take me by the hand... | Autism PDD

I think its a great thing, she has found a way to tell you what she wants. Good for her. Just hang in there, she will figure another way of getting what she wants. Trust me, mine did.

Although, I know it is frustrating, but for her, its a step in the right direction. IMO

Do any of your kiddos do this?? Trinity is always taking me by the hand and leading me to or putting my hand on whatever she wants. She is ALWAYS doing this. I know its hard on her b/c she is just about non-verbal but it is hard sometimes when i'm feeding the baby or even in the shower. If you dont go right away she drops the to floor in a fit. I try to engage her by sitting on my hands and asking her what do you need? Things like that trying to get her to at least point but no luck. What should I do?

Thanks~Nicole

She did it until she started saying enough words that she doesn't have to. I wouldn't curtail it--it's the only way she has to show you what she wants. I know it can get 'old' after awhile--Jaden used to leave tiny scratch marks on my hands from doing it so often.....asa your girl begins to speak she will do it less and less.

Yes. My son has always done that. I read somewhere that it's officially called "autistic hand leading." Because he never really got the concept of pointing, he will take me to the pantry, for example, and even "throw" my hand up in the air if he wants something from a high shelf. We tried to work on pointing and signs and pecs (picture system,) but hand leading was his preferred system of communication with us. Now that he is three and starting to talk a little and to make signs, the hand leading has decreased somewhat.

Oh yes! My son still does it!Yes, my son has done that... I used to take his hand and form it and point to what ever he needs, and say "Do you want this?". It is called hand-over -hand and it shows them to point. Now he points to whatever he needs, and now I am in the process of having him utter at least the first sound of whatever item he needs, before I give it to him... Shelley (bless her heart), said she used to do this with her daughter Sarah to get her to talk and also ABA therapists do that all the time....

...so this is associated with ASD?

I ask b/c still no DX...

Some days it's better than others. We're still working on it.....

Jennimac39306.7608680556[QUOTE=ShelleyR]

Do exactly as Lalloo stated :)

Once you get her to point on her own she will just do it naturally:)

Our kids need tons of repetition to understand what a point is for:)

After she masters this skill...then expect more out of her....a sound, a grunt or any utterance she makes close to what she wants~model for her constantly....PRAISE like a crazy person when she does it.....then slowly increase the demand to her saying more approxiamation of the word..then 2 words...3 words ect...:) [/QUOTE]

THis is exactly what we did and do, and now they always ask by name and begin with I want. I can't understand them sometimes though so it still often ends up with show mommy, but they point while they are saying it and then I say it and now Nikolas is repeating it again with much better pronunciation. I would highly suggest doing what was suggested too. And when you take her hand and point name what she is pointing at and model what she is suppose to say. Yep definitely a ASD sign, although my NT daughter does it too because she watches her brothers do it and thinks that's what she's suppose to do.

Can you just stay your ground for a minute and act stupid? For example, you could say "oh honey. Do you want to hold hands and cuddle/play ring around the rosie/swing dance/whatever you can think of?" And then start doing that activity.

It would irritate the daylights out of her, but would encourage her.

Or, as she pulls you out of your bedroom, you could head for the dining room (pulling her a bitin that direction) and "say, oh you want to go in the DINING ROOM! Do you want to play tea party in here?" or pull her to the back door and stupidly claim "oh, you want to play out back in the pouring rain?!"

Again, this would annoy her enough - but not enough for a fullblown explosion - to encourage speech.

If you can get her to say "let's go to the kitchen" or just the word "kitchen" (I don't remember whether she is verbal or not), then that's a start. You can also cut out the pictures of empty Wheat Thin or Cheeto packages and stick them into a homemade scrap book where you've typed the names below. Kinda make a social story about snack time (but do include photos of apples, etc!) Food is a great motivator!

Cole only pulls on my hand after he's repeatedly asked me to get something or come see the TV with him and I don't get up. He will even resort to signing to me like we did when he was a baby trying to get his point across!

But when he was little, and might just point at the cabinet (where snacks are) and say SNACK, I would open up the doors and get out a can of turnip greens and feign stupidity and ask "YOU WANT TURNIP GREENS???? I DON'T KNOW COLE, TURNIP GREENS ARE PRETTY SOUR..." Then I might try the unopend jar of spaghettie sauce and tell him I'm not cooking dinner at 11AM. Or I'd say COLE, YOU DON'T EVEN LIKE COFFEE! WHY DO YOU WANT A CUP OF COFFEE?

Finally, he'd roll his eyes at my goofiness and say I want the Chex Mix please!

Only you know how far you can push her, but if you make your fake choices ridiculous and then kind of giggle with her over them (like turnip greens or a cup of coffee), she might be okay.

My son does the same thing. I encourage him to point which he will also do. I am also encouraging him to make the word approximation to get what he wants. Keep raising the bar if you can.Sharlet has never done it. I have a good friend who's daughter is dx severe, she is a year older to the day. She does it ALL the time.
Yes, mine does it ALL the time also. It can be helpful at times, since communication in any form is a great thing, but other times, when I am busy trying to do dishes, use the bathroom, etc... it can be frustrating. My son will also melt down and have a fit if I try to tell him to wait a moment. The girls never did this either, even when they were pre-verbal. When they wanted something, they just went and got it. If they couldn't get it, they screamed.My son used to do this when he was younger. It does get less as they
communicate better. he also used to place his hands on both sides of my
face and make me look at him. Neither of my sons did this. My youngest also would just get it (he's resourseful) or stand there and whine.My ds did not ever do this either. But, with kids who don't have many words, I have heard that is not uncommon. It is also common with kids on the spectrum.

Kathy--she does take my face in her hands alot too...

I am glad she does it most of the time. She has a meltdown if I dont dpor what im doing and go, and sometimes thats hard to do.

She is 27 months and it just seems to be getting worse.

Tom does this as well.

Do exactly as Lalloo stated :)

Once you get her to point on her own she will just do it naturally:)

Our kids need tons of repetition to understand what a point is for:)

C does it alot!!! SInce he started signing he does it less, but still "leads"...especially ME!!B used to do this all the time. Now he's starting to say the words for what he used to drag me to. He says chocolate or pepperoni instead of dragging me to the fridge. That or he'll get it out himself and bring them to me. Same thing for cracker, water and a few other things. When he want's to go outside, he still drags me to the door and puts my hand on the knob.

lol...KajoliT...I can't even post something short without being dragged away a few times.

I mentioned this to the therp who did her eval and she said not to go to make her tell me or point or not give in..if only it was that easy....

As his verbalness has increased, the leading has subsided somewhat. We still get lead around, but now it's more a "come see" or "come on" if we're not moving fast enough, than using us as the tool to get something.

My son does this all day long- he is also very non verbal and I was thrilled when he started doing this at about 2 years old. He drags me to the DVD player to change the show, or to the door to go swing outside. It is progress in my eyes, at least he doesn't ever get his point across! We have taught him about 20 signs but he still needs prompting to use them- I am hoping one day he will come up to me and say I am hungry through signs or I want milk, etc. It can be SOOOOOOOOO frustrating!R is doing this all the time
In fact he is doing it right now ..........bye
We have learned that there are key factors alerting families and providers to the possibility of autism. These include:

absence of or delay in pointing to express interest
hand leading or using another's body to communicate, often replacing pointing

http://www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/archive s/2001/understanding_ASD.htm

Yes my son at 12 years old still leads me my my hand, but not as much as he used to and likes to hang on to my forearm when we walk together in public. And sometimes he likes to put his arm in mine, kinda like a couple walks right after they get married.
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