New to the board? Introduce Yourself
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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS When your ready, please post a quick introduction and explain how autism/pdd affects you. Please check out the links in the newbies thread and feel free to post questions that you may still have in a new thread. We look foward to to getting to know you better! Hi everyone! I'm so excited to have found this board - my name is Melanie and I have a daughter who is 10 with mild PDD-NOS. It affects every moment of life. You are always thinking of how you can help your child navigate this world she doesn't understand like the average person. I've checked out some of the links from the very impressive list of websites and I love it here! Real people to talk to! I may come and go because my last semester of school starts this week and life gets hectic between school full time and therapy with my daughter. Plus I have an adopted step-son that is medically fragile and cannot walk or talk. He is 9 and is so cute we just breathe him in. We also have a blind, MR poodle and 2 guinea pigs that we watch more than TV. My spouse/domestic partner has mild aspergers's and I have PMDD. We joke that we should be a group home. I look forward to reading and collaborating with people on this site! :) Melanie I am Mary. My daughter is almost 4, born Oct 27th 2001. She dosen't have a working thyroid. That was discovered after she was born and replacement therapy began 2wks later. She was dx in Sept 2004 (last year) as having PDD-NOS, borderline autism, w/greatest delay in speech and gross motor. She was a good, quite baby for the most part. I noticed how intense she was early on. SHe also freaked out when we drove over hilly roads. SHe was only about 8 or 9 months old when I first started to wonder. SHe wasn't crawling yet and she played w/the same thing for hours...sometimes to get her to stop I would have to pick her up and move her to something else. SHe didn't start walking until 16 mos old but never learned to climb or jump or run until a year ago. By 2 she was lining things up and her vocabulary stalled out. SHe was saying about 10 words at that time. By the time she was turning 3 we had her evaluated. She could talk a little but mostly repeated the same words over and over, all day. SHe seems like a typical preschooler in many ways and it can fool even me still. She can draw at a 5 yr old level, work puzzles at a 5 yr old level. BUt she is at a 2 to 3 year old level with speech and struggles to skip and hop. She stims by rubbing things...our face (started about 4mos old) and fingernails. She is very imaginitive. When her foot fell a sleep she wanted me to open her toe and get the bees out. On the bad days, she cries over every thing, has a harder time w/focusing and looks off into space. Her speech gets very abstract and she dosen't want to leave the house or cooperate out in public. So it is on the spectrum I suppose....and each chid being unique in their own ways. Anna is awsome in her disability and finds ability dispite the struggles to comprehend the world around her. It is that determination she has that keeps us hopeful. [QUOTE=newyork]Hi I am new Just wanted to say hi and I'm so happy to have found this place [/QUOTE] Hi, I'm John.My daughter, Amanda, was born 7 years ago. She was 2 pounds 12 ounces and 6 weeks early. She suffered a number of GI problems the first year and a half before she was correctly diagnosed by of all people a psychologist. After the medication started on that malfunction she grew rather quickly. She is PDD with extreme delays speech and motor skills. She didwalk until she was 3 and half years old. Fortunately she does everything on a major holiday. She learned to roll over at Thanksgiving, sit up on New Years, walk on the 4th of July, say "Daddy" on New years. Because of so many physical problems and her premie status her first few years we didn't get an accurate DX until last year. Up until that time we were just trying to keep her alive and get through the day. I think many of you can relate. The hardest part with the whole situation has been been dealing with other people. Family and friends were not very supportive because as we all know, they just don't understand. But the past year or so many have seen the light about what a special child she truly is. She is our only child and the love of our lives. She has changed my wife and I believe made us better people. After hundreds of meltdowns I can handle one without raising my voice and I have lost that sad feeling. It is part of the way she is and she is getting better emotionally. At least now her meltdowns have a reason even if some of them are pretty odd. I wouldn't go through the past 7 years again for anything but I wouldn't have run from it even if I could. This little girl and my dear wife needed me and still do. The bast way to discribe Amanda's personality is she is a people person. She interacts extremely well with people she knows. She is the darling of my office ad spent countless hours here over summer vacation. Now that she is back in school people keep asking for her. She has a sense of humor and she loves to tease. She is a great mimic and has a cellphone fixation. She loves horses and is terrified of dogs. She is very loving and phyiscally tough. All and all, she is a great little person. Hello my nane is laura and I have a son name jonathan who is 3 years old. I donnot know where to begin . Frist my son jon is my life and the life of so many of my family members. I also have a child name cassy who is 11 and a sweet normal ittle girl. Jon was given the lable pdd-nos at 2 year old. He Is developmental deylaed in all areas area, he is also has ADHD , sleepind and feeding issues. We have seen many doctors who are just amazed at jonathan. Another thing is that my son has is that the DPT shot does not him and protection and the doctors cannot tell me why. We in my home live a very hect it life. When jon goes to sleep we all sleeep when he wakes up we all get up. He has to have all the lights on at all times and all the doors shuts. He is a very friendly and out goin child. that is all for now Hello I am a grandmother, 57, raising two grandsons age 12, soon to be 13 and one who just turned 11 ,with Gods help. They have been living with me since 1999 with there mother, my ex daughter in law. She moved out In January and they remained with me. Right now they both have been diagonised as having severe Adhd and the youngest one also has OOD. I am so honored to be raising them ,but boy, can they be a handful sometimes. There parents hardly ever see them.My youngest son, there uncle, will take them occassionally so I can get some rest. I find my problems are not so much with the boys as with there parents..... They are great kids but sometimes this grammy wants to go AWOL with a bottle of wine and my anchovie crackers for some peace and quiet! One of my main problems is sleeping...I am not getting any! LOL and just like the boys when they don't get enough sleep I become as crabby as they are! And at times that is not a pretty picture as we all are running around getting ready for school especially if the cat or dog removes articles of clothes to play with during the night! One time we put there shoes outside and found them in the back acre 10 minutes before the bus came! Lots of wild dogs out here! LOL I lay out clothes they pick out so there are not lost underware, socks or shoes. I colored codes my oldest drawers so he knows where his clothes are and colored codes his hangers for both school pants and shirts. Because he has severe problems following directions I put up cue cards for him to look at when he does the dishes, laundry and when he is taking a bath and early morning chores and it seems to work well for him, if his brother doesnt tear them down just to watch him meltdown! I also, sometimes if they get up to go to the bathroom around 4 or 5am ,give them there meds so they are calm when they wake up and it does work. The boys are on AdderalXL 20 mg , two tablets a day with .o5 Risperdal in the morning and Imipramine 10mg added at night for sleep. I start out all there meds at the lowest level first and work up the perscription order mostly to monitor any side effects.......Since they started these, yesterday, I got to sleep a whole 6 hours....YES! And after playing three hours on the tramoline they are now in bed sleeping and its only 7:52pm....I try to have them get at least 12 hours of sleep because of all the engery they expound during the day. I am interested in the weighted blanket everyone is talking about. Could someone tell me about it and how it works. My oldest, who is 12, is being retested and I was told he may have a form of autism, so I am trying to read everything I can to help him and sleep seems to be the issue at this time and I have noticed that he loves lots of blankets when he sleeps.Could someone please send me some information on this blanket. Thank You, I am looking forward to learning all I can with all of your help. Annamarie
Hi all, I have a little boy turning 3 next month named Isaac. He was diagnosed with autism last December when he was just over 2. Life has changed ever since, ABA, OT, ST, have become familiar words in our house. He has had a lot of progress since we started an ABA program in February, he has gone from not following any direction or acknowlegeding any one was speaking to him, to now following simple directions, pointing to everything he wants, and recently it seems like he is trying to talk. It is still hard when I take him to the park and I see other kids his age talking and playing with each other, when he still keeps to himself (although occasionally he will push them out of his way or try to lead them to what he wants) it is hard not to compare sometimes. He is our only child and we love him to bits, despite all of his other issues (meltdowns, biting, obsessive behaviour) he is my greatest joy and is extremely cute.
Hello to everyone, I have been reading these post for sometime. I really enjoy the information I recieve from them. It really helps to know that we are not alone. I have a son 14, he has ADHD, OCD, AND ODD. Some of these things are lessen as he has gotton older. My next son is 12 he has mild to moderate Autism. Some days are better than others. I have a 4 year old daughter that has what they call adjustment disorder with features of pdd. I am taking her next week for a second opinion. Lastly I have a 1 year old girl whom I hope will have no disablities. Autism effect our life in so many ways, money, friends, family just being a normal family is impossiable. My oldest just wants our family to be normal just like everyone else. he has missed out on so much because of chris,
I have lurked on this board for a few months, but decided it was about time to introduce myself. My name is Jessica. I am a stay at home Mom to former 26wker b/g twins. Zackary and Samantha will turn three on 9-01. Being born so early, we have always been involved with EI. Zack was officially diagnosed with autism 6 months ago. It was suggested we also test Sammy too - but it turns out that although she is delayed with speech and has echolalia and perseverance, Dr. Coplan feels she is just copying her brother's speech patterns. It is a relief, but we still worry another bomb will be dropped in the near future! Autism affects our life in so many ways. I think I always *knew* that something was 'off' so it didn't really come as a surprise. It just explained a lot. Zack is hyperlexia...knew all of his letters, colors, numbers, shapes at around 20-22 months, but only started saying "mommy" meaningfully around age 2 1/2. At almost 3, he is doing pretty well with ABA, OT, and ST. He is also starting to read words, so I hope it will help his progress. I am just so thankful to have my miracle babies. After a 3 months NICU stay and a shaky first two years, I still feel lucky - even w/the A-word in our house. Looking forward to this board, sharing information and providing support! Jessica Hi! I am a stay-at-home mom (former social worker) and I have a 4 year-old boy who was just diagnosed two days ago with PDD-NOS with tendencies toward HFA and I have a 15 month-old baby girl who is hopefully NT. We were lucky to get a diagnosis - the dev ped freely admitted that he is seen as very liberal with giving out diagnoses. But he said that if society feels that early intervention is critical, then why should he NOT give out a diagnosis if there are issues that can be addressed? He said our son was on the mildest end of the spectrum and that he was having a very hard time figuring him out (yeah, me too! Anyway, we are in that initial phase after the diagnosis. His pre-school teacher talked to me about Asperger's in January and we went through the school evaluation process and now through the medical diagnosis process. As you all know, it has not been fun. But, we have been able to accomplish a lot in a relatively short time (especially as opposed to the horror stories of years of evaluations I have read everywhere). The school district would not qualify my son initially as they said he was too high-functioning and was learning just fine (never mind that his fine motor skills were at the 1st percentile - performing at a 2 year-old level!). So, we privately got him into PT, OT and tumbling classes. Those have really done wonders for him with those skills and for his confidence. He still has a LOT of other issues though and meltdowns have recently increased a lot. I fought the school district and they did an override to qualify him for services, but are recommending no direct services, just consultations. So, another battle on our hands! My son will be attending a mainstream pre-school (the one he attended last year) three days a week and the doctor is recommending that he receive SLP and OT through the school district as well. So, that gives me more ammunition for the IEP. My son does a lot of scripting (repeating/acting out scenes mainly from books, occasionally videos - he doesn't watch much) and stimming (jumping up and down with hand motions acting out whatever he is doing like pouring water and talking to himself repeating various phrases). He has meltdowns when certain things don't go his way - and that varies and I have not been able to distinguish any kind of pattern. He does have sensory issues and is currently in the process of being evaluated by a sensory OT. He doesn't seem to have tactile or taste issues - he eats very healthy and more than most adults I know. But, he is a very healthy weight - 38 pounds and 42 inches. He is not very coordinated - just learning how to pedal, falls over air (although this is getting better), didn't climb much until recently, can't catch a ball well (but can hit and field grounders well). He doesn't interact much with peers, but does with younger children (around his baby sister's age) and older children and adults. He attended a social skills playgroup this summer based on the Incredible Years curriculum and he seems to have made progress in this area. He will now respond to others much more when they ask him a question (without my prompting) like how is he doing, or say hi or wave when someone does the same to him. I'm glad to find this forum - thank you mark_dad for referring me here from the Parents.com board! I'm not sure what to tell everyone. I have an 11 year old daughter and a 9 year old son. Our son has PDD NOS. We were lucky that we found out at a very early age. 2 and a half. He was in all the eary programs provided with the government. In Canada they only fund programs until the kids are 6. We can't afford it on our own. So he goes to school with a EA. bUT HE DOES'NT HAVE SPEEch or ABa. If their is any one in the same position as I am Please post a message.Hello everyone!I am glad to have found this board and see this as another excellent resource in my autism resource arsenal. I have a 3 1/2 year old son who has a diagnosis of PDD-NOS. It was extremely hard to get a diagnosis for him (no one wanted to label him). We had him in EI (he barely qualified) and I would say his autisitic tendencies became more pronounced once he hit 2 1/2. His first word came at around 22 months but other than that, he seemed to be developing normally. He attends a contained preschool in our school district (started in March). His stim of choice is scripting and on most days is easily redirected (on his bad days, he is definitely harder to reach). In the last couple of months he has started mothing everything and spinning his body in circles. The spinning is very easily controlled...the mouthing is very difficult (he will resort to chewing his shirt collar when there is nothing else available). One of our biggest challenges is he is FEARLESS...will bolt, able to open front and back doors to our house (we just installed locks on the top of our doors and an alarm system that verbally announces what door/window is open) and he is an unbelievable climber. He started the GFCF diet at the end of June and is scheduled to see a DAN Dr. this fall. We are starting an ABA program at home this fall and are hoping that he will do really well with the extra ABA hours outside of school. He has a great sense of humor and keeps us on our toes. I am looking forward to sharing info. and ideas with everyone.... Hi, I am new to the board, but not new to PDD-NOS. My son is 10 1/2 yrs old. DX at 7, also has anxiety disorder and ADD. I knew that there was something wrong since he was 3. The school psychologist told me she couldn't help me and that I should go to a private psych. I thought he would grow out of it. NOT  . He has had O.T. for sensory problems and has a lot of problems with food and the tolieting. He is in a regular classroom at school and gets help with math and reading. He has a very definite receptive language problem. He does not understand facial expressions. We saw Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and he was totally lost by Willy's expressions. I also have a 6 and 7 year old, both no problems. Glad to be on the board. Hi All
My son AJ is 3 yrs. old. He was diagnosed with PDD. He is a special little guy. We have our ups and downs. The melt downs in public are the worst! Since he can't talk, he screeeeeches loudly! People are always staring at us. He still sleeps in his crib...it is the only way he will go to sleep. I have TRIED to sleep with hiim, but he just kicks me, pulls my hair, jumps on me then gets up. He is starting to pinch me, pull my hair, push me, and hit me when I tell him "NO" I actually hafta "sign" the word no, too. He is in pre-K...they specialize in autism. He can still learn, but it is completely different than his sister (normal child) learned. His tantrums and screeeching is getting worse as he gets older. I am hoping he will learn to talk, soon as I believe that is what the screeeeching is all about. He never walks...always on the run! I want him to be more self reliant when it comes to potty training, but i can't take the gate down. Also, he is pulling the chair over to reach things outta the cupboard, the fridge, freezer and gets up to the sink. My little Screeech drives me crazy at times, but I love him dearly!!! Hello everybody I have been lurking now for 3 months since our 13 year old son had finally been diagnosed PDD/NOS. He also has ADHD and is on Ritalin for this. We are from Canada and finding that information as where to seek services for him is very limited. He will be starting grade 8 in September. He/We are looking forward to this. Thanks so far for all the info I have got. Anyone have any questions I will gladley respond. Hello to all! I actually have been posting for a couple of days, but just getting my story put in here. It is hard to sit down and talk about this and how it has affected our life. To be honest, autism is our life. I have a beautiful 14 year old daughter Nicole who happens to have autism. She is truly a gift from god. She has taught me more than I have taught her. I will try to put into words how this has affected our life without writing a book. I was 16 when I got pregnant with Nicole. She was born 4 1/2 weeks early and weighed 4lb 15oz. and was 17 inches long. And of course being premature she had jaundice, trouble with her lungs the first few days, and all the "initial parenting" things you go through having your first baby.
Hi everyone, my name is Shawna. I have 3 boys. My youngest was diagnosed w/ Autism in May of 2005. I work from home, and spend a lot of time working w/ my son. He will be 4 in November. His biggest issues are speech and social skills. We currently get services thru our school, and he is currently in a preschool 4 times a week & has speech therapy all 4 days. Next week he will start occupational therapy. I have worked really hard w/ him this summer - potting training is pretty much complete. If someone asks, "what's your name" he can respond w/ both his 1st and last name now. Nouns we have pretty much accomplished - but however we are now starting to work on the action words. My mother just recently sent me an email that she ordered a volume of Baby Bumblebee action DVD's for my son to watch. I am curious to see how they work. My biggest struggle w/ Colton is getting him to eat. My husband and I have always been pretty strict about other 2 son's diets - so Colton is a struggle for us. When he eats mashed potatoes he will gag. Any pasta works for him - hotdogs, bananas, chips of any kind, peanut butter, and pizza, pizza, pizza. Since I work out of my home and have to spend time working w/ Colton - I don't get out much - so I'm so happy to have found other people having the same issues as me. In the school district my son is in - they have only had 2 other autistic kids come thru there, so I don't really have anyone to "talk" to when we have our bad days. If anyone has any ideas on how to eat w/o gagging - I would love some suggestions! Hi everyone! My name is Cheri, I am the mom of a 4y/o boy who was diagnosed with Autism at 13 months old. He didn't have his MMR yet, so I knew that wasn't the cause for him. When he was first diagnosed he was called HF so low in that category they were debating on whether to call him HF or LF. He was into head banging, rocking, lost his speech, became a very restricted eater and all those other fun things. He finally got into the correct programs at 3. He attends an all day M-F school program called LASSO (Autism) at one of the public schools. He also gets OT 2x week and ST 1x week with outside providers. Of course he gets those services through the school also. I joined the Northeast Illinois Chapter, ASA for support. About 5 months ago I was named VP of the chapter and just became President in August. I have had so much fun and have learned so much. I not only do tons of research in hopes of helping my son, but being on the board of an Autism chapter requires me to make sure I help all these other families too. It is an awesome adventure. Last fall my son had his follow up with his developmental pediatrician. I was told that since he had not made one improvement in well over a year, that I needed to brace myself for the possibility that Andrew will probably never be potty trained, talk, and of course, he would never be able to be on his own. Being 26, and a single parent, I was devastated. I mean, didn't we do everything while we were pregnant to ensure our children would be healthy? How fair is this! It took me a long time to be able to get that out of my head, and I decided that Andrew needed me, he needed me to find his "missing piece." Not the piece that would cure him, that is beyond me, but the piece that would help him improve and live a happy life. I knew it wasn't the MMR, so if I could figure out what his cause was, and remove it, we just might get lucky. After months of searching, I decided to switch stores, and buy only non-toxic products for my home. Products that had patents, approval from the EPA, ones that couldn't hurt him. From our cleaning products, to his shampoo and my deodorant...the only toxins in our home are the ones let in when I open a window or door. That was my son's missing piece! Then I found out that the products were actually on display at the Autism Society of America National Convention in Tennessee this summer. Andrew starting improving, his speech started picking up, he started showing interest in the potty at school. Coincidence, maybe, but I'm not taking that chance. Andrew first day back at school is this Tuesday, next year, my baby is going to Kindergarten! He might have to have and aide, but I don't care, his teacher said he will be ready and able to continue on. Hello I have a son Jon with Feeding issue. He only eats soft text foods. I would ask your doc about any feeding centers in your area I live in Philadelphia and I go to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Feeding center and also ask you speech teacher about it .Thank you for the info Laura. We actulally did go to the Feeding Team at Milwaukee Children's Hospital, but we aren't going to go back. They gave us some idea, but they wanted to put him in inpatient treatment for 2 weeks. I was told that during the stay, I can be there, but they starve him until he eats. I made sure they repeated this several times, and I was couldn't do that. I then talked to many doctors regarding this form of treatment for children with Autism and they said it is not a good idea. Autistic kids do not understand that when they eat, it makes the hunger pains go away, and they will hurt themselves nutritionally. His speech therapist also did not think this form of treatment was right for him. Every week when he goes to ST, I bring food items he will normally not eat, and she does activities to get him to try it. Sometimes he does, sometime he doesn't. For the last year I have also been making a plate for him with whatever I make for dinner, little amounts along with something he will eat. It took about 2 weeks until he stopped throwing the plate. I then placed the plate at the opposite side of the table, and each night I would move it closer and closer. He will now sit with it in front of him, sometimes he may take his spoon or fork and poke at it, sometimes, he will put his finger on it and lick his finger. He is now tolerating the smells and the site of it, and once in a while will taste it. It took a while, but something about this feeding team did not sound humane to me. He only used to eat stick pretzels, but now he will sometimes eat a hotdog, oatmeal, corn, potato chips, raisins, and a couple other things. Not a huge diet, but he is finally coming around, and I have found that Andrew is a lot more cooperative when I let him set the pace instead of tramatizing him by making a big deal about it and pushing. That can effect any child "normal" or not.Hi All One of the speech therapist said get them to eat more crunchy foods as those are the muscles we use to talk. AJ is TRYING to talk, but only me and my hubby can understand when he is counting or saying something like all da (all done) pspis (poopies) things like that. We also use some sign such as eat, drink, more, help and the newest one I love you. When we first thought that our son was Autistic, my husband bought a book called "Facing Autism" by Lynn Hamilton. The first 4 Chapters had me in tears, because they described my son exactly. The fascination w/ rocks, sleeping patters, eating anything then becoming a fussy eater - all sorts of things. But, in the same sense, I had finally had answers to why I could not understand him like I understood my 2 other boys. I had a lot of mixed feelings, and I still do. You have good days and bad days. I feel you .I have it the same way so good but mostly bad daysHi There is some sort of test in here somewhere. AJ had already been diagnosed with PDD, but I took the test anyway. It should help you. Does he make eye contact with you? Does he seem to play with parts of toys rather than the entire toy itself? AJ loved to put rocks through the fence, and he would do it for hours if I would allow him to. Does he interact with you? When he walks up steps, does he use the same foot every time? Does he have an awkward gait? Does he have an over fascination with running water and water going down the drain? Every child is different. If you suspect something is wrong, I would definitely go have him tested. What is it with rocks, water, and balls? Ds loves all these things. He would pick up rocks and throw them in water for hrs if I allowed. We have a big pond in our backyard and that is all he wants to do. I always try to redirect him to swings and stuff, it works sometimes but not always. Needless to say, dh is out there scooping tons of rocks out of our pond a lot lol. He also just loves water and balls. If I am in the bathroom brushing my teeth I have to let the water run so he can just hold his hands under it the whole time. Balls are the only real toy he tends to play with. He usually just likes to bounce them and watch them or horde them in corners. His corner behavior, as I call it, is odd and interesting to watch. He likes to take toys or balls into corners and just bat them around, mix them up, or sometimes line them, mix them, line them again etc. He also loves light switches. If you open the fridge he is in there pushing the light button on and off and on and off. Same w/ other lights he can reach. He likes to bang cupboards and close doors. I am having his eval come up soon so my mind is getting ready for it which is why I think I can't stop coming here and have been posting long babbles of thought lol. It's like my mind had a calm time, but now I'm sort of jello brained again and head is running 100miles per hour. I can't wait to get it over with! Amber Hello my name is laura and I have a 3 year old son anme jonathan who has Pdd_nos. I just want to tell you that you are not alone in this fight.I to have days like what you are explaining? Juat let me say yoooou have come to the right place.  Hello everyone I am a single parent of a 6 year old boy who has PDD. I need help find a support group in the Phila area if anyone can help please let me know Thanks[QUOTE=TahmirsMom] http://www.asaphilly.org/resources.htm http://www.autismlink.com/services.php?state=PA®ion=& amp;servicetype=4 http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dd/aic/states/pa.htm http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/suppPA.html (Aspergers Support) The Philadelphia Autism Meetup Group
http://www.aspennj.org/SupportNearbyStates.html#SUPPORTPA Do a search, or contact your local MR/DD school, Autism school, or even mental health facility and stary asking! Hi my name is Helen and I have an 8 year old son named Stephen with pdd-nos. He is doing much better now but during the beginning after he was diagnosed it was a very difficult time for my family and especially for me because I felt that I was all alone I didn't understand what the doctors where telling me I never could imagine that my life was gonna be touch by autism. It is nice to see that there is so much information on line now, back then I couldn't find much. I hope to keep getting more inf. from all the parents that come to this site. Beacuse I want to learn as much as I can to help my child.Hi everyone, My youngest daughter (now 2 1/2) got a dx of autism 6 months ago. Although we were not surprised by the dx, it has completely changed life as we knew it, to say the least! I have been reading posts on this board for about a month and finally got dh to help me register (I'm not the most computer savvy gal!). I am so glad to have discovered this site - it has been such a great thing to realize that we are not alone in our struggle with autism. I can't wait to get to know some of you better.
Hello everyone. My name is Sarah. I am from Iowa. I have a 6 year old son he is "normal" and he is above average in his class. Then I have my 3 year old who was just diagnosed with ASD and he does not speak yet, He is delayed alot but I am so thrilled he has all his emotions and he can feel pain and happiness. I have made the choice for once to stay home and accept financial help. Before I would take any yuckie job and deal with it my life has changed forever. I cannot just take a yuckie job that will wear me out. I have to come home and get up and down all day with my son. Not only that but with the screams and the screeching and the headbutting and head hitting. I need the patience which I do not have when I am tired from a yuckie job. I do go to school at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh online for graphic design. My goal is to work at home while raising Brady. I need other parents and families for this. I have worked with the disabled for quite a few years off and on but nothing prepares you for what we are dealing with. I said about 2 weeks ago that I wish Brady had been born with Downs or something that I could see where this is something that almost creeps up. Maybe I am morbid but at least I would be prepared. I will tell you all something when I first decided to have him tested last May was because I was getting my son around for school and Brady had come down stairs and there dad was still asleep after working 13 hours and my son who is now labeled as a runner got out of my house. Thank God that he was picked up by an honest person that took him to the police station. We now have locks on the doors that are up high and we wake up continuously through the night cause we think we hear him walking around. We already had suspisions but this sealed it for us we had to know and I am so thankful we did. I look forward to meeting with all of you. I live in Phila and am looking for parents to start a play group Hi, I'm Amy. I have two sons, Adam, age 6, and Aaron, who just turned 8. Adam was diagnosed with autism in July of 2002. I am in the process of getting Aaron evaluated as well. Aaron struggled mightily in first grade with appropriate peer interaction, keeping focused on task, etc. His school is wonderful and has been more than helpful in trying to help him in the classroom, but I'm realizing he needs more. Adam is high functioning, just a brilliant kid - quicker than me most days! I love him to pieces but he just wears me out. He's sweet and affectionate, and knocks me out with how smart he is. He's also as mischievious as the day is long! He's enrolled in a special Social Communications program in our school district, which he thrives on. Can't say enough about the schools in my district - it's why I moved to where we live. My ex-husband left us in January of 2003 (told me he "deserves to have a life") and invovles himself in the boys' life in the most minimal of ways. He takes them overnight every other Saturday...unless he has something else he wants to do...and that's it. To be honest, I don't really like to let them go, but sometimes I just need a break. And I figure that as long as he makes some effort...Aaron is still at the age where he thinks Dad is the greatest, and I never say a bad word against him (well, at least not to Aaron!). I believe they need the freedom to make up their own minds about their father, and their father's lack of participation in their lives. I have siblings and parents nearby. They say they're willing to help out, but over time I've learned to ask less and less. My parents just can't keep up with them, and there are other issues with siblings that lead me to hold off until I really need them. So I really feel like I'm doing this alone. So, finding these forums is a blessing for me! I am burnt out. I suffer from depression as well, and some days it's hard enough for me to get my own head together, much less coordinate everything I need to do to keep our lives going with as few bumps and bruises as possible. Right now I'm in the process of pulling myself out of a major funk, and I'm trying to re-establish a lot of positive energy in our household. I hope to gather a lot of inspiration here. If you've managed to read through alllllll of this, thanks for "listening"!
Hi My name is Maria. I Have four boys Isaiah 2yrs who has PDD/Autism. He doesn't speak any words but makes some sounds. He receives therapy for speech and OT. His gross motor skills are fine...So They Say. Elliot 3yrs who has Developmental delays and ADHD. Elliot receives speech therapy 2x a week. Both Elliot and Isaiah see therapist and also see a Developmental Doctor and a Neurologist. Now there is Joe 9yrs ,he is an ESE student for reading and writing. Joe was speech delayed and has been in speech therapy since he was 3. Then there is my oldest David. David has Tic Disorder ( involuntary movement of the muscles ) it was severe when he was younger and now at age 14 it is so mild that you can hardly notice the tics. How has PDD effected me? I can't even begin to tell you all the test and doctor appointments and running around that I do. It has effected my life in a tremendous way. Communication is where most of the struggle begins. It is when your child can't tell you what they want . It is when you speak to your child and they don't understand the simplest instruction. then the behavior..Oh my Gosh...! My home is like a world war in the evening time Thank You for listening to my little intro.... I'm just so glad I found somewhere that I'm not alone and can be understood
Maria
WELCOME TO ALL OF YOU THAT ARE NEW TO THE BOARD!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS A GREAT PLACE FOR ADVICE AND JUST EXPRESSING YOURSELF. YOU ARE NOT ALONE , YOU CAN ALWAYS COME HERE TO TALK. GOOD LUCK Hi Everyone! My name is Maureen and I have four children. My oldest child ( a son age 10) has Asperger's and our next oldest, a daughter, age 8 has autism. Both were diagnosed between ages 2-3 but it's only now, as they get older and life seems to become more challenging that I am finding myself feeling isolated and confused. Kevin ( our son) engages in self stimming and claps with string. He's also obsessed with various things at various stages. He currently is in a regular 4th grade classroom for about 4 hours a day, special ed 3 hours a day. His behavior is pretty volatile- he's picked up some choice words at school and uses them with us and almost seems constantly angry- although physical agression is rare. He also has pretty severe sleep issues- sleeps MAYBE 4-5 hours a night. He's easily frightened and almost seems manic at times. Katie is our daughter with autism. My main concern with Katie is behavior as well but echolalia is also a major concern. She seems to engage in it mostly at home- at school it's not near as much of a concern. I am trying to get the speech therapists to help me figure out what we are doing wrong- but they just want to suggest a talker- and I am not sure that's the answer since she does have the ability to talk- she utters short sentences. Behaviorally, she has trouble at times in new places and the only places she likes to go are fast food restaurants. So as you can see, I am definitely needing support. Ironically, I am going to be graduating in May with my degree in early childhood education- I can assure you that most elementary teachers do not get NEAR enough training when it comes to kids with special needs! I consider myself lucky to have the experience with special needs I do! All of this given, I adore my children and they are the light of my life. I just want to make our lives better. Looking forward to meeting you all!
Hi Disneymom - welcome to the board.....I'm pretty new myself! Congratulations on your upcoming degree! I'm was an education major myself (in music) but I no longer teach, I'm a stay at home mom for now........we certainly could use more teachers with your wisdom and experience in our schools! Disney mom Welcome I am a newbie to this site as well congrats on your degree.I dont know how we manage with the kids and all I too have just 8 more classes until I will have completed a BS in Business and a minor in Finance. My hats
Single parent of 6year with PDD-autism, normal 17year old senior-13 year old 7th grader Hi everybody, My name is Vicky. I have a 5 year old boy with Aspergers. I am very happy to have found this site. I am also studying Teacher Aide and studying Autism. I also have an 8 year old with 'normal' development. Hoping to get some ideas on how everyone else deals with the siblings of PDD kids. Hey, My name is Genna. I'm 17, and my little brother has just recently been diagnosed as Borderline Autistic, and he's 3 years old. I'm his older sister and caretaker, and enjoy spending time with him! I'm doing a project for school on Autism and Asperger's Syndrom as well. I'm glad to have found this place. I hope none of you mind if I use this place as a rescource.
To Genna, I'm glad you are so interested in helping your brother. My middle son, "normal development" found someone in summer school that was Autistic. He tried to play with him and I was so happy. It is great you are taking such a great interest. [QUOTE=Adamsmom]To Genna, I'm glad you are so interested in helping your brother. My middle son, "normal development" found someone in summer school that was Autistic. He tried to play with him and I was so happy. It is great you are taking such a great interest. [/QUOTE]I actually find it quite "theraputic" to work with him. He's so happy, and loves to engage his brain in certain things, He loves having people play with him, and give him affection. Psychology is a major intrest of mine, particularly Special Ed. I wanna do Art Therapy or Art Education w/ Special Ed children when I "grow up." I already volunteer after school at the public school up the street from me. And thank you! XoXo, Genna. Hi Genna, my name is Cheri. I am the mother of a 4 y/o son with Autism, he was diagnosed at 13 months old. I think that is so awesome of you to take on the responsibility of your brother. It is a very hard task and a total lifestyle change that is difficult for adults, for you to be able to do this is a true blessing to your little brother. I am sorry to hear of his diagnosis, but I am glad to see that he has such a great big sister! I will be happy to help you with anything you need. You are wise beyond your years and I know you will be an asset to the Autism community no matter where you are. Good luck in school and I wish you and your brother the best. [QUOTE=Firefly]WELCOME NEW MEMBERS When your ready, please post a quick introduction and explain how autism/pdd affects you. Please check out the links in the newbies thread and feel free to post questions that you may still have in a new thread. We look foward to to getting to know you better! [/QUOTE] Hello! I am new to this site, but have been reading for about an hour! What a lot of great advice and just support. I have a 6 year old with not only ppd, but is legally blind developmentally delayed and has cp. However he is such a joy to me and his older sister. He attends the westren pa school for blind childern,which is an approved private school, and they are wonderful there. he has been attending since he was 3. They are so helpful in many ways. It is so comforting to see other people experiencing the same things as I do. I hope to use this often!!!Hi Disneymom, Congrats on your degree. I"m going to college majoring in Elem. Ed. myself. I have a year and a half to go until I'm finished. I have a 9 yr. old diag. w/PDD and a 14 yr. old who a honors student with no special needs. I"m also a single mom. My hat goes off to you for being such a good mom to your kids and getting your education. Stay blessed, Angela Hi all, My name is Rana (pronounced Renee) I am married to Mike (10 years next month). We have two boys, Matthew 4 who was diagnosed 2 years ago and Jason, who is 10 months old. I stay home with the boys and love it! Of course I have a group of moms who get me out at least once a month. We live in the Kansas City area. Although I am from a farm and thought I would never live in a "big city". The only thing I miss is the stars! Ya just can't see them in town! Hello, I'm a new member. I'm a mom of twin boys who have autism.I hope to reply more often. I'm so glad that we have this forum to discuss many issues. Hello, I am a new member & very glad to have found this site. I have a daughter with suspected aspergers. I hope I am finally in the right place........... Hi , My name is john My son Nicholas is a happy 4 year old diagnosed with PDD and social integration.Happy I found this site Hi I am new to this site, and am searching for information. My 7 year old daughter has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS. Her main area of difficulty is in social skills/pragmatic speech issues. I'm having a hard time finding support out there (in person or on the Net) for parents with PDD. I just might have found the right place here! Hi! My name is Christie and my 4 year old son was diagnosed in August 2005 with PDD-NOS. He is extremely bright and his communication skills have improved tremendously over the past year. He is thriving in his new school (we moved to a new town this summer), but there are daily issues to deal with such as sleep difficulties, stimming in the form of Spiderman hand gestures, hyper-activity, difficulty in large crowds, etc. I am so happy to have found this site! Hello Everyone, Mu daughter was born three months early at 2lbs 2oz. As many of you know, it was a traumatic beginning. We were really lucky in that she did not appear to come out of it with any brain damage. I knew as soon as she came homne that something was wrong. She did not look at me like other babies, and I had trouble bonding with her. She did not want to be held to bottle feed and so we had to prop her bottles. She had physical issues related to being a preemie, but the most striking thing to me was how difficult it was to bond with my own child. I was lucky because I had an OT from the very beginning who believed me when I told her that something was wrong. She and I assumed Liana was autistic and worked with her on that assumption. She did really well, but was still having trouble at 18 months. She did not speak at all. We had her officially diagnosed with PDD. And she began intensive speech therapy. She has two remarkable gifts. She sings completely on key. This may not seem like a big deal, but anyone who does music knows that for a child to sing on key from the beginning is amazing. She also can read at 2 years old. When she learns a new word to say, she can also read the word. I mean words like "elephant" and "monkey". It is amazing. she still does not USE the words, but it is astounding none the less. This is her story and I hope to find some support here. Thank you for welcoming us Hello, I'm InmyPJs. I have been lurking here for a couple of days now. I am a recent 'transfer' from the adhd site, very similar to this one. I'm almost positive adhd is not the core of my daughter's issues. BUT I'm not positive she has PDD or autism, either. There's just something different, not balanced about her. She might be NT, possibly just "gifted" (I hate that term, it feels snobby I also have a nephew who is definitly somewhere on the spectrum. He and my girl were very similar until about age 2 1/2. They areclose in age. We have only recently wondered if she has issues. The two children are now so different (he has global DDs, his sibs have random DDs,- most have ourgrown) that we overlooked her possible issues. My name is Sara and I have a 2 yo DD that was just diagnosed a couple of weeks ago with autism. I also have a normally developing 4 yo boy and 8 month old boy (now, of course, I just finished reading "Let me hear your voice" and am hyper-watching my 8 mo). When did I notice....well, retrospectively, there was problems from birth- she was "too good"- too easily comforted, almost never cried, etc. After my first, I thought I had just got lucky! But when she turned 11 months she became a terror- constant temper tantrums, screaming, sleep issues, etc. She didn't walk until she was 16 months (she has ataxia issues) and her ped wanted to have her evaluated at 18 months for speech issues. I said no- I was treating her temper tantrums as a discipline issue (everyone told me I just needed to continue being "firm" and "consistant" I'm still in the Hello, hello. My name is Jess, I live in Minnesota with my husband and our son. He's 3-1/2 years old and was diagnosed PDD-NOS two weeks after I found out I was pregnant with my second child. (This past March 2005.) Life has been a strange (and sometimes horrifying) rollercoaster since then. My son attends a regular daycare center, although he is still in with the 1 & 2 year olds because he is not potty trained. And he started his Specail Ed Preschool last Wednesday. As I approach my due date...ever...so...slowly
Hi all, I have been reading the chat pages for a while now for my own sanity! I decided to register today. My name is Lisa I have two gorgeous sons. Mason is five and we are in the process of trying to get him diagnosed, we feel possibly with aspergers although maybe PDD-NOS. This site has been a great help for me especially when I feel I don't know which way to turn. Mason has shown autistic tendancies since around the age of two. His dad has said all along that he seems to be autistic but it has taken a long time for me to get my head round it and accept. Currently he has an obsession with electrical wires but we have had vacuum cleaner, lawnmowers, diggers and even the bible! I also have Regan who is two and although I am worried about his lack of speech and occassional lack of eye contact I am trying to hang on to the possibility that he will not have an autistic specrum disorder too. Only time will tell. Thanks for letting me waffle on and I look forward to getting to know some of you through the problems we all seem to share. Lisa Lisa, I am like you and have been reading this forum for some time before joining/posting. I am not sure what Kylie's diagnosis is because it is all so confusing to me. I want to just trust the doctors, but I have different opinions coming from different doctors. The original diagnosis was severe ADHD and developmental speech problems. Kylie is nearly 2 years behind in speech development. Hubby and I agree with that diagnosis. However, Ritalin and Adderall have both been tried and there are still issues with temper. She just began receiving ST. We were referred to a child psychiatrist for medication management who feels that Kylie is really autistic in addition to ADHD. We are not sure that she is autistic. She was evaluated over several visits with child specialists including neurologists and developmental pediatricians. We all agreed with the diagnosis, but now this doctor who has only seen her once for less than an hour wants to say she is autistic and place her on Resperdone. Hubby and I are not comfortable with that diagnosis. We are not sure that her socialization problems and anger are not stemming from the ADHD and speech issues. For instance, ADHD children have "lock in" and "lock out" behavior. How do we know that her blank stare is autistic or ADHD locking behavior? We haven't given ST enough time to see if it would help since she just started a month ago--and loves it by the way! I just don't have any easy answers, and I was hoping that someone here could help me distinguish between them. I am not opposed to medications or a diagnosis of autism if it is accurate. It is just that I am not so sure that is accurate from all that I have read. I just want to do what is right for Kylie, who is a beautiful 4 1/2 year old green-eyed doll. I don't want to rush to a decision and my mind is going a mile a minute. We need help now for her, but I just wonder if she was receiving the right medication for ADHD or the proper dose. The last medication was 15 mg Ritalin. It seemed to really help except some days in the evenings or after being out all day, she would have a meltdown. Her regular pediatrician explained to me that ADHD kids often have a hard time with stimuli and get overloaded very easily. So, although I do see some autistic tendencies, I am not sure where that line is between ADHD with speech problems and autistic, so I decided to ask the real experts! Sorry for going on and on....but I would really appreciate your advice! Leslie, I am no expert but I know my child. I personally have known things were not right since Mason was two. I didn't put all the little bits together until recently and then I understood what we had been going through for at least 3 years. I could not accept any thought what so ever that my child could be autistic. I had never heard of Aspergers until a few months ago and when I read what a child with it was like I felt I was reading about Mason. To me it was finally confirmation of something even though we have no diagnosis as yet. Mason has meltdowns but generally his are brought on by a change in routine that he can not accept or if he is in a large crowd of people. Mason is secure in his own environment but take his routine away and do we know about it. He has obsessions and has had since he was two. Not just interests but serious obsessions. He has some sort of auditory problem although I have been battleing to get this reconised for two years. He can not understand a sentence when you either talk to him outside where there is background noise or if you speak to him out the blue. I then have to repeat myself two sometimes three times. Mason has communication problems, he struggles to start a conversation with children his age and play. parties are a nightmare. He lays down the rules when he has a friend over and he never keeps friends for long as a result of his not letting anyone near his things. I know Mason has a problem and only you can really know your own child. If you feel Kylie is not autistic you need to challenge it. Have you read the criteria for autistic diagnosis? Does Kylie appear to match the criteria? Good luck with Kylie and let me know how you get on. Lisa Hi My name is Jane. I just joined yesterday. I was actually looking for a school for my daughter to go to when I stumbled upon this. Things have not been going well with my daughter's school. And there is no where that she can go. Services are very limited here and you have to fight for it. My daughter is 9 now. She was not diagnosed until she was almost 6. I knew something was wrong with her at birth but the pediatrician kept telling us that she was just developmentally delayed...what ever that means. She also has mild celebral palsy. Before she was diagnosed we did the Doman Delgado program out of Pennsylvania for 2 years. It was one of the hardest thing that we have ever done but we did not know what was wrong with her then. So we were willing to do anything and believe anyone that told us that that was the answer. We started on ABA right away after her diagnosis and it was the best thing we have ever done for her. I am still strugglling now. Seems like it is a constant battle. If not with the school, it is with the insurance company. Jane
Sara, I am interested to find out what you have found out about homeschooling because I am thinking of doing the same for my daughter. Only problem is the social issues. There is no school for kids with autism in Kansas. It would be so nice if all the aprents could come together and open one up because it is needed so badly over here, I am so glad that I found this site. since I have even been thinking about a chance of my son being on the Autistic Spectrum, I have been searching for as much data as possible. finding this site with first hand experiences and people offering support for complete strangers is so incredibly humbling. I can only hope that I am lucky enough to connect with all of you out there. My is 20 months and was recently (2 weeks ago) diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Leading up to his evaluation I new in my heart that he would be diagnosed but the actual moment of hearing it has shattered my world and turned it upside down. I have 2 other kids as well. I am still not adjusted to this diagnosis and have my moments of selfish breakdown, but I am ready to fight for him and get him the very best no matter what. I just don't know what I need to be doing to get it. He has a twin sister who is healthy (although somewhat developmentally delayed but gaining quickly). They were born at 29 weeks weighed 2 1/2 pounds. He struggled for life for several days but he is a fighter and has really beaten all the odds. He is just amazing to me! He had severe reflux as a baby for over 12 months and was in the hospital 8 1/2 weeks after birth before coming home (his twin sister as well). He was hospitalized for RSV and bronchiolits for a week last winter and spent the remainder of the winter on a nebulizer and in and out of the hosptial for close calls for breathing. With all this craziness aside, he is so happy, content, adorable, and just my little man. God do I love that boy. He was diagnosed about 2 weeks ago and I have been pretty much in a fog since. He has already been receiving EI services since about 10 weeks old. We have been on weekly visits with an OT and developmental specialist (speech as well) for about 3 months and since we have bumped up to weekly visists and 2 providers per visit (one per twin) I have noticed a difference in his eye contact. I am waiting for the day he responds to his name...I know that day will come! We start intensive sessions next weeks at 6 additional hours + existing the EI visits per week. He wil start out with the 'floor time' approach as I think ABA and anything too structure would not work well for him at this point as he can get easily over stimulated and anxious. I work part time in/out of the house and very concerned how we will balance this as the hours of service will only increase. I need to do what is best for him and are considering moving if we have to if the school system is not up to par. I know I am jumping WAY ahead but I am thinking of when he turns 3 and no longer qualifies for EI or these additional services and want to be sure I am getting him teh best school services as possible. I am so glad I have found this site. Thank you for reading my posting.
n I am Mary. My daughter is almost 4, born Oct 27th 2001. She dosen't have a working thyroid. That was discovered after she was born and replacement therapy began 2wks later. She was dx in Sept 2004 (last year) as having PDD-NOS, borderline autism, w/greatest delay in speech and gross motor. She was a good, quite baby for the most part. I noticed how intense she was early on. SHe also freaked out when we drove over hilly roads. SHe was only about 8 or 9 months old when I first started to wonder. SHe wasn't crawling yet and she played w/the same thing for hours...sometimes to get her to stop I would have to pick her up and move her to something else. SHe didn't start walking until 16 mos old but never learned to climb or jump or run until a year ago. By 2 she was lining things up and her vocabulary stalled out. SHe was saying about 10 words at that time. By the time she was turning 3 we had her evaluated. She could talk a little but mostly repeated the same words over and over, all day. SHe seems like a typical preschooler in many ways and it can fool even me still. She can draw at a 5 yr old level, work puzzles at a 5 yr old level. BUt she is at a 2 to 3 year old level with speech and struggles to skip and hop. She stims by rubbing things...our face (started about 4mos old) and fingernails. She is very imaginitive. When her foot fell a sleep she wanted me to open her toe and get the bees out. On the bad days, she cries over every thing, has a harder time w/focusing and looks off into space. Her speech gets very abstract and she dosen't want to leave the house or cooperate out in public. So it is on the spectrum I suppose....and each chid being unique in their own ways. Anna is awsome in her disability and finds ability dispite the struggles to comprehend the world around her. It is that determination she has that keeps us hopeful. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=speechy]Hello all..my name is Katie, and I am a speech therapist...brand new. I just started a new job working with 20 children with Autism...ages 5-18. I have an additional 10 with assorted other disabilities. I have fallen in love with all my kids...but i am here to get advice and support from others effected by Autism. I want nothing more than to form good relationships with the parents and help these children the best I can. There are many parents on my caseload that have been SO unhappy with the past SLP's tehy have had for their child...and I want to avoid this as much as possible. I am here to help THEIR child. I know that there are some professionals that do not consider the parents enough. I dont want to be this way! I feel like I will learn more by getting to know other parents (and professionals). I feel all of your advice will be SO valuable...so anything will help. I started a thread called "speech therapy" if you get a chance to visit and comment...or even ask me questions...it would be great! I may be able to answer some of your questions or concerns... Good luck to all of you in your everyday battles! I have read some of the threads...you are all amazing people! Katie "speechy" [/QUOTE]I have a 5 year old with a form of autism Pdd nos) she has the tense too bite herself alot or she constantly through tantrums when she doesn't get her away She has be having trouble going poop on the toilet but she can go seat on the toilet go pee in there.She also whinnes alot too. Hi Im Sarah and it sounds like my yougest son, Samuel, has Autism, although hasnt been officially diagnosed, probaly because hes only 17 months old and paediatrican is 'observing' him, she is running blood tests and urine tests, but seems reluctant to diagnose it. I havent pushed, as if you push here, they tend to back off and not listen to you after that. Sam has a lot of autistic qualitys and my nephew is Autistic. The paediatrician said a lot of children have delays and never find out what causes it, and wouldnt change how we treat him ie. physios etc. I do agree, it wouldnt change how i feel about him, i'd still love him, but i'd like some answers to see if it Autism like I suspect.  . Would you stick with this paediatrician? Would you ask for second opinion??? I just dont know, HELP!!!!!!!
Hello All, My name is Denise but my friends call me Nise so please do the same. Will try not to make this into a novel LOL. My oldest AJ has Spina Bifida & Hydrocephalus for which he has a shunt placed. He is a very bright boy, can tell you why leaves are green b/c of choloraphil (SP) why we dont float all around, gravity etc... He has not been diagnosed w/ Autism or any form of it. The has however been recently diagnosed w/ ADHD. Long story short AJ is now 5 as of Aug. 31, and began kindergarden on the 6th of Sept. AJ was a very late talker, dont remember exactly at what age prob. at approx. 20 months or so. When he was a toddler, he would rip handfulls of his beautiful blonde locks out. Once his speech ther. taught us all signs he stopped doing it. He was a very picky eater, still is. If we try to get him to try something new, he'll gag. He was on adderall XR, and he was have tics, being aggressive and would have meltdowns. I did some research & saw that it was prob. the meds, took him off it & started him on concerta, the tics have not come back but he's still having meltdowns, being aggressive when not getting his way....sometimes he'll punch himself or headbutt things. He'll have tantrums, meltdowns are a better description ... he'll cry, scream, get angry and basically throw a fit. Theres no reasoning w/ him while he's having a tantrum. He will get obessed about somethings & thats all we will hear about. The latest thing he's obessed about is balloons .. I HATE BALLOONS! We had a not fun experience at the mall today b/c of balloons. I hate the way people stare! I know there is more but thats all I can think of at the moment. He has an appt w/ a new dr. on Oct. 7th for his ADHD & plan on mentioning autism and will she what she says. ~Nise Hi Sarah, I noticed you were from the UK so thought i'd reply. I agree with you that it seems the more you try to find out the harder it is. I am battling to get my five year old son diagnosed I am sure he has ASD. I have approached the health visitors time and again since he was two regarding obsessions, behaviour and memory/auditory problems not to mention the constipation episodes. No one put two and two together and although my husband has been saying since Mason was two that he was showing signs of autism I was reluctant to agree, I felt guilty for thinking that. I now can see the difference between him and other children. He totally ignores them on the way to school and it breaks my heart to think they will stop acknowledging him because of his strange ways. We have now been referred to a Communication Assessment disorder clinic which diagnoses Autistic disorders. It is a very long slow road. I have another son who is two. Already I feel worried we may be going down the same road and feel guilty for thinking it. Several weeks ago he stopped making eye contact with us but luckily it has returned. His speach is just starting but he has strange ways about him at times and I think maybe he is just a normal two year old. Only you can know your child. If you really believe he is autistic get a second opinion (if you can ,i know how difficult this is). Also I can understand the reluctance to diagnose because he is so young. Go with your heart. Hope this helps a little HI NEW TO THE BOARD VERY HAPPY TO SEE AND HEAR FROM REAL PEOPLEHi, I'm a mother of a son who was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome at the age of 22. We spent many years trying to diagnose him. We are still dealing with the realities of it. I have never met anyone with an older child with this syndrome and would like to communicate with them. I am also willing to talk to parents with younger children with this syndrome and maybe share some experiences. hello. my name is stacy. this is the first time ive ever done anything like this.this site looks like something i need in my life right now. my son brock will be 2 in oct. he has not been officially diagnosed yet but our ped and our area ed agency have told us we are probably looking pdd-nos. there are days he seems like a typical toddler and i tell myself that he is fine and he is just behind and will catch up soon. then there are days i look at him and i feel such a heaviness in my heart because deep down i know he is not whole. when will i be able to say the word autistic out loud without tearing up? will i ever give up this terrible feeling of anger at God for doing this to my child,to my family,to me?i have always been a pretty optimistic person and i have relied heavily on my faith to carry me thru many hard times. i have always believed everything happens for a reason and there is a great plan for all of us.ive looked at many sites and read the wonderfully positive comments from experienced mothers mentioning how special we must be to be chosen to care for these precious children.when will i feel that way? i feel exhausted,angry,devestated,cheated,embarrassed,and very far away from special. i love my son so much and will do anything to help him but the journey looks so far and hard and i dont know where we will end up at.i know from reading many of these posts im not alone on this journey.i am glad to be in good company.
Hello everyone. I just found this site, havent lurked around too much, but am way too excited. I have been searching for a discussion board for quite awhile so i am happy to finally have found a place. I have 3 children. They are 7, 4, and 21 months. My 4 year old, conner, was just recently diagnosed with autism(only took 2 years ). He has the typical problems of autistic kids=speech, fine motor skills, behavioral, and also had failure to thrive as a baby which has resulted in muscle problems. Tomorrow we are getting him tested for Fragile-X. He is on some medications, but i am starting to think i said yes to medicine before thinking it through so am now debating whether or not to continue them. Hopefully tomorrow will give me a chance to cruise around here and read some posts. Its midnight and i should be in bed, but I just wanted to introduce myself Hello everyone. I am Sabrina, I have 3 young children, and I am not sure if I belong here or not Hi everyone - I´ve been reading your posts for a couple of weeks now and have become totally absorbed........... I have two beautiful sons - one who is 5 and has ´normal´development and one who is 2.5 and we still haven´t figured out exactly what´s not going right with him. According to my ´research´ I think he has PDD. He is completely non-verbal and non-communicative - he does that ´pulling thing´whenever he wants something. But on the other hand, he is completely unfazed by different situations or people, smiles and laughs a lot........ I´m thrilled that I´ve found these message boards as I am currently in Brazil and feel pretty confused and lonesome. My little boy has just gone for a hearing test so we´ll see what happens with that! I hope I´m going to be able to offer the same kind of support and friendship that you are all so obviously good at giving.
HELLO EVERYONE!
WELL, I DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN, OR START, SINCE I HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO TYPE/TALK TO MUCH, BUT I GUESS I WILL GIVE YOU A BREAK, SINCE I JUST POSTED A HELP!!! REQUEST ON BOARD, JUST SHORTLY AFTER I BECAME A MEMBER TO THIS SITE!!! ANY WHO, I AM A WIFE AND MOTHER OF 4 CHILDREN, WHICH INCLUDES MY FOSTER DAUGHTER ASISHA AND MY NEAR-4 YEAR OLD AUTISTIC/ADHD DAUGHTER, JENSYN, WHO WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM, AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 20 MONTHS, AFTER SEVERAL EVALUATIONS MY SPECIALISTS, IN WHICH I INITIATED DUE TO MY CONCERN OF HER REGRESSED DEVELOPMENT AND AN "ELIMINATION" OF VERBAL LANGUAGE, HOWEVER EVEN THOUGH AT THIS PRESENT TIME SHE STILL DEPENDS ON NONVERBAL LANGUAGE, SHE IS ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH NUMEROUS SINGLE WORDS. SHE STILL EXHIBITS NOT ONLY HER DANGEROUS ATTEMPTS TO ELOPE FROM OUR HOME AND CONTINUES TO DEMONSTRATE ODD BEHAVIORS AND SUSTAINED PLAY, SHE IS STILL VERY VERY INTELLIGENT, ACTUALLY TO MUCH FOR HER OWN GOOD!!! OH BY THE WAY, I LIVE IN KEWANEE, IL AND I AM JUST SHY FROM BEING 34 YEARS OLD AND MY HUSBAND IS 43 YEARS OLD, WHICH HE HAS BEEN "LUCKY" TO HAVE ME AS HIS WIFE FOR ALMOST 12 YEARS!! I DO NOT KNOW HOW WE HAVE GOT THIS FAR WITH ALL THE MOUNTAINS WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED!! ANYWAY, ENOUGH ABOUT ME, I CANT WAY TO BE GRANTED NOT ONLY AN ADDITIONAL SUPPORT SYSTEM, BUT NEW AND HOPEFULLY LONG-LASTING FRIENDSHIPS!! FEEL FREE TO TYPE ME A POST ANYTIME... I WILL LOOK FORWARD TO IT... OK....HI...I found you guys. Please bombard me with information while I still have a tiny bit of patience left. I have a 8 year old with PDD-NOS. I have a very silent parent for a LONG time cause I have been counting my blessings that he is high functioning. I am at the point now of either finding some kind of.....something....or I amgoing to go crazy. He is on Dexedrine and Strattera for hyperactivity but that's it. No special diets, no intervention for behavior or social upsets. I had him going to a phycologist but that got to the point of me giving HIM more information to pass on to other patients then help he could offer me so I stopped going. Sorry to start here and dump on ya...but I'm sure you understand where other people don't. Hello everyone, I just found this site today and boy am I glad. We feel like we are all alone in this journey we are on. My daughter has a four and a half year old son that we have been has autisim and we have been told he is PDDNOS no one has give us a sure answer. We are having a hard time getting help for him. I am hoping this site will help us deal with this. Thanks, Ann Hello everyone.......I have a son who was DX moderate Autism Oct1st.2004 he will be 4 Oct 17th.......he is non-verbal and has severe food issues, on the + side, he is very snuggly, loves to curl up with me and watch his DVDs, has good eye contact, sleeps like 10hrs every night, has never had a tantrum, hardly ever cries, loves to go shopping with me :) After reading alot of these posts, I really feel very fortunate. We don't go out much because he is a runner, no danger sense, and you always have to have a death grip on him, so sometimes it is easier to stay home, but now I don't feel so sorry for myself about not having a life outside of Autism. I now know that I could have it so much worse. My heart goes out to all the families on here who truly struggle with meds, aggression, sleepless nights. My hat goes off to you all. Keep smiling......JessicaHi--i'm gwen. i found and posted at this site at the end of august, but never introduced myself--i have two boys--my twelve-year old is diagnosed with high functioning autism, my 9 year old was diagnosed pdd when he was 3 1/2. they are total opposites in everything except that they both tend to perseverateon things. both had gastro-intestinal issues when they were younger--one with constant diarrhea, the other constant constipation. my eldest was developing typically until he was about 13 months, my youngest was about 2 1/2 when he regressed. my eldest has difficulty with language, both understanding others and finding a way to express himself in words; my youngest never STOPS talking. they are both interested and want to hang out with other kids--my youngest does much more easily, and has a group of friends--my 12 year old has a really hard time doing this because of the communication barrier. They are both very active, intelligent, and funny--my very verbal nine year old actually has a harder time with jokes than my 12 year old. Both boys have been on various meds to help with behaviors, but we removed the medications about 5 years ago and have used vitamins and diet (we has already removed gluten/casien from their diets by the time we went off medication). They both responded very well to these changes and we see a dramatic negative change if they get anything they are allergic/sensitive to now.In addition, my brother was diagnosed with autism when we were young, and i have add/ocd. thank you so much to all of you for your help and comments when i posted the first time...it's nice to meet you all. new here introduced self in post on tantrums, went overbaord like always, always have, 3 kids, he took what husband and I have and got all our worst traits, adhd, add, ocd etc, he is smart, different, 23, college, caring, distant, in his own world, most of time, doesnt care what others think as much as we do, he will make it. it will just take more years to get to same point as other kids are at already, as he got older differences in maturity more pronounced. all 3 have some problems his were only one that caused social problems and is most noticable to others. his meds caused lots of stim behavior, didnt even know that word till 2 yrs ago, of it in high schoool, he didnt like it and ppromised to get work done without it, was hard, perfect tests, no homework, failing class, would get on him to get enough done to pass class, schools dont get it, lawyers, dont get it and, no one for help with adults, never even got referrels for help when younger dignosis at 12, had been to therapist, etc since 2 to find what was different, in speech since 3 EI school program in Ill is great but even they did not see PDD-autism just speech help, when diagnosed had gone thru years of stuff with schoold and phychs, counselors etc, what bulll, they did try, wish I had had interenet 21 years ago, still struggling to get age appropriate help, I am best advocate, as you are for yours, others just dont see what they need, if they dont fit in mold, dont know what to do, for school grad exam they wanted him to do it as practice, i said have you looked at his exams,NO, he passed 98% like always in top 90% or more, and these teachers had him for 3 years after diagnosis, just did not pass on info each year, IEP are generic, one fits all kids so next year they staart all ove and expect autistic retarded son and got him, so help;was never quite what he needed, got more from us at home. still struggling with, hygeine, packrat, he has given up some stuff, he does change underwear more often, thing at 2 you dont think of, baths, routines, etc may you all have more help then i have ever gotten. thank venting now have to go hello My name is viviann. I need help. I am very confused and frustuated. My son is 10 years old and for the past 5 years his school diagnosed him with autism. He is high functioning autistic and is in general ed classes and gets pulled out for RSP. He use to get speech. They said he doesn't need it anymore but i believe he does so we are having another iep meeting. He is also in the Harbor Regional Program which is doing a re-evaluation. The H.R. doctor is in the middle of his assesment. He has met with my son and spent about 1 hour with him and from that meeting he believses that my son has a learning disability not autism. He is going to my son's school to speak to his teachers and then he will be able to make a complete assesment. I feel he needs a formal assesment with someone that specializes and is more informed and hands on. Someone who has spent a lot of time with childrens like him. I am not comfortable and satisfied with the qualifications of the people that are assessing him. Please someone advice me on where to find adequate help. Resources? Tutoring for kids with learning disabilities? I live in California in the LA county. Thank You for listening. Please advice. Emotionally tired and physicly tired just had a baby. Need to get help for my boy.help Hi everyone. my name is Shnnon and I am the mom of Shane (5), Seth (2) and Shella Rose (3months). My five year old has Asperger;s syndrome. His greatest delays are fine motor and social skills. He is very, very smary but socially inept. I joined this message board to see if i could find some ideas to help him improve socially. We live in Pa so theservices he receives are outstanding. he has wrap- around services. he has 20 hours of Theraoeutic Staff Support in the school and an aide for weekend outings to help him in social situations. Also he gets OT, PT, Sensory Integration Therapy and speech. A big problem we have is him becoming overstimulated at the end of the day. We are getting him a weighted blanket...any experience with these? his OT recommended one. Any comments help. ThanksHello new friends,My 3 year old son was just diagnoses high funct autistic with pdd nos. We are still in the intake phase when far northern gets my sons report I expect we will have our first IEP meeting. My son desperatly needs behavior mod and we are already doing speech therapy. If anyone has any helpful advice for me on how I might be able to start our own behavior mod at home for my son I would really appreciate it. Thanks for listening it really helps, espically when I feel so overwelmed at times. Colleen I just realized I hadn't properly introduced myself before posting my whining complaints. My name is Terri, I have been married for almost 15 years. I have three children. My son Paul is 14 and has ADHD. My daughter Mikayla is 11 and has had the blessing of being born close to perfect in every way. She is just a joy. My youngest Giana is 9 and has PDD-NOS. They also suspect she has OCD. I myself have OCD. My husband has CM (clueless Man).And we all live together in this alphabet soup of a home. I know some of you will know what I am talking about when I say what a mystery it is that sometimes the things that make you cry yourself to sleep later become the things that make you laugh yourself silly. Having one child with PDD who doesn't know the meaning of hurry up and another who is bouncing off the walls makes for interesting outings. We are never on time for dinner at grandma's. Then next to me is my Mikayla just shaking her head mumbling what a nut house we live in. I try to talk to her often about how much her patience is appreciated and although I know it is hard for her it isn't likely to change anytime soon. She makes me be silly, she makes me laugh...mostly at myself. Giana is recently diagnosed with PDD. Before this we knew she was "odd" and I had my suspicions of her being autistic. I really could not get any of the so called experts to listen to me. She had a neuropsych in June and this is the diagnosis they came up with. I think that it took so long because she also has a low IQ and significant language delays. She has Restrictive Lung Disease and hypotonia (low muscle tone). It has been a matter of putting the pieces together and figuring her out. As some of you probably have experienced, I am not getting any support fromt her school. I am taking it one day at a time, some days one hour at a time. I am thrilled to have found this place as an outlet and to share some of the tips I have found useful when dealing with docs and schools. Hello - My name is Amber and I am a proud and blessed parent of an 8 year old high functioning autistic/pdd-nos daughter. I look forward to chatting and getting to know all of you. I have been looking for a place to chat with others that are experiencing the same things that I am going through. Amber Hi, my name is Mary Jane and I have a 5 year old autistic daughter. SHe has been doing well so far till the end of the summer. All of a sudden she developed self-injurious behavior. She has total meltdowns at least 4 to 5 times a week sometimes twice daily. She will pinch herself to the point of leaving a mark. SHe is in a pdd-autistic class in our town, with one to one aide, teacher and a behaviorist in the class. I consider us lucky, we also get 10 hours of home ABA therapy after school which is provided by the school district. all her OT<PT and ST are covered in school too. ALl these give us enough leeway to get social skills program for her on the weekend and other appropriate activities without strapping our budget. We just got back from her pediatrician to get an opinion regarding her pinching. We were told that she might have to be medicated. Is there anybody out there that has similar problem and was this answered by medication? I am a Registered Nurse and medicating my daughter to calm her down seems so drastic to me. I will appreciate any suggestion you guys might have.  Hi Mary Jane, My son has Aspergers and we al;so experienced some brief periods of self injurious behaviors. Of course my son's pediatrician wanted to medicate him for anxiety. As a teacher I see many children throughout the year that start the year un medicated and for whatever reason end up medicated by mid year. thjere are legitimate reasons a child should be medicated. We chose not to go that route. I noticed you said this behavior just started. at summers end. You also said your daughter is five and is in school. Often it is the stressful times that my son regresses to this level. Starting school, a vacation, holiday guest. Basically and change to his strict self imposed routine. Have you considered she is having trouble adjusting to school. Is it the end of the day when yu are seeing this more? That is how it is with my son. We find he becomes self stimulated and lets it out by becoming self injurious or agressive towards other people. My feelings are if you medicate a child to calm her down she may never learn the self calming tools needed to live a productive life in the future. I see way too many children medicine dependent. Also you then have the side effects of the medication and often you are left wondering what is her PDD-autism and what is the medication. I am not saying medicine is not your answer of course because I don't know your child's history and I am most definetly not a physician. Some of the tools we use are massage, warm baths, calming music and just recently a weighted blanket. My son used these in OT and has a lap pad at school and after seeing the results we didn't hesitate to get him one for home. This is his second night using it. Tonite he went right to sleep, no bouncing up and down for an hour and no slamming his legs against the mattress. The pressure of the blanket apparently calmed him. We also kept his hands very busy whenhe regressed, lots of smashing pay do..etc. i hope this helps. I get so overwhelmed at times too. I have a 2.5 year old and a new baby so dealing with my littls guy and then my babies exhaust me! Hi, everyone. My name is Tracy and I am the mom to 3 children..Hannah (10), Chandler (7), and Dustin(6). Chandler is my child who has autism, is mildly mentally retarded and also has that ADHD diagnosis. At 20 or so months, my youngest son's First Steps therapists noticed something different about Chandler, but you couldn't tell me that. By 3, I knew something was wrong and he qualified for preschool under DD and proceeded to tear up the preschool room. Finally, when he was 4, we got the PDD-NOS label, although he clearly fit the Autism criteria. His developmental ped was hoping that through therapy, etc. he would outgrow most of the behaviors as he was and is very verbal (spoken wise--his major delays are receptive language and understanding abstract speech, although he also does test as being delayed under articulation). Needless to say, that didn't happen and we recieved the autism label this past year. How autism affects our lives is a question that I can't answer? How doesn't it? EVerything is rethought for Chandler. It sure has made a lasting impact on each one of us...from getting divorced, getting remarried, not being able to work right now so that I can take Chandler to therapy 2x a week...basically still having to think of my 7 year old as a typical 3 year old. Learning the best way to communicate with him...gastro issues...you all know the drill... I do look forward to meeting you all. I live in Kentucky and will be graduating in December with my degree in Early Childhood Education. Still don't have a clue what I am going to do with that, since I have to work the hours my children are in school. There just isn't any after school care for Chan. Thanks Shannon for your reply. We have tried the weighted blanket. She slept thorugh the night for a few days. Now she's back again to sleepign for 4 hours, waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning and she goes through the day without napping. I think it was all the downtime she had during the summer that made her go off the loop. The doctor is going to call me today about the medication. I want to know what it is and I will hold off on it, I want to see if she changes as school progresses. It is overwheming. I find myself crying when I get home from dropping her off to school. I feel lost and I don't know sometimes how to help her. WHen she has a meltdown, one would think that she's possessed. It breaks our heart to see her like that. & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; I just stumbled onto this message board one day and it already made me feel a little bit better. It helps to know that there are parents out there who are going through the same thing. THanks again. hi, i'm kim and i'm the mother of 4wonderful kids. kathleen(13) and alex(9) are from my first marriage and are both in the gifted and talented at school. chris (6) and sara(5) are from my 2nd marriage and both have had developmental delays. chris was diagnosed at 2.5 years as having central nervous system dysfunction and receptive language delays. he is now in kindergarten and can read but still has alot of anxiety issues (he actually hand flaps which is why we figured he would be dx as autistic) sara was dx as in the spectrum at age 3. she is quite a handful. sara is in her 3rd year of preschool and the teachers say she does very well and participates. her language has gone from echoliac(?) to actual communication. she can make you laugh very easily. in their case early intervention (first steps in ky) was very helpful in bringing them to where they are today. i need to make an appt for next year to have them reevaluated. i look forward to getting to know all of you
This is a reply to momof2- Have you tried melatonin, a natural sleeping aid? My development pediatrician recommended it for my daughter when he found out that she would stay up all night long, literally. She has been taking this sleeping aid now for 4 years and is finally getting some good sleep and rest which has helped a lot in her schooling. Amber
HI, I am the father of an 18 month old beautiful baby boy who has just been diagnosed with PDD NOS by two separate child neurologists. I am still in shock and don't really know how to deal. I have already reached out to EI and have had several evaluations already. I hope to get him started with ABA and ST ASAP. I have been reading this site for a while with the hope of someone telling me that he will improve with his behavior and that someday he will lead a productive independent life. My wife is a mess and both of us find ourselves evaluating and testing him every time we are with him. Someone please tell me this gets better. I have never been so terrified in all my life. I will keep reading in the hopes that new and positive information will come my way. I tried melatonin amber. It helps her fall asleep but she still wakes up after 5 hours, sometimes less.Maybe I should give her the full 3mg dose. I was cutting it in half before. Thank you for your response.My name is Kim and I have an 8 year old son with ASD/PDD,ADHD. was speech delayed/lang. delayed. He's verbal now, but repeats himself all the time as well as stimming a lot. He is in ESE @ public school, should be in 2nd grade, but is still doing K-5 school work. Some days are good- some not so good for us. He can get aggressive at times out of the blue and I worry about when he gets older (bigger) and how we are going to handle things then... He is currently on 10 mgs Straterra every a.m. (ADHD med.) and we just started Zyrtec(allergy med) @ bedtime to also help him sleep (keeping my fingers crossed) at night! He will stay up untill 12-1 a.m. every night and I know part of his negative behaviors during the day have got to have something to do with lack of a full nights sleep. One good thing is for the past year he will sleep through the night with no night terrors like he used to have and I'm very grateful for that. He used to be into vac. cleaners and lawn mowers~ now it's cooking mixers (we cut the cord so he can't plug it in),pencils, erasers,grippers for the 1,000 pencils we have at home! I am so glad to have found this board and look forward to getting to know you all... Kim
Hi, My name is Heidi, I have 2 boys, Ben (4yrs) with autistic disorder and Jake (almost 6) with PDD-Nos and a "typical" 14year old girl Natalie. I have only spent a short time on this site and have felt validated with the struggles and challenges we all face regardless of where our children sit on the spectrum. Jake who can appear so "normal" is only a second from melting down and having violent behaviors. Socially it is so difficult for him. His anxiety level is at the high and his obsessive need for everything to be lined up in his life is hard to keep track of. Just when I think I've figured things out a little - it changes. Ben has more global delays with the sleep issues described here, feeding problems, loud inappropriate laughing and now some new sound "GEEEE". Both my boys are so lovable and adorable and somehow do connect to each other on some level. I feel the ulitmate responsibility of caring for them and trying to make their life happy and being the constant advocate in the school system. It is overwhleming, sad and rewarding all at the same time. My biggest fear is not having the right set of resources for them. Jake has come along way in the 3 years we have had his dx, but Ben has such slower progress it's hard to know what his capabilities are. Connecting to other parents is really the way I have been able to get more out of the "system" - very sad that it is a challenge to get people to help. I hope to connect here and get to know your story too. Heidi
Hello. My name is Julie and I am a speech-language pathologist. I have an ABA-verbal behavior background. I am very passionate about autism and look forward to possibly opening my own clinic which I envision being an all-around treatment center, tailored to meet the needs of each individual child, with an early intervention emphasis. However, that's far in the future. The bulk of my experience comes from spending countless hours of one on one time with an apraxic, autistic, hyper, wild, bright, manipulative, beautiful little girl! Hi, I'm Kellie. Mom to 3 sons ages 14, 12 and 7. My youngest son Jacob was diagnosed as ADHD/OCD at age 5 and PDD at age 6. My husband refuses to believe there is anything wrong with Jacob and so I am pretty much doing this on my own. Jacob has severe social delays as well as sensory issues. He can not stand to be touched. He is also repetitive to an extreme and often goes into rages set off by just about anything, after which he simply lays down on the floor and goes to sleep. We also have sleep issues. He will sleep for 3 or 4 hours at night and that is it. Academically, when we tested him last year his IQ was off the charts but sadly he can not function in a regular classroom nor can he really be engaged long enough to show how bright he is on a day to day basis. I am hoping to read some of the information in this forum and get some ideas on what else I can do to help my son. He is currently in therapy as well as seeing a psychiatrist 2x a month and a neurologist every 3 months. I have no support here at home so I am looking forward to becoming involved here. Hi, My name is Cheryl (aka Bubbles) I have a beautiful boy who is 8 with autism and a daughter 11 who i intellectually challenged. I came accross this website purely by luck and I would love to chat to parents about their experiences with Autism. My son was not diagnosed until he was 6. We knew there was something different about him but with my daughter having her disability, in a way I thought my son was "normal". I would not have him any other way. With his ever changing idiosychrosies that make him so wonderful. And I will admit most days can make me quite frustrated. I would love to discuss many things about Autism with parents, please. And thankyou for a great site. Regards Cheryl Hi momof2 - I give my daughter 2 pills which I believe is 2mg - I did just 1 pill for a year but then it stopped working. So now she has been on 2 pills for the last 2-3 years and seems to be working good. Amber Hello I am a single mother of three. My oldest is 11 and has aspergers. I know that it is the lowest form of autisim but it has become very challening for him and I. Its so sad to see him go through school with no friends because he can not cope socially with the other children his age. When it comes to school work he does great until he feels like he already has been succesful at it and does not have to do it again. This becomes a big deal for homework. I have seen him solve problems that kids twice his age can't but I have only seen him play with one friend. I do not get help from his dad and have been lost for awhile. I just don't know what to do to help him make friends and feel like the other kids. He is a very beautiful boy. All the girls his age try to get his attention and when he gets to the teenage years I know he will have no problem with dating but who really cares about that when you don't have any friends. I just want some ideas to try. I am all out of answers and its really killing me to see him go through this at his age. Hello alloutofanswers, I wish I could say something to make it better. But I can't, I haven't even gotten as far as you have. My five year old has Asperger's. He is brilliant, his vocabulary is astounding and his math/science/reading skills are far above the average five year old. Yet, as you described, he doens't play. He doesn't know how. He doesn't play with his toys appropriatly. His 'toys' are anything electronic, cords, surge protectors, light switches. He looks at the kids in his class like they are the ones that are unusual. My greatest fear is that in a few years he will be ostracized in school. Right now he is in a small class of 12 and the children all love him because he is very funny. I worry about later on. His Psychologist says that the 3rd and 4th grade are the hardest before jr. high. Do you agree? Thanks!
[QUOTE=Firefly] WELCOME NEW MEMBERS When your ready, please post a quick introduction and explain how autism/pdd affects you. Please check out the links in the newbies thread and feel free to post questions that you may still have in a new thread. We look foward to to getting to know you better! [/QUOTE] Hi. I am a new member. I am greatful to you for your information . My son is nine years old . At his five years old I know that he is an autistic child . In our country we know a little about autism . My son has not any special educatar or training .Please advice me what to do next .Hi, My name is Robyn Ackerman. I have a company in IL. "Child Behavioral Therapy Consulting Services" and we provide all in-home therapies- as well as school consultations. I must say that my business thrives because of the constant input from the parents. This website gives me so much insight as to what parents are going through. thank you. Robyn Ackerman Director/Consultant Child Behavioral Therapy Consulting Services AMber, I spoke to my neuro-developmental doctor and he said I can go as high as 3mg. So far she's been good the past 3 days without it, she slept late at around 11 or so but it's ok aslong as she did on her own. THe problem is she wakes up so early. ANyway, if this is the only major problem we might have right now I'll consider myself lucky. Her pinching has lessen which is a blessing in itself. GOod luck to everyone.Hello Everyone. I am a single mother of a 16-year-old boy who was first diagnosed with ADHD, then with Childhood Schizophrenia, next was PDD-NOS, now the latest is Bi-Polar. I still think he is autistic. That is my official diagnosis as the person who knows him best. He can be a typical teenager as far as looking at girls. My heart breaks when the girls respond to him cruelly. He is extremely intelligent and would like to work for Nintendo some day. My job now is to help him achieve his dreams. I also have a 19-year-old daughter who is the best. She is so great with her brother and very protective. She is my rock. I feel very fortunate to have found this site. The message boards have been of great help, comfort, and information. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES!!! hi i have a 4 yrs old with autism... i was up late searching the net for sleep aids...bet ya'll know why... and came across this forum. i find it informative and comforting, can't wait to get to know some people!Hi. I'm new to the forum and going thru a lot of grief these days. My son Dylan was born in April of 2000. He was such a perfect little boy. He was beautiful. He could hold his head up very early, was eager to try new foods (as soon as he learned to crawl, he would get to your unattended plate before you could!), I have a picture of him in my arms smiling at 4 days old... My husband came home from Iraq to spend three weeks here with us in Georgia. I had moved since the last time he'd been home, and he was helping me unpack the photo albums on his last day here. One of the albums was Dylan's first album. We looked at the pictures together and realized that Dylan was fine until after his first birthday. The boy who spoke and asked for cake, said please and mama by 9 months lost all that. At 13 months he sat slack jawed and drooling, with puffiness under both his eyes. The awareness present in his earlier pictures was gone. My husband and I tried not to cry; we realized that something (probably something we'd done since we were responsible for all of his needs) caused our lovely boy to disappear into the darkness of his own mind. John left last Wednesday to go back to Iraq for another year. I keep looking at Dylan and sadly wondering and hoping that I can do something for him. He is on Ritalin for ADD and he has been diagnosed as "significant developmental delay". He needs Melatonin to help him sleep at night. His school isn't doing what he needs done, and I'm debating leaving nursing school (I have 3 quarters left) to just be wi |
). He doesn't fit into one category as he is very verbal and bright, yet clearly does better with non-verbal tasks. In addition, he is able to identify emotions in himself and in others fairly well. The doctor said he did not meet the criteria for Asperger's because he does better non-verbally than verbally - which I'm not sure I agree with, but I'll wait to see what the report says. He also explained that what I think of as an obsessions with either vacuum cleaners or water fountains is not considered a restricted interest as defined in Asperger's. My son likes playing with vacuum cleaners and pretending that he's playing in a water fountain (usually stimming while doing this), but that kids with Asperger's will TALK about these things for hours - and my son generally will just talk for a minute or two - he'd rather look at them, play with them, try to figure out how it works, etc. He'll ask repetitive questions about them, but not for a long time.
I have always offered him different foods and continue to do so. He used to take his vitamin in the morning, but for some reason he won't anymore. He REALLY loves marshmellows, and sometimes I just hafta snap my two fingers on my thumb and give him a stern NO. It is hard, but he needs to learn. I am doing the best that I know how as I am sure we ALL are. 
. My three youngest are so full of energy that they could make a sane person crazy
. My boys are a handful and then some, but I have no regrets and I am not sad for my life. I don't pity myself. I love my boys with all my heart
.
off to you 
) and 'quirky.' If it weren't for her 'fleeting and forced' eye contact, personal space issues (she invades
. I actually joined to get some insight on how to proceed, so I will post it in its own thread, just wanted to stop and introduce myself first.