tell me what u think? | Autism PDD

Alot of that sounds like what alot of these kids on the spectrum have. Alot of them do no like to have their hair wash or have eegs done or even have haircuts. Some of them do smell objects and food. And some of them do eat unusual objects or put them in their mouths.

Tammy

thanks tammy, i really appreciate your input. i'm just trying to make sense of all the things he does that i think is weird. so hopefully i can better understand what to do with him. mom2carloIt's so funny how each child is different but the same..
The things that I thought odd, or different that caused us to go for an eval were:

1. lights- he stares at bright lights like Carlo..he will actually put his eye up the the light on my car with it on and puts flashlights up to his eyes..makes me tear and see spots just thinking about it!

2. cars- he has an obsession with wheels. His favorite stim is to lay in the floor and watch the wheels on his cars, buses, trucks, vans, etc. Lately he likes to roll them over different textures. He can pick out family and friend's vehicles by the wheel covers or rims. I think this is his spinning stim too!

3. laying down- when he's rolling his wheels he likes to lay in the floor. He just gets up and goes into his room or wherever and lays down watching the wheels...you can't get a straight answer from him until he's done

4. licking- he does lick some things, mostly the wheels on his cars. Lately he's begun to lick his hands and put them on his face. He's got a toungue like Gene Simmons so we always thought, "Well, if it's long enough to stick up his nose I'd put it on everything I could too!"

5. eating non-food items- well, let's just say it takes 4 days to pass a quarter

6. looking at things from different angles- he has to inspect everything from every angle possible

Hope this helps........

~HollieCarlosmom My son has almost everyone of the same traits as you described and he was dxs ASD somewheres twords HFA. He is also obsessed with "robots" as he calls them and we can't call them by their names such as C3PO or R2D2 or he screams and says "No they are robots"!!!!! He sleeps eats and carries them everywhere he goes he also does this with any kind of sea creature or reptile (sharks,crocodiles,dinos)and god forbid he missplaces one of them.....we have had to actually form search parties before to find certain toys!!!!He won't go to bed with out them!! It is very frustrating!!!The only thing Nick doesn't do is cover his ears. But yes to all of the rest. It is so amazing that all of these little guys are soooo much alike and it is knda nice to know we are not alone!!!!ThanksSounds like Carlo has a lot of sensory issues going on, like Danielle said. What our OT is doing with Luke and his sensory issues is to fulfill his needs in different ways. For example, for his need for motion, she'll either jump with him on the trampoline or swing him in the swing. For his spinning objects, she'll do joint approximations (kind of clunking the joints against each other ... but probably don't attempt to do that unless you're shown how be/c you could hurt them). I agree that the blanket thing could just be comforting ... Luke has a favorite blanket, like Linus from Peanuts. He carries it with him and every now and then will give it a hug and rub his face on it. Then he'll leave it for hours. Then again, since Carlo likes having it over his head when he sleeps, maybe it's helping him to block out either visual stimulation or noise. You should bring up these issues with Carlo's OT and see if they can be addressed.

Good luck!
Kellie
thanks to all of you who offered input.as far as the ot goes the school says he doesn't need any services for that. so with our new physc doc has written a new script for ot and pt thru the faclity he works thru. so hopefully i can get him ot thru there. again thanks you've all been so very helpful.mom2carloI'm going to give you some quotes from my book.."A work in Progress"...Stimming is repetitive, stereotyped behavior that does not appear to serve any other function beyond sensory gratification." Some categories of stimming: Body movements (flapping, rocking, twirling) Hand regarding , Visual (watching things move across visual lines, such as looking through slats of a fence) Using objects for providing sensory input(flapping paper, spinning objects, turning wheels of a car, splashing water), Rituals and obsessions( lining up objects, holding items, wearing same clothes, talking over and over about certain topics, closing doors, insisting things not be moved.ok jordon does some of these lights , laying on the ground , obsesed with paper etc and he has to have his food in certain ways and then wont eat it anyway. my youngest ryan does the action figure things and has to eat his food in certain ways always has toys in bed abd has to have this beaker in bed etc . he isnt due his assesment till 21st june so hasnt been diagnosed yet but i think they are stimming things xxxxx

thanks to all, i've thought of a few more.

11. hates anything to do with his head, ie haircut,washing face and eeg's.

12. is horrified of the shower, again with the head, hates the water hitting it and washing the hair.

13. he often smell things, food, hands and objects.

14. i find him laying around alot, on the ground outside, under the coffee table and in the bathtub. he'll cry to get in the tub so he can lay down.

15. twice that i've seen him eat at ineatable items. one being his gold braclet he wears(hispanic thing)it came off and my husband told me he tried to swallow it and threw up and just a couple of days ago, he was eating a foam ball like a nerf ball.

16. i do notice that when we put long sleeves on him or his winter coat,when his arms are coming out the sleeves he rolls his wrists around every time.

well kkeep the feed back coming, i'm trying to figure out what i'm dealing with, cause we have another ot and pt eval. next week. thanks again.mom2carlo

first of all, thanks for all the feedback on stimming.if you don't mind i'd like to explain some things that carlo does, and if you could please give me your thoughts on them weather or not there stims or senory issuses.

1. when carlo gets mad or frustrated he jumps up and down slamming his feet to the ground and he balls his fists up and moves them in and up and down pattern.

2. he constantley holds onto either a action figure guy usually spiderman or currently anything figure related to star wars. all day and even when he sleeps. also the little papers that come in the action figure packages, he goes straight to those first then gets the guys(as he calls them)and will hang onto them for dear life.

3 those papers i refered to earlier he will look at them for what it seems like forver opening and closing them, and tellimg u about a thousand times this is what he wants over and over.

4. when he eats he shovels the food in his mouth so fast and so much at one time that he can hardly chew. we've have 2 times where he's thrown up with no apparent reason(not sick or anything) i think the way he eats caused it.

5. when he's ready to eat sometimes the food has to be cut a certain way and placed on his plate in the right spot.exspecially his ketcup or he gets mad.

6 most of the time when he does sleep(haha)he covers his entire body with his blanket even his head and if i uncover it, he will cover it back up.

7 he loves to stare a bright lights, like we just went camping and he just stared at the fire, and we had those glow in the dark necklaces, he'd hold it up to his face and just stare away at it.

8he does cover his ears every once in awhile at certain sounds but not all the time.also he does at times grind his teeth while asleep.

9totally obsessed with spiderman and star wars. everything as to be one or the other.always has focus in on one or 2 things.

10.doesn't play with the action figures like you would think just holds them in his hand all the time.

ok know that i've typed everyone ears off,any feedback would help me,thanks mom2carlo

Well, I don't know what kind of feedback you are looking for because
I don't know your whole story, but he sounds a lot like my son Gavin.
Gavin too always carries action figures from movies he likes
(Incredibles right now) and will stare for LONG periods of time at the
papers inside the DVD case like he is memorizing every detail (which
he probably is because he has a photographic memory and
remembers EVERYTHING). He also stuffs his mouth so I have to cut
all his food into bite size pieces so he doesn't throw up or choke to
death. Gavin also sleeps with a pillow covering his entire body and
one underneath. He also grinds his teeth constantly while
sleeping. He is afraid of the vacuum and the blender and will run to
my bed and get under the covers at the sight of them.
Funny to find other kids with these same peculiarities! Most of these
things never struck me as autistic tendencies, but apparently they
are!
Karenhey gavin'smom, thanks for the feedback. it helps me to know that other kids do the same as carlo in one way or another.mom2carlo

The way I have taken it ( Not sure if I am right) but Stims and sensory issues are kinda the same thing. Or at least the Stim is a result of the sensory issue. They do these silly things to fill the sensory need. Undersensitive to visual...they stare at lights to get that imput they need, to regulate their system. Wrapped up in a blanket under sensitive to touch. jumps up and down because he is under sensative to movement.

I would define the word stim to mean filling a sensory need?

Carlo also sounds a lot like Owen, My friend is making the weighted blanket for me. I shoul dhave it soon. Owen likes to be wraped up in our heavy douvet. It is getting too warm, and he is waking up hot. I hope the weights will help give him that sensation without the warmth

Ok..so I always found this endearing about ds and never thought it was odd...but is putting a blanket over his head part of this? I've been hearing wrapping in blanket. Well he always carries around this one main blankey. He puts it over his head when he's calming down at times during the day. Also when he's getting overwhelmed like while grocery shopping he'll wrap the blanket around his head. I never thought of that as not nt. I learn something new everyday here.

Amber

It could be with the covering himself up with the blanket that he feels more secure that way. I know I used to do that as a kid. And alot of people do this. Now with Gabe if he eats too fast he will throw up. So I have to constantly remind him to eat slowly. What he does when he gets mad or frustrated, that could be normal for his developmental age. The hanging on to certain toys could also be a security issue.

Tammy