hmmm, i was told once u r on the spectrum, always on the spectrum, at 4 and then again at age 8 (when i moved to another state) both dr.s said HFA, however, now i feel i dont qaulify for this label, but ill always be on the spectrum, if i had the $$ i would try and get re diagnosed i think...???
just 2 satisfy my curiosity, aspringers is far more apporpriate as i have changed alot, fuction much better, communicate more effectivly, but will always have those little qwarks, usually ppl dont notice tho.
Once i understood what my probelm was, i knew i had to change if i was going to survive and succeed in adult hood, i had a few years to get it right and now i seem to have done good, but wont ever totally change for acceptance.
I guess I should of stated that at what age did the asd traits change or minmize to change some ones dx or get rid of entirely.
Now kids are dx so young I was just curoius to see how intensive therapies, meds, vitiamins, etc., play in changing a dx.
My son got it ruled out at 3.5y. He got other dx's at 4y, 5y, and then at 6y--got the HFA along with his bipolar dx. At 7y--HFA and ADHD and bipolar ruled out.
I'm not sure if the HFA or AS dx will fit him in the years to come. He is that kind of kid were you really need to "wait and see". He's had therapys since 3.5y and he is almost done with private therapy and will only need school speech.
Dh went his whole life not knowing anything was "different" and he recently--the past 4 months, was dx'd with Aspergers at 37y.
I almost think that my son is really not HFA and will grow out of it. He is extremely high functioning and even the school doesn't think anything is wrong with him. If he does get the dx taken away----that's fine. Maybe he never really had it and just had autism characteristics.
We are getting reassessed at 6. I figure at that time it should be obvious one way or another and if its the prematurity or something else causing it and its not really autism it should be more obvious.I know its fullish to wish for my sons dx from ppd-nos to change or totally disappear, at least his characteristic to minimze to where his dx is no longer valid but sometimes I feel that we are running on a treadmill and no matter how fast we run we are always in the same place.
He has made improvements in alot of ways but he still has moderate/sever delays in the same areas as he did 2 years ago.
Its saddening.
For those who have children who received a dx at an early age, at what age did that dx change or no longer had it. If at all:-(
J
I don't consider mainstreamed without an aide---"recovered". Jacob has always been mainstreamed--with an aide--but not one on one. By mid-year---she was out of the classroom more and more. Some days--he never saw her. On bad days---he needs her to help him get thru the bad hours. But then--Jacob's regular teacher was awesome!
He is also doing grade level work. We started 1st grade not knowing how to read--or knowing all the letter sounds. Within 2 weeks---he was reading in the lowest group---but it was still the low end of grade level--not resource or assist class. Now--at the end of the school year---total grade level and he knows completely all the Dolch sight words.
I think for him----he will start needing more help with an aide when the schoolwork gets harder and he will get more frustrated.
I know at the beginning of the year--he will need more help to adjust. He's not good with transitions. Substitute teachers were horrible for him.
Sarah at 3 years was diagnosed autism by dev. pediatrician mild to mod..she had no language or eye contact..no awareness of people and extremely aloof and flat affect..We did 3 years of speech and ABA full time along with GFCF diet, biomedical stuff..and at almost 6 she lost her label of autism and was told probably aspergers now because her academics are so high..she still has language quirks and socially odd..but she did kindergarten mainstream all day without no aide or supports and will do so for first grade hopefully. I dont feel is will ever be considered cured but do feel she deserves to be called recovered with all the hard work she has done and she is totally nt with us and adults. Changed from possible PPD-NOS at age 3 to autism, higher functioning, at age 5. It puzzled me that the psychiatrist flat out told me he may not have the diagnosis in a couple of years,although he will have some issues (who doesn't). I, along with everyone else thought autism is a lifetime disease. He got the autism diagnosis I think for his poor pragmatics of speech and sensory issues.[QUOTE=Linda11567]We are getting reassessed at 6. I figure at that time it should be obvious one way or another and if its the prematurity or something else causing it and its not really autism it should be more obvious.[/QUOTE]
I asked a therapist about this ... I was told OH, YES, prematurity issues CAN still go away, WAAAY past age 6!
I still think there is no hard black line ... but I think we also all know that the brain has recently shown plasticity even in older adults!
Crystal1971,
Does what the doc give you comfort?
I know with us our doc only stated my son had 90% chance of being mainstreamed and that was it. For me he had as much as a clue of where my child may be on the asd as much as I did.
p.S.
Sorry I mis-stated earlier my son was dx at 3 1/2.
Akita, from what you've written about your child, I think he may progress off of the spectrum in time - just my personally opinion. I think Lovaas' definition of 'recovered' was in a regular classroom without an aid doing grade appropriate work. That sounded pretty good to me.
I think our Woodsman and our stickboy seem like pretty good case studies for this sort of thing - again, knowing only what's written online. It seems that once a child reaches an age of self-awareness and self-conciousness and acquires a desire to 'fit in' and become skilled enough at analyzing behavior so that they can figure out 'how' to fit in - then they can conciosuly surpress the behaviors that 'set them apart' and seek to shore up their defecits - motivation, in other words - they decide to fit in and thus become 'undiagnosable'.
It's probably a lot of work - kind of like 'putting on an act' most of the time - but it appears that that's what happens with some of the more HFA kids who want to blend in.
Adam was diagnosed with Autism and truly made all critera on the DSM-IV at 3 years of age. Just this last winter at 5yrs His developmental Ped changed the diagnosis to PDD-NOS because he no longer makes all the critera for Autism anymore. The doctor told me that he would NEVER be considered Aspergers because even thought it's now corrected, he had a significant language delay.
Karrie