fingers. She was corrected and changed to one finger and thumb and coloured in
three small pictures. My eyes are nearly popping out of my head. Next pencil -
same process. Third pencil she picked up with three fingers, looked at the
pencil and changed it to one finger and thumb!!! This may sound small but it
was huge for me to see Beth actually processing a situation, problem solving.
Now a couple of months on, her colouring in is quite advanced for her age,
changing colours a lot and colouring in tiny sections beautifully.
Beth has
never been able to draw. With lots of practice, she has learnt to draw very nice
circles. All of her drawings have been unrecognisable scribble. She can't even
copy basic patterns like a cross. On the 17th day of failsafe, Beth
was at Occupational Therapy (her first session) and was presented with a
picture of a doll with eyes, nose, one arm and one leg missing and asked to
draw in the missing bits. Beth drew an arm which looked pretty much like the
other arm THEN she drew five fingers without any prompting as to how many
fingers we have. She then drew the leg, a shoe, two eyes, a nose and spiky
hair. You can imagine I almost fell off the chair!! She then traced over all
the lines of a stencilled house and did some very neat colouring in. Since then
she has drawn people that look like they might be people.... still a way to go.
She has copied simple pictures of a sailing boat and drawn crosses next to
indicated objects.
After about
six weeks of failsafe, the teacher at preschool demonstrated to all the
children in a group that they were going to colour the hands, feet and faces of
their cardboard people pink. Beth went ahead and did this without any help or
prompting from her special needs teacher. Previously she would be unlikely to
identify herself with the rest of the group and not realise that she was to do
the task. She would then need someone to go over the instructions again, and
she may not have been very cooperative. Her concentration span is so much
better, sitting more still and listening for longer than I would have thought
possible two months ago.
Beth has
had swimming lessons every summer since she was ten months old. There weeks ago
she was able to swim for a few metres with her face in and legs kicking but no
arm movement. After 17 days of failsafe, Beth got her arms going! Beautiful
arms right out of the water like it was the most natural thing. I was almost
crying. I could hardly believe what I was seeing.
Beth's eye
contact with people has improved out of sight. So many people, friends and
teachers have commented on this. She is much more outgoing and will run up to
friends and say "hello!!!" and might stay for a little talk. Her
conversations are lengthening all the time.
Beth's
awareness of what is going on around her has improved dramatically. Before she
was always off in her own world, very difficult to focus her attention on
present situations.
Although
Beth's behaviour has been pretty good in the last few months, since being
failsafe she argues less with her three and half year-old brother and is much
quicker in responding to instructions.
Beth's
bowel motions are normal now (despite only eating one pear a day... who would
ever have thought!)
Every week,
I hear new things that she is doing at preschool. At home she is constantly
surprising us with new things that she says and does. It's great!! It is as if
a block has been removed in Beth's brain and suddenly she has the possibility
of being a normal little girl. Going failsafe is not easy but I had to give her
the chance. Even though it may not fix all of Beth's difficulties, it seems to
have removed a lot of them. Beth still has a lot of catching up to do, so it
will still be a long process.
Sorry ...
this email has blown out a bit!! It's very exciting!
LINKS
Food Intolerance - allergy or intolerance
More
information about PDD-NOS: Yale Developmental Disabilities Clinic http://www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/autism/pddnos.html
Got more to
say on this topic? Write to confoodnet@ozemail.com.au
The information given is not intended
as medical advice. Always consult with your doctor for underlying illness.
Before beginning dietary investigation, consult a dietician with an interest in
food intolerance. You can find a supportive dietitian through the Dietitians
Association of
© Sue Dengate update July 2007
