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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 with him 24 hours a day. This is killing me. The thought of my boy maybe never being able to drive, have a job, live on his own... it's eating me alive. Personally if I were in that situation I'd rather be dead, so to see him so young and not to have a better prognosis is killing me. He gets ABA. I have to fire one of his therapists tomorrow, because he isn't doing any good for Dylan. It makes my throat hurt to think of the little boy that could have been. I'm so angry at myself. I have to stay strong for my husband and my daughter but damn I just don't understand. The school doesn't want to help me, and all anyone can do when they work with Dylan is look at me with sadness and pity in their eyes because he is so sweet but he just doesn't understand the world around him. I'm tired of seeing sadness in other peoples eyes. Damn it, I can hardly control how I feel about it. What good is pity? Maybe if his teachers tried to help him. Instead he's being discriminated against. I can't handle the thought of how difficult his next 12 years of schooling will be... Thanks for listening and reading. Hi Carrie, my daughter was born May of 2000. She's a very beautiful girl and I have the same fears as yours. She needs melatonin to sleep now too but hte problem is she wakes up 4 hours later till it's time to go to school. Her school is very supportive though. I too have to fire her home ABA therapist sometime this week. I'm very passive and not good at firing people, but this time I have to. I have looked at alternative treatments and we're going for auditory integration training possibly spring or summer when she has a few days off from school. I am a nurse and because of that I can choose the days or hours that I can work so my husband can take care of her on weekends. I know it's hard for you since your husband is away. Hang in there though. THey may never run for senate or discover the cure for cancer, but they do get better a little eventually...... I'd like to think at least that it will. Mary Jane mother of an 8 y/o(straight A student) and 5 year old drop dead gorgeous autistic girl (just like mommy, probably including the autistic part, lol) Hello I am new to this site. I just found out yesterday that my 2 year old son has autism. I have known that he is different since he was about two months old. I am so happy to now know what is going on at least now I will be able to educate him and myself to this. I am feeling very confused and wondering what to do. i am waiting for the written evaluation to come back and enrolloing him in a day care the easter seals ucp in NC and hoping that this will help him wit his verbal and social skills. I'm scared, worried, slightly angry. My husband is not supporting me throughout the last 6 months of testing and know he is really not supporting me as far as the results coming back that Tanner is autistic. This actually feels good to read your posts and to see that I am not alone. Thank you all for your time and I hope to chat with someone soon. thanks, meganHI, MY NAME IS KELLY. MY SON IS 26 MOS. OLD HE WILL BE DX ON OCT. 27TH. I AM ANXIOUS AND RELIEVED THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO SPEED UP HIS THERAPY WITH A DIAGNOSIS. HE RECEIVES ST AND OT. THEY ARE CONFIDENT THAT HE IS HIGH FUNCTIONING. I WAS THE ONE WHO REACHED OUT FOR HELP. I KNEW THERE WAS A PROBLEM MOS. AGO. BUT, THERE WAS ALWAYS AN EASY EXPLANATION TO LOOK THE OTHER WAY. LIKE, WHEN HE WOULD IGNORE PEOPLE. I JUST THOUGHT HE WAS SHY. ANYWAY, WE ARE NEW TO THIS WORLD, BUT, I HAVE BEEN VERY DELIGENT IN FINDING OUT ALL THAT I CAN TO HELP MY LITTLE BOY. MY SON IS A VERY SWEET LITTLE BOY. HE KISSES AND HUGS. HE LOVES DORA, HE CAN SPEAK FAIRLY WELL, BUT ONLY WITH DORA. HE TOLERATES CHANGE VERY WELL SO FAR. WE CAN VISIT PEOPLE AND GO TO THE STORE. HE HAS A 4 YEAR OLD FRIEND WHO HE ADORES, WHEN HE'S WITH HIM YOU WOULD NEVER SUSPECT A PROBLEM. HE POINTS TO THINGS THAT HE WANTS, SOMETIMES. I KNOW I'M GOING ON, BUT JUST LIKE ANY PARENT I ADORE HIM. MY HUSBAND WORKS OUT OF TOWN ALOT, SO IT'S JUST THE TWO OF US MOST OF THE TIME. I AM GLAD I HAVE FOUND YOU. WHEN I READ ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE DEALING WITH THIS AND HEARING UPLIFTING STORIES IT GIVES ME SO MUCH HOPE. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK ONE QUESTION. WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN. I HAVE HAD 2 MISCARRIAGES IN THE LAST YEAR. WE NOW ARE SCARED, FEARING ANOTHER CHILD WITH ASD, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT GOING FORWARD AND HAVING MORE CHILDREN?Hi my name is Sherri and I have a 6 y/o son who was diagnosed w/mild austism spectrum disorder. Needless to say I have been having a hard time coping w/this since he started school and have been We have gotten reports from teachers and school psychologist that he all but the "normal" 6 y/o. He is withdrawn from his classmates and will not play w/them unless they specifically asks. They all love him and want him to be included in activities but he can't. He can't fully understand some of the lesson mainly the verbal one unless there is someone to help him. I found out yesterday that his teacher has been taking his lunch out for him to eat b/c he just takes his lunch bag and puts it on the table at lunchtime. He currently attends a pariochial school but my husband and I are in the process of trying to find a public school that will fit his needs. Well just wanted to say hi and really glad I found this site b/c I'm desperately in need of some support. Looking forward to getting to know you ladies........... Hello my name is Eleni, I have a nearly 3 yr old son who is diagnoses with moderate autism, as well as a severe receptive and expressive speach delay. not sure what to say about how its effected our lives, its pretty much turned it upside down. his diagnosis was fairly recent so we are still getting our feet on the ground. I'm not a parent but I'm going to write over here anyway a little. My sister has disabilties and one of them is that she is Autistic. Her name is Sarah and so I wrote the name Sarah's Sister instead of my own name (which is Rebecca but usually unless they don't know me very well or are annoyed at me people just call me Becky). I decided to call myself Sarah's Sister when I registered here and also when I made my online diary project part just about her. I did that for a mix of reasons, some of them good ones, some of them not really. I am 12 years old and my sister is 25 but I think its really easy to forget in a way that she is so old, its kind of weird that way. It has always seemed like I'm the older one in a way because my sister has mental retardation and pretty much has the mind of a baby and that's how she acts and so its just always like living with a person who is a baby and never grows up no matter how big or old she gets. Finally I am at least a little taller than her and I hope I keep getting taller (everyone else in my family is taller but Sarah just always stayed short and I hope it doesn't happen to me) so in a way technically I could call her my 'little sister' now because of it but that would still be weird in its own way I guess, or at least now I can once in a while think "you little brat" at her, which I admit I do sometimes. I did that even when I was shorter anyway. Its not all bad though, its just a mix. There is both that I really do love her and I am very proud of her at times but there are also times that I'm just very embarrassed of her and times that she can be so totally irritating and annoying and other things. I know she can't help it most of the time and I know I'm not perfect either. There are times where I think its sort of normal and we get silly and have fun together and its really not all bad. We actually have some things in common like we like some of the same kind of music except she also likes to listen to some country music (don't ask me why!). I finally told my mom about this forum page where I've been reading a little between doing other things and writing a little too and how there are a bunch of parents of autistic people here. She said she will look at it when she can and for now I can be here as long as its not a chat (I'm not allowed to use any chatroom things but I can use the web as long as I don't try to go anywhere really weird which I don't) and she knows somewhat of where I am since most of the time its really meant just for looking things up and as long as I'm not bothering anybody, and have the usual rules about the internet (You don't ever want to get my dad started on one of his lectures trust me!). I also told her about the online diary projects but asked her to please not look at them. Which reminds me because its about privacy, I am getting a lock on my door, my dad said tomorrow when he gets home he'll put one on my bedroom door and this surprised me. I'll bet its going to come with a big long How To Use A Door Lock lecture. I never even asked to have one. I think maybe its because of Sarah getting ahold of my favorite book even though I didn't really say much about it and the thing with my printer and other things like that, I don't know. They were also arguing a little lastnight and I don't know if that has anything to do with me getting a lock for my door or not but it might, you just never know. Welcome Sarah, I can't believe you found this website all by yourself! You sound like a very bright young lady. My daughters can probably relate to what you say because they have an autistic brother named, Paul , and he is 26. He annoys them alot but they love him very much also, just like you love your sister. I wouldn't worry too much about a little arguing because that's what parents do sometimes. Just remember to always tell your mom and dad that you are on the internet, because there are alot of sites that are not safe for kids (sound like you already know that). This would be a great site for your mom and dad to visit! Ginger - Mom to Paul, 26, Aspergers, ocd, add, atypical bipolar, Russ, 22, Melanie 13, Christine, 10 and Audrey 8.
Thank you. I was looking up autism again is how I found this website. I use AskJeeves and Google alot. I'm going to ask if I can use the private message part on here but my mother probably won't go for that. I want to ask you some things about Paul because of what you said plus also where you put "Ginger - Mom to Paul, 26, Aspergers, ocd, add, atypical bipolar, Russ, 22, Melanie 13, Christine, 10 and Audrey 8" I might have to make a new whole post to ask you because I don't think I'm going to be allowed to talk secretly with anyone on the internet and I'm not quite ready to talk about it. I will I think, its just that every time I think about it or try to write about it even anywhere at all and there is no way I can talk about it I just feel nothing but really totally completely sick to my stomach. It has to do with why I was looking up autism again anyway and why I even found you guys. Its one of those things I hoped just being quiet and they'd see in time they made a BIG mistake. nobody likes to be told they made a mistake and be corrected, not me and especially not adults by me so I have just been waiting but every week when I see the therapist guy there is it, the same terrible mistake written on the form at the end. Its not just him or I would think its just another somebody somehow confusing me with my sister, I am not supposed to know this but I know my parents think it too, and even they can't manage to confuse me with my sister. I need to go for now. I am going to try to talk to you about this later though I really will.
Sorry Becky, I forgot the sister part when I sent my post. I realized it after I hit the post reply tab. Have a nice weekend and hope you get everything resolved. Ginger Hi everyone!New to the board here, this is my first post. I have a three year old daughter with an as yet undiagnosed disorder. At this point all we have been told is that she has broad spectrum autisim. She has had one evaluation by a peds specialist and due for another next month. She is attending school at Rainbows United and doing great! I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me! Shelly Hello everyone. My name is Donna and I have a 5 year old with characteristics of autism and PDD. My sons name is Alex. He is non verbal and not mobile. He is globally delayed and is functioning between a 9 mont and 18 month level. I am looking forward to getting to know the website.
Thanks so much, Donna Hello everyone. My name is Donna and I have a 5 year old with characteristics of autism and PDD. My sons name is Alex. He is non verbal and not mobile. He is globally delayed and is functioning between a 9 mont and 18 month level. I am looking forward to getting to know the website.
Thanks so much, Donna Hi Donna! I'm a newbie too but I'll welcome you to the board like I've been here forever, lol. WELCOME~!! Hi my name is Jamie and my husbands name is Joe, we have two wonderful kids, Caden who is 17 months and Morgan who is 3.5 months. Caden has an undiagnosed disorder, he is language delayed ( doesnt say anything) but very advanced physically, there are some more things also such as head banging, EXTREMELY aggressive behavior, and a few others. I actually was questioned about Cadens behavior during a peds visit for my daughter morgan who contracted viral meningitis and GBS at 6 weeks. what a time huh? we were sent to the Uof M neurology where they did an initial assesment of him, and he is being sent for a special study for children with autism or at risk for autism under 24 months. Its been a tough blow for me, I think I am still Post partum, so im not sure what is hormones and what is real.. if that makes sense. My husband is pretty unsupportive except for picking out behaviors and asking me if it could be autism  so I feel
pretty much alone, Im going to start taking caden to a play group (a
daycare) on monday for 5 days a week couple hours a day, while I sit
there, the neuro said it was imperative I do. I am also putting off my
nursing school to be at home with him and morgan. I guess I'm not in a
very good place right now, Sorry ifI have been a downer, Im gonna go
roam around now, thanks for welcoming me.Hi I'm definately a newbie. My name is Catharine and I live in Montreal, Canada. We have 3 yr old twin sons who are being assessed for autism/PDD. I've done alot of research since this all started (they got tossed out of preschool for behavioural problems after two days) and am glad to have found this message board. I"ve learned alot. It's been a rough couple of months with a lot of speculating, anger, GUILT, denial, etc. I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions! Catharine Hello, I'm new so I hope I am posting right. I have a five year old nephew with autism. He is a very lovable and sweet little boy. He is usually with me on the weekends. We were told that Hunter has mild autism and it could possibly go away if he's worked with. I have a question and I hope someone can help. Last night we noticed Hunter jerking his shoulders. I was reading to him and he kept jerking and then he would wipe his hand over his face like he was trying to clean it, but nothing was there. Last weekend I noticed him blinking his eye's over and over. Is this a symtom of autism? Can autism effect the nervous system? I told my sister she needs to get him checked, but I thought maybe someone might know. Thanks, Deanna [QUOTE=proudauntie]Hello, I'm new so I hope I am posting right. I have a five year old nephew with autism. He is a very lovable and sweet little boy. He is usually with me on the weekends. We were told that Hunter has mild autism and it could possibly go away if he's worked with. I have a question and I hope someone can help. Last night we noticed Hunter jerking his shoulders. I was reading to him and he kept jerking and then he would wipe his hand over his face like he was trying to clean it, but nothing was there. Last weekend I noticed him blinking his eye's over and over. Is this a symtom of autism? Can autism effect the nervous system? I told my sister she needs to get him checked, but I thought maybe someone might know. Thanks, Deanna [/QUOTE]Hi ProudAuntie! Welcome to the board - I'm a newbie too! I'm new to all of this and my daughter still has not even been diagnosed so I'm far from an expert. I bet some of the more experienced posters here will know the answer. But what Hunter is doing sounds to me like a sensory issue.  Hi, Deanna, my name is Mary Jane. I have a daughter who's 5 years old that's been diagnosed since she was 18 months old with autism and I'm also a Registered Nurse. THe symptoms you described might be a a petit mal seizure or a mild seizure. Some autistic kids do develop this. It's a good idea to tell their developmental pediatrician exactly as you described it here. I'm also new here but I welcome all of you and I hope we can all learn from each other. Good luck to everyone and hang in there. Hello! My name is Shae and I am the mommy to 2 wonderful girls. Our oldest is 9 and was diagnosed with mild CP a year and a half ago. And our other dd is 3 (almost 4) and was diagnosed with moderate PDD/Autism back in April. It has been such a challenge for my dh and I, since we didn't understand why our 3yo was acting the way that she was. She was born a month early, and has been delayed in everything that she has done. She will be 4 next month and is still in diapers/pull-ups, and it's crazy how much "advice" we get from people...and the bottom line is, she has no comprehension of what it means to eliminate in the toilet! The only person that has understood that, is the lady at the medical supply store that helps us get our diapers/pull-ups. Both of our daughters have sensory issues, but it has been easier with our youngest since we learned so much about it with our oldest. Our 3yo goes to PT/OT/ST once a week, and they did a series of tests a couple of months ago to see where she was on the development scale. She tested 1-2 years behind on almost all of her skills and development. Even our dr didn't think she was that far behind! LOL! Unfortunately (or fortunately), the first impression (most of the time) that our 3yo gives is that she is perfectly normal...and then when people get to spend more time with her (sometimes all it takes is 30 min to an hour), they realize that there is more going on there. Our dr has just started our 3yo on Buspar to help us through the rough times, but so far, all it does is knock her out...LOL...which can be good sometimes. This is very new to us, so we are trying to learn as much about PDD/Autism as we can. If any of you have resources that you can recommend, we would appreciate it so much. I will probably learn a lot from this forum as well, I just haven't gotten to read through much of it yet I am so excited and blessed to find this forum. I am looking forward to learning more and getting to visit with all of you! Sorry for the LONG post! I'm just so excited! Blessings~shae:)
My name is Jennifer and i live in Kitchener, Ontario. I have 2 boys, Nathan 9yrs old(depressed), and Christian 6 yrs old(very hyper active child). I am getting married next year to a wonderful man who has son, Nicholas 7 yrs old, who was diagnosed with having pervasive development disorder. He has a 'milder' form of this disorder from what I have seen and read on autism. Unfortunately, we only see him every other weekend and 1 to 3 times through the week. We would like to spend more time with him. I am hoping to make some new friends and gain some more knowledge and maybe new ideas on what would help in raising a child with PDD. Hope to talk to you all soon, have a good day! I've been lurking a bit, but thought I should introduce myself and jump in! I"m Julie and I have 2 boys. Parker is almost 6 and he has Asperger's Syndrome. Bret is almost 4 and shows no autistic characteristics. We live in California. :) My friend Julie (screeech) invited me over, so thanks Julie! Looking forward to getting to know you all :) Hi. My name is Mary and I have a 3 year old who has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS. I also have a 10 month old that we are watching closely for signs of the disorder (nothing so far thank God). I am a SAHM and I do carpool for school. My little boy just started regular school this year and he is doing really well there. I hope to get to know all of ya'll in the future.Hi My Name is Barbie and a mother of 3 boys 7.10. and a 2 year old...My two year old is the only child living with me ...i noticed some things when my son was about 6 mths old and he was always banging his head up against the wall pretty hard ,at first i thought well that can be normal for babies to do this for a soothing effect,but then i noticed he always kept his hand in the air and always looked at it Well I went to Eye Dr about when he was a little over 12 mths old and they said his vision was perfect ...so now I knew it wasnt that so the next mth i went back to my 2 yr old son (Shawn is his name) and he said his legs were stiff and he said he had quadoplegic in all for limbs i just thought that didnt sound right but he refereed me to a first step program(Early Intervention) he begin having physical therapy for the stiffness in his legs and he saw a occupational therap and delevepmental therapy and a speech therapy i went back to my son shawns dr again and ask what to do now so he was trying to make a referral to see a neologist but since i live in a small town called poplar bluff Missiouri..we dont have one close by but a few 3 hours away well shawns dr sent his medical records to the childrens hospital in st louis mo. and they wrote back and said since he was banging his head all the time it was best for him to see a phycoligist i was in shock that they did that as he was just about a year and i thought he was too young for this I was doing some rearching online about holding hand in front of face and wont look at you when you are talking to him or no speech at all,,and i read about autism..i ask early intervention if it was possible he had autism and they said yes but at a 1 yr old it is hard to be forr sure so i went back to shawns dr and ask to be sent to the autisic hospital in columbia mo.so he sent my sons records and they contacted me back saying there was a 2 yr waiting list to get in since we have few neouligist in this small towns everyone goes to that one place so its very book well my son is 2 1/2year and will be 3 on may 1st and he has no seech yet and he has stop putting his hand in his face but he is always banging his head and will do it where ever he is sitting ..like his high chair while he eats well i do got some good news last week ..i found out a child neouligist in cape girendo ..her name is elizabeth horton and i called and try my luck to get him to see her and she was out on vaction but return my call a few days ...this was the mth Sept and she said the earliest time I could see him would be at 9:45 on dec 14th..so im hoping this will see if he has autism or not or just a learning disabily i did sign him up for ssdi since at the age of 2 he still could not say anything and still when you call his name it is like he ignores you but i know it isnt his hearing cause i can try sneaking a candybar to eat and he can hear the candy wrapper being open and he saw a audiauxary i know some kids dont talk till late sometimes but at 3 almost and not just one word it concerns me...but i know hes very smart and understans u ..he know when i tell him to get his tippy cup ..he will go to his room and get it and bring it to me..also the same with his favorite blanket...he will go get it when i tell him too and get it and go in the rocking chair and hold his blanket and bang his head while the rocking chair i he also do not fear to mucxh and he can bang his head on tables by falling down and he be bruised but dont cry sometimes I bought a electronic Keyboard for my two oldest kids for christmas last yr because thier dad was paying for piano lessons for them so i thought when they come to my house on weekends they can play it my two oldest ever touch it but shawn my 2 1/2 yr can play for up too 4 hours at a time playing with the music keys and its hard to get him away from it and man i run out of batterries every 2 weeeks lol oh when he turn 2 last year for his birthday i bought him his first toddler ..well still even after a year he dont sleep in it at all but he takes the bed appart and the poles that holds the mattree up ..he takes them off and he brings one at a time into the living room and line them up in order he does this with alot of his toys...he would place them in a line and when he gets them all in line he picks up one at a time and takes it to another table or the floor and re lines them again he sleeps in the carpet floor in his room since he just takes the bed appart and he ends up just snuggling up in the floor with his blanket...but he wouldnt go to sleep at bedtime and it was either taking his bed appart or playing with his keyboard or scream for 3 chours banging his head on the walll i dont get to go to bed till 11pm because he screams from 8 thru 11 pm at night We Dont have any parent support groups or parent with a special need support group either and my family dont understand and i live alone with just me and shawn and noone to talk except jesus and pray for him and i just wish i had someone to talk too I thought if I explain the things he does if he mothers or fathers have simlar issues as mine and if you guys know if it is autism ...can you please reply and i love alot of feedback from everyone if you have a few minutes...i am kinda nervous for when he goes to this neouligist on dec 14th and since hes still only 2 /1/2 will this dr tell if he has autism or some learning disbility which i know he does since he cant follow simple direction with his therapy session and dont speech one word aat all I dont know what they do on thier first appointment with a neologist and what testing they will do for the first time going..will they also be able to tell at his age if its truely austim also has anyone here been able to get thier austic son or daughter on ssi dor no speaking or for austism shawns speech therapy said since he has no vocabulary that he most likely get it and i sign up in july and they are waiting for the results of a evulation shawns speech therapy did on him at first they was going to send him to one of thier speech therapy and i called and they didnt get any medical papers he was getting speech therapy so they ask for those records and cancel that appointment well first step decided to use shawns normal speech therapy instead of thier own to do a evulation on shawn since he knows her and i do know with what shawns speech theray said she thinks he will get it and said the way her and the disability office talk that they thought it was severe enough if anyone could answer these questions and if your child had simlar issues please reply ..i really could use a support group..oh by the way i am 31 yrs old I am going to post this message in other forums as I am not sure if this ones active or not and my message will be over look so let meknow what you all think and any advice ..anything would be helpful Hi everyone. I'm a 40 year old mom with one son, diagnosed HFA when he was almost 3. His nickname is BamBam--Bam for short--because he has always been very large and strong. He is currently in a typical preschool and getting speech therapy and OT for sensory issues.hi i am nwe and i have a 3 year old with austim he can't talk and sometimes with have total meltdowns but i still think he is the best son ever hi i have a 3 year old with austim i found out when he was two. He can't talk and will just have meltdowns[not just in the house ]people will just give us the "look". can any of you guys help?  he will be starting school soon he has no IEP!![i have to get him one]what if he has a meltdown in class??? i am just so so so scared Hi everyone, this is Sond...I had to reregister today under a new name because I have forgotten my login password  and my e-mail address that I used with the forum is no longer in existence. Just want you guys to know that Sond and Sonde are one and the same. Do you guys have any idea how I can get back under the old name? I can't change thhe password because it is mailed to my old e-mail address.
SondHi, my name is Corina, We have three boys; David, 18, Ian, 16 and Johnny 14. Our son Ian was just diagnosed HFA three weeks ago. He was diagnosed PDDNOS as a preschooler, but once his speech, drooling and toileting improved, he was mainstreamed and we were not informed that we needed to work on anything else. We then moved to a rural area and began homeschooling, so we've avoided a lot of classroom induced issues. Ian's psychologists said that they think the homeschooling has kept Ian very positive about himself and since our philosophy was to just tailor each child's education to their own personalities, strengths and interests it seemed to work. We always knew he was a bit "different", but he was social, (if awkward) and could communicate (even if it was in "novel speak") so we just worked around it... until recently. For the last few years our little "Professor Ian" (his preferred name from 8-13 years old) went from a math genius to hating math, stalling out and then flat out regression - after a lot of research we stumbled upon a new dx that wasn't available when he was a toddler... High Functioning Autism. We've told people that's what he was for the past three years, but it didn't prepare us for the shock it would still be when we got the OFFICIAL dx and the slew of therapy choices that would be laid out before us. We have just started a social skills group that is a six hour drive each way once a week for eight weeks, quite the sacrifice, but we've only got a few years to prep him for independence we figure. Both our other boys are actually scheduled for evals too, David probably leaning a bit towards Aspergers (but pretty socially "normal") and Johnny... who knows? It's like playing the "slug bug" game... suddenly you see them everywhere. Watching videos we now see that Johnny was speech delayed also, while WE think he's fine interacting verbally our friends and family see a much different side (withdrawn) and he definately has auditory and physical integration issues. My biggest problem right now is how to stop the fighting between Ian and Johnny - they are both completely unaware of how their words/actions are affecting the other and they both push each other to the stimulation/emotional breaking point... an at home mom all my life, I launched a company three years ago that just took me out of the home last year - it's been a real mixed blessing. The boys are independant, but now I feel like I need to be here to referee and work with their "new" abilities/deficits - ok, enough of the novel. Any ideas for "fighting rules" for teens before we all lose our minds!!?? Hi Welcome to the boards.... If you click the search button above you can search the word Risperdal and the threads that mention it will come up Here is the result.......... http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/search.asp?KW=risperdal& SM=1&SI=PT&FM=0&OB=1 Hey this is Char. I'm a 24 yr old mom and full time college student. My 3 year old, Darren, was just diagnosed with Autism last week. We kinda knew for awhile that this is what was wrong with him. Darren has always been a very well behaved child. (almost to well behaved) When he was an infant I could put him in his playpen with a toy and take a 30 min shower and I wouldn't even hear a peep outta him. He did seem to be delayed in all area's tho, and when he was one and not even crawling yet I was referred to the First Steps program. A PT, and DT started coming to the home once a week. I never even thought or even knew much about Autism those first two years. I was more concerned about the walking and his gross motor skills. But when he was 2 I was visiting a friend who had a son the same age as Darren. He was talking in 2-3 word sentances and pointing to things he wanted. Darren then started repeatedly hitting himself on the side of his head. My friend noticed this and asked me if a doctor even mentioned thinking Darren was Autistic. She said her cousin is Autisic and when he was little he acted very similar to the way Darren acts. I brought this up with Darren's doctor, and after a year of people pretty much jerking me around, we finally got an answer last week. So anyways, I live in Indiana, so you guys if you live around me hit me up. Hello, I am a PhD research student at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, although I am originally from the US. I am currently researching imitation deficits in individuals with high-functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome, apraxia, and how this relates to social cognition and social communication. I am a licensed speech therapist in the US and the UK. I am conducting my study through the University of Edinburgh, the University of Modena in Italy, and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. My husband is originally from Austin, TX and after living in Austin, Houston, and Dallas, I am comfortable in Texas as well! I will be in Austin this January and was wondering if any families would be interested in learning about the study and possibly participating. I am specifically including children older than 7 years of age with a cut off at 18 years. Please feel free to contact me at heidi.ham@ed.ac.uk for more information. My nephew is now 5 and he has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS, he is making progress with speech and communication and is now in school full-time. Thank you. my son is now 4 yrs old and was diagnoised with pdd at a year and a half. he speaks very few words but is getting better. his biggest issue now has been eating. he only eats oreos and cheese its he gags at the sight of real food..but the new school has been helping.. he is the most loving little boy..i just worry about his health with nutrition.. i have 5 other children who are older who all adore him..i am new to this site but it has been nice to see other ppl have gone through all this stuff as i am..My fiance Jen, mom of 3 boys, told me all about this site and thought i would join as well. She has informed me that it is a great site to talk to people who are parents to a child/children with autism or a form of. Jen's 2 sons are from her first marriage Nathan 9 years old he suffers from depression and Christian 6 years old is a very hyper active lil guy, and my son, Nicholas from my first marriage is 7 years old and is diagnosed with PDD-NOS. My son is a special little guy and i love spending time with him. He has quite the imagination as he enjoys to play with his stuff animals all have names. Nicholas loves to put them in everyday life situations like camping or school which is one of his favourites. He loves reading.One of his favourite books is Dr.seuss The sneetches on the beaches or Green Eggs and ham. He will do actions from these books to my parents and myself. I could tell quite a bit about my son since I feel despite his autism he has the potential to do bgreat things in his life. I hope that being on this site I can tell others of what am experiencing with my son both good and bad . Oeros and cheese huh? I wish my son would eat something like that. He eats pablum and toast w/ marg. Thats it! He just turned 4 and he too gags at the sight of food. Myself and his therapists have been working with him and the food issues for over a year now. We still have yet to introduce a new food. We are starting a new program next week and will let you know how it works out!! Hang in there. Hey....I could go for some Oreo's myself right now.....LOL....keep smilin'. Hi..my name is Wendy. I am new to this site, but definately not new to autism. My son was dx'd with moderately severe autism at the age of 3. He is now 9. He was dx'd after being...we'll just say 'not to kindly' asked not to return to 3 different daycares in about a 6 month period of time due to behavior problems. Yes, my husband and I knew something just 'wasn't quite right' with him before that, but we both had a major case of denial. To be totally honest, I still do at times. We just really didn't want to face it, I guess. I am a nurse and I remember telling my husband that our son had the signs of autism long before he was actually dx'd. We just couldn't come to grips with it. Made every excuse in the book...."he's just being a boy"...."he's just spoiled"...on and on. I'm sure some of you did the same. My husband has now totally accepted it. I've heard him tell people that he wouldn't change a thing about our son if he could. I know this is probably wrong to say after all this time, but me...I'm still grieving. Oh...sometimes I hit on acceptance for awhile in my grieving process, but eventually I slide back down to anger, bargaining, ect. Don't get me wrong...I love my son. He is my whole world. We are doing everything we can to help him. He goes to a public school but is in a class that only has autistic kids in it. 6 children with 1 teacher and 3 assistants that have all been trained on how to deal with the challenges of autism. They are great and all seem to care about him. As do his ST and OT. Hey...what's not to love? He is a great kid with a ready smile and if you ask him real sweet, sometimes...just sometimes...he'll give you a big hug!! Anyway...I'm glad I found this site. Thanks for letting me be a part of it. As I have just realized in the last few min while writing this...we all need a place to vent sometimes.[QUOTE=Wendy C]My husband has now totally accepted it. I've heard him tell people that he wouldn't change a thing about our son if he could. I know this is probably wrong to say after all this time, but me...I'm still grieving. Oh...sometimes I hit on acceptance for awhile in my grieving process, but eventually I slide back down to anger, bargaining, ect. Don't get me wrong...I love my son. He is my whole world. [/QUOTE] I hear you. It's ironic to me that my husband--who was completely in denial about the autism at first--is now totally fine with it. Maybe it's just another form of denial, that he can believe that everything will be just fine. I adore my son, he's the most wonderful little guy in the world, but I get so depressed and frightened and angry on his behalf. Today he told us "I do weird things sometimes." I can just guess where that came from. :-( Hi my son is 12 years old. I am learning all I can to help him to be the best he can.I just pray that I do the right things every step of the way.I have a lot of knowledge but am always willing to learn more and share with you what i know.
hi i moved a few days ago. The computer i used to have was REALY slow and not working i got rid of it. I have not been on a computer for so long i almost frogot what it feels like to type..lol i ma SO SO SO happy i found this board! My boss had told me about it once befor[i have known him for a long time] The person who used to live here said i could keep the computer I could not stop saying thank you[she was getting a better one] Anyway i have two LOVING kids hailey who is 6 and has austim she can't realy talk she can only make sounds like mmmmmmooooooommmmmmm brad who is 4 he acts like her i don't know if i should get him tested or he is just trying to act like his big sister?? i think this place is great!!! Ps. my user name is mom of 2 loving kids it was to long so it only say mom of 2 lovingHi, I actually have been here for a little while, but forgot to post my intro! Sorry about that... I am mom to a wonderful 10 y/o boy with PDDnos, amongst other things. The docs are still trying to figure out how "special" he is. So far they've come up with eczema, GERD and Urticaria Pigmentosa Mastocytosis (all dx'd at 2 months of age and blamed for everything under the sun that made ds different); ADHD (added at 6); PDDnos, GAD, SID, multiple LDs, and multiple food allergies (all added at 7); dysmotility (possible IBD) and Cyclothymia (both added at 9); and last, but not least, Benign Hypermobility Joint Syndrome (possible Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) (just added this past summer). Oh yeah, and we are waiting for test results for IgG and IgM deficiencies (which could help decide the whole IBD and EDS issues for us, too). He is in half-time special education classe and beginning to make some progress (Finally!!!). His schoolwork is significantly modified and he has lots of supports, too, and now he is almost on grade level (Yippee!!). At school, he also has adapted P.E. and use of the elevator because of the HMS. We are still awaiting the results of the AT eval and they have yet to complete the OT eval. He does get private PT and OT. He is GFCF, as well as soy, egg, peanut, onion, and lentil-free (made a BIG difference doing this) and has been for the last 3 years (well, 3 for the GFCF and 2 for the rest), going on 4 (gfcf, and 3 for the rest). He takes several supplements (SNT, zn, mg, ca, fish oil, pea protein powder, probiotics) and they also helped a bunch. He also takes several medications for the G.I. issues, mastocytosis, and cyclothymia. We have BHRS, but no longer need the TSS in school for him because he is doing well there. The BSC does observations and makes sure that things are going well. She also provides us with his PECS cards. However, he is doing so well now at home and at school that we are going to discontinue the BHRS if all goes well at the next G.I. visit later this month. We had, but have since discontinued RC services about 7 months ago. Ds attends a therapeutic playgroup where he has made his first and only friend this past summer. He also sees a tdoc about 1-3 times a month, as needed. Wow, I didn't intend to write a book Vic Hi! I have actually been reading this board for a couple of months, but I am just now getting the courage to post. Maybe not so much courage but maybe just facing the facts. I am a mother to a 2 year old who is most likely autistic. His pediatrician and therapists have told us they all believe he has autism, but just don't know where he will be on the spectrum. I have always known there was something, but everybody would tell me that he was just spoiled or wouldn't talk because he didn't need to. Finally when he was at his two year the dr. told me he wanted to send him for evaluation by a ST and then to Cincinnati Childrens for evaluation for autism. We have been on the list at Cincinnati since Sept. and now they are telling us we probably won't get in until Feb 2006, when originally they told us 2 to 3 months. In the meantime, Owen is in Birth to 3 (EI) where a Speech therapist, a Dev. Specialist and an Occupational Therapist come to the house to work with him. Our insurance also pays for him to go to another speech therapist twice a week. I am still trying to learn all I can and sometimes get confused about all the different terminolgy and abbreviations, so please forgive me if I seem clueless or ask questions that come as second hand to most of you. Owen does babble alot which the therapists tell us is a good sign that he will be able to talk one day. Since therapy has started his tantrums have become less frequent but he still gets upset and we can't figure out why. That's all I know to tell you without boring you to pieces. If you have any advice or any questions please feel free to ask or help. I am just trying to learn all I can so that I can help him.Hello everyone, I have some questions regarding a two and half year old boy that I started caring for this week. He is with me two evenings a week for 4 hours at a time. He does not speak, holds small objects in his hands and turns them over and over, screams for no reason and is not hearing impaired buts acts as if he is. Facial expressions are different, his eyes never seem to focus on you instead its as if he doesn't see you. His parents are new to the country (from India) and I am not sure how to approach my suspicions to them. I have a cousin who is autistic (mild) and I feel that this beautiful little boy needs help. If anyone can advise me where to go from here please contact me. Hi, I wanted to introduce myself. My son is now 9 years old and was diagnosed with mild autsim at 3 yrs of age. His dad and I are divorced but both very involved in his life. Everyday is a struggle and a new challenge and we are encountering new issues since he is now entering adolescence. I look forward to having this site to come to and chat and ask questions. Thanks!Hello! I am the mommy of 2 cute kids, a daughter, age 5 and a son, age 3. My daughter was diagnosed in Jan 2005 as being autistic with developmental delay. She was also dx as being mentally retarded, but I don't think that was correct. I bet she refused to cooperate with the Dr during the IQ testing. There are also 2 other autistic folks in our family. My sweet little nephew, age 2, is newly diagnosed. He doesn't talk at all, just sounds and grunts. He is also getting very aggressive, he was asked not to return to daycare this week. His daycare lady is wonderful, but my nephew was attacking the other kids and it got to be too much. My sisters other son is being assessed for aspergers this next week. He has alot of OCD issues and is aggressive, and other things going on. We also have a 1st cousin that is most likely autsitic. Her mom refused to have her tested for autism as a child. The family doctor wanted her to be tested, but my aunt refused. Now as an adult my cousin is comfortable with knowing she might have autism, she has always been VERY different, so this was no big deal to her. I helped her find a doctor and now she is waiting for the date. I have been sharing what I have read here with my sister. She has her hands full as a single mom with two small kids. She wants to check it out this weekend. Hi everyone! I have just found this web site. I am sooooo glad that I did I am kinda new at the whole what is autism thing. I just have felt sooooo alone in all of this. My husband tries to understand and does a decent job, but he works a lot and doesn't have to deal with it very often. Our son is diagnoised with PDD-NOS. I am just sooo glad that I am not alone anymore.Hi everyone! Isn't the internet wonderful in that we can come together to share info and ideas? I have 3 beautiful kids. Caitlin 8, Curtis 5, and Jenna 2. Curtis was diagnosed with autism and ADHD last year. I was sick the entire 9 months of my pregnancy with Curtis. He has pretty much been spitting up since birth. No cause found for this. He was a little delayed until about 2. We got him EI services which didn't give much help. He has lost all language he has ever had. The only word he says recently is shower, shower, shower since he is obsessed with playing with our shower curtain. He has a curtain at school he likes to play with. He is not potty trained, has much difficulty expressing his needs, and therefore gets very frustrated. Trips to the store are stressful, we need 2 carts to hold 2 kids. Curtis pulls Jenna's hair all the time, but she still loves him. I think he just does it to get some sort of reaction. His attention span is usually very short, like attending to tasks 30 secs tops, except when it's the shower curtain! He likes tickles and hugs, and wants a cup all the time. He takes clonidine to help keep him mellow(er) because he is still very active and melatonin at night. Family gatherings have become unbearable and I cry when I see other boys his age talking and going to regular school. He is my bright little angel but brings many tears. I'm hoping some sort of diet or supplement can offer some improvement before we think of send him off to school. Lately, getting him to comply with any direction is a struggle. He smiles a lot, and used to enjoy watching movies, but he doesn't sit still long enough for that now. He likes changing his clothes and playing with buckles. I wish everyone the best of luck with their own personal autism challenges. i just found out yesterday that my son has PDD. But we don't know what level it is at yet. I didn't know he had it and he started going into his own world. we played toys with him and called his name and had him look at us. he doesn't go into his own world anymore. he is potty trained. The dr. told me i must do what ever it is i am doing because he is doing so well. I am putting him on the gf/cf diet because he will only eat things that have gluten in it and never had problems until he starting eathing nothin ealse but food with gluten in it. And i seen this website and have been reading. i have so many ideas. Thank You so much!Hi everyone I'm new and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Barbara and I have 2 kids. Tyler is 5 years old and was diagnosed PDD-NOS a year ago. Mykayla is 4 weeks and doing good. Tyler was great as a baby, but he was distant from people. He started talking like crazy, then around 2 years old he stopped. He would bang his head on everything. He became obessed about how his toys were arranged. I never had a clue that anything was wrong. My parenting aide suggested a hearing problems because he stopped responding to what we would say. The test showed that he has perfect hearing. So birth to 3 got involed. Autism was suggested but never diagnosed. So he was put into school. At 4 years old we say a neurologist and PDD-NOS high functioning was diagnosed but they feel that he may have asperger syndrome. We are still waiting for more testing. In the past year my son is actually having conversations with people and knows his name. They told me he would never be able to do this. the major issue right now is his temper. He gets very violent and his is big for his age. so it gets scary. He has begun biting his hands and arms when he doesnt get what he wants, and hits his upper thighs so hard that he has left brusing. The drs say this is normal and he cant do any more for him medication wise. It is so frustrating to watch my child deal with this. basically i am looking for some advice on how to handle him without myself or him getting hurt. I have tried everything. thanks for reading this and giving any advice that you can. Hi im mamasoulfood, I have two boys 15 and 11 .The eldest has a diagnosis of autism ,the youngest giving school cause for concern. Im based in uk and found this great site by chance.It has been so helpful to read all your experiences and see Im not alone.Family rife with autism so strongly believe in genetics playing apart for some.Think its great to be able to chat and share advice,hope to be a regular visitor.found some great items at www.iloveachildwithautism.com and the mother of an autistic child who runs it is great to work with and email with -- she seems very knowlegable about all aspects of autism Hi everyone, I'm new here but not to Autism. My son is now 17. He is severly Autistic and non-verbal. He is self-abusive, and with medication and behavioral therapy and modification he has been less abusive to himself for some time now. But recently he started beating me up daily, smacking and punching me in the face, back, and arms. He knocks me down. I have several cuts and bruises on my face and a black-eye right now, that I am ashamed to go out in public, because everytime this happens I get the stares and people assume I'm a battered wife. This happens when I tell him he can't have something, such as an entire bag of chips or if I stop him from eating butter or mayonasie or BBQ sause straight out of the bottles. I try to redirect him or offer a subistute but he will no longer hear of it. He also has cause extensive property damage to our home. I contacted Doctor's they tell me I have to be in better control of the situation. I brought him to the crisis center and they drugged him up let him sleep, then sent him home with me that same day and he beat me up again. I don't know where to turn. I don't want to lock him up, so to speak, but He is 70lbs heavier then me and I'm afraid he will kill me. I am a good mother, I have done everything the Doctor's tell me. I hear other people autistic children are so much better off then my son and I believe I must have failed somewhere. I guess here is no better then anything else. No body cares, nobody listens, I posted looking for help, but no response. Maybe when my son kills me or someone else he will get some help. Thanks for nothing, LizzieLIZZIE, I AM SORRY FOR ALL THAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH. I AM A MOM TO A 2 YR. OLD JUST DIAGNOSED, SO I DON'T HAVE THE ANSWERS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. I CAN TELL YOU THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE HERE THAT WILL LISTEN TO YOU AND HOPEFULLY GIVE SOME ADVICE. I HAVE FOUND THAT MOST PEOPLE RESPOND IF YOU START A NEW TOPIC RATHER THAN JUST REGISTER AS A NEW LOG-IN. THAT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE. IWAS REGISTERED FOR A LITTLE WHILE WITH NO RESPONSE, BUT THEN STARTED A NEW TOPIC YESTERDAY AND GOT 6 RESPONSES. PLEASE TRY IT THAT WAY .GOOD LUCK AND PLEAES DON'T GIVE UP. KELLY.Thank you Jaceysmom, I will, I'm just crying non-stop. I'm really at a loss. When he was little the problems were little, now as a teenager, almost adult, it getting very bad and I have begged for help and to no advail. He's quiet now watching TV (that will last about 10 minutes) I can not go on like this, I have older children, including a daughter with 3 small children. Her husband understandably will not allow her to come by with the children if her brother is here. He just left the TV got to go Bye...........[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] I believe this thread was started for a quick introduction as to who you are, your child(ren) affected with PDD/ASD and in general how it affects your family. It states to post questions in a new thread. If everyone greeted and responded we would definately have 100's of pages and other new members posts would be lost. This thread gives quick refrence so other members can go back - look up a member and recall info about the age of their child(ren) and a dx or other info when they are posting a response to the members questions (if the info is needed to be helpful) with over 1500 members it is very hard to remember who each person is and important info about their child(ren). It also gives people members a chance to look through and find others in their area than can ask about resources as well as find others who have a child the same age or going through similar issues that they can find each other easier and offer/receive support they need. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND search robots are scheduled to come in here, gather posts, and display the information on the internet in searches. Hi. I'm Michele, SAHM to Colleen who is 3 1/2 and Lauren who just turned two last month. This past week, we took Lauren to a neurologist after finally convincing my ped that there was something "not right." This past August we went to an audiologist who said that she has nothing wrong with her hearing...she just likes ignoring us! Well, my suspicions were correct and the neurologist said that in his opinion it is Autism but we are going to do some further testing and evaluations. We just had some blood tests done (fragile x and 4 others I can't remember), are scheduled for an EEG this coming Thursday and have an MRI scheduled 12/7. Tomorrow I'm going to call around and get an appointment with a child psychologist. We are also going to set up speech and occupational therapy per his recommendations. I've been suspicious of some type of PDD or ASD (I think that's a newer term for PDDs?). It just really hurts to have it confirmed especially after our Ped telling me that she DOES NOT have autism. All the signs are there. I've been doing a lot of research and like all of you probably were, am feeling overwhelmed. I believe that she is a relatively mild case and my husband and I are determined to do all that we can to help her. Thank you for having an outlet for me. I cannot simply believe the abundance of material out "there" on this subject and it's nice to have a helping hand along the way. Hello everybody, my name is Janis I have a 2 1/2 year old boy. He was diganosed with PDD-NOS. He only weighed 2lbs and 3oz at birth. He is truely a micracle baby. He can talk pretty good but understanding it is a different story (repeats a lot) He been in therapy for a while now. I think what help him talk at a early age was the speech therapy and she introduced him to signing time which Kyle loves and can sign pretty good. I am so happy about this website. Kyle's therapist told me about it. I am glad she did. Hi everyone. I've been lurking for a little while, but thought I'd introduce myself and tell you all a little about my guy. When my son was born at the end of a completely normal and uneventful pregnancy, he scored 8 and 9 on his Apgars. We were so excited! He was a very easy baby, not demanding at all, didn't cry a lot, etc. I hadn't had much experience with babies, but I soon started to suspect that something wasn't "right". I mentioned it to my mother and to my pediatrician, but they told me that I was just worrying about nothing, and to relax and enjoy my baby. He didn't babble or crawl, and by his first Christmas (10 months old) I still had to prop him up to sit. Needless to say I continued to worry. At his 1 year appointment I demanded action. We were sent to a pediatric neuologist who did an MRI and an EEG and ruled out CP and any visible physical damage or irregularity in his brain. I got him involved in Early Intervention with our county at 13 months. He qualified for Speech, Physical, and Occupational therapy. Meanwhile, he was diagnosed with a variety of things. He was hypotonic and had Sensory Integration Disorder. He had Verbal and Oral Apraxia. He had "poor motor planning skills" and "developmental delays". He finally took his first steps at 17 months 3 weeks old. According to his pediatrican, anything before 18 months in considered "normal" AARRGGGHHH! At 2 and 1/2 years old, my son had just 8 words. We and the therapists had taught him sign language earlier so that he could communicate and not be as frusterated (he had started biting his arm). I began to do research to try to figure out what was going on with him. I felt that he had PDD, but when I mentioned this to the Pediatrican, he said "PDD is autism. Your son makes eye contact and tries to interact, so he is not autisic." Can you believe that?! Unfortunately, I did. I still kept looking for answers. We enrolled him in special education preschool and had genetic testing done. His genetic tests came back fine, so we still had no answers. He was making some progress, but was noticably lagging behind other children his age. He began to talk a little. He began to really get into Disney movies. He especially loved Beauty and the Beast. When other children his age would try to play with him, he would say "see Belle, see Beast?" He would say good bye to inanimate objects (the swingset, the tree). In kindergarten he was diagnosed as having ADHD. He tried to interact with the other children, but was very socially awkward. He began to get really anxious and started picking at his lips and blinking rapidly. I took him to a child psychiatrist who almost immediately said, "Have you had him evaluated for PDD?" I had him evaluated at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and he was found to have PDD-NOS. This was earlier this year. He was 8 when you was finally diagnosed. In a lot of ways the diagnosis was a relief. I finally had a diagnosis that explained ALL of his issues. He is a super little guy. He talks all of the time (but does stutter a lot). He also picks up phrases from other people and television and uses them appropriately, so if you weren't familiar with him, it may seem like he's "normal", but then he'll not know how to continue the conversation (which is when the weird looks start). He is very empathetic, and a real caretaker (which is not typically associated with autism, but it's SUCH a big spectrum). He has a younger brother who has been really good for him. They play together, although the neighborhood children think he's "weird". He has 2 friends (a little boy with Asperger's, and a little girl with CP) that he enjoys playing with. We have up days and down days. Sometimes I catch myself in the middle of a "why him" pity party, but I try to pull myself out. I look forward to conversing with all of you in the future. I'm sorry this is so long, but it's so nice to finally have an outlet to discuss this. I feel that people with "normal" children feel sorry for me, and I just hate pity! I love my boys more than anything in the world and wouldn't change them for anything.Hi everybody! I am new to the group. I have been working with children on the autism spectrum for about 4 years now, and it has absolutely changed my life. I am currently trained in ABA and verbal behavior. Right now, I am working on finishing my bachelors in Special ed. I am looking forward to becoming a board certified behavior analyst and an RDI (relationship development intervention) consultant in the future. I have just moved to the St. Augustine FL area. I am looking fore new clients children ages diagnosis to 6 years on the spectrum. If interested in a home program, please email me! Hi there! Hey there! Ho there! I just needed to inform myself about my daughter and her sensory issues and other issues; instead of leaving the knowledge seeking to my spouse. At first I figured as long as one of us was informed the other could get the information learned from the other. I realize that is not really fair though. I can't let my spouse go this alone. My daughter is yet to have an official diagnosis but they say she falls under broad spectrum autism. [QUOTE=Hugs4Lovebug]Hi there! Hey there! Ho there! I just needed to inform myself about my daughter and her sensory issues and other issues; instead of leaving the knowledge seeking to my spouse. At first I figured as long as one of us was informed the other could get the information learned from the other. I realize that is not really fair though. I can't let my spouse go this alone. My daughter is yet to have an official diagnosis but they say she falls under broad spectrum autism. [/QUOTE]Welcome to the board, HFLB. Hello. I'm new to this it is great to find a place where people can share ideas, stories, etc. My son which will be six in march has not been clinically diagnosed yet but he we have been told he has asperger's. Can anyone help me with any ideas on how to help him. He is like way out of this world and i just want to help him get grounded again. He is the Sweetest little boy. This is so hard becasue where we are from its hard to find a specialist and if u do find one its a very long wait or cost of testing is soooo expensive. any ideas please? fouracsrewild@hotmail.com Hello my name is lettie i am a proud parent of three children 19 9 and 7 my seven year old is a boy who is a nonverbal moderate fuctioning autisic child I am a single parent and Originally was diagonsed with autisim in TN since then I have moved back home to MI where I have found a wonderful school that handles all autistic children they have truly given me hope in my life I truly think my child will talk one day but If not its ok because he can sign I love you mom and just would like to thank god that I have been blessed with children dont get me wrong it is very difficult the babysitter issue which has recently been resloved by finding a subsitute teacher from the school who knows how to work with my child and is very loving to him but down to the financial factors and I am a registered nurse but it still doesnt seem to make all the bills at time but I do have the support of a small family which is very important I HAVE BEEN READING ALOT AND I FEEL BETTER JUST KNOWING MY SON IS NOT THE ONLY CHILD THAT ACTS THE WAY HE DOES AND THAT OTHERS KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO RAISE A CHILD WITH THESE PROBLEMS. JUST A YEAR & 1/2 AGO--I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT PDD/HFA/AUTISM ETC. OH! YOU CAN BET... I'M LEARNING NOW!! Hello, My son is 4 1/2 yrs old. He just graduated out of services with our local school system. He received OT, resource and speech from 2 1/2 through 3 and then just speech till last week. They tell me he is PDD-NOS which I guess is on the Autism Spectrum Disorder. His difficulties are in transitions, pragmatic use of speech, social cues and of course sensory. He has grown through and out of so much of it. We did the brushing program which got him off the heights of sensory issues. He would lash out at anyone who touches him. Now, he does it when he is tired and so much more mildly. I also have a girl who is 11 and a girl (ADHD) who is 8. I look forward to reading this board. DG Kia Ora all.....I'm Cathy from New Zealand.I have four loverly boys.....(loverly most of the time...lol) my third son, Madison (Maddy) who is 5 has just been dignosed with Autism. We were told that he probally has AS, but the pediatrian didnt mention it all which was right confusing. He is on the mild side of ASD, but is obsessed with anything electrical.....heights and windows are another problem and we r havin sensory problems with clothing and sounds, so any help is well appreciate!!!! Hes a parrot talker *repeats everything u say back* (roffles!!!) and can only sit in the front of the car without any tantrumin....hes a handful but we all love him to death.....as long as he doesnt climb out anymore windows Hi Everyone!! I am new here, I have an eleven year son who is autistic. I am so glad I found this board I hope to get some advice on some issues were having, which I will post in the other sections, hope I am doing this right...not real used to this yet. Thank you it's great to meet everyone! Hi I am Jo and I have 2 boys, James and Jordan. James is 7 and seems to be doing well but having troubles concentrating in school(Staying focused) but I am told that is typical for his age. Jordan on the other hand is my child I worry the most over. I had a horrible pregnancy with him, every complication you could name except Diabetes. During his birth his cord tore and he had to have a vent and 2 blood transfusions and then had a reaction to his sepsis prevention antibiotics. He just turned 5 in August and started school the same day and thats where my fun started. I have known since Jordan was about 18 months that something wasn't right but my ped said I was just worrying. He was at the end to about a month late on each of his milestones, didn't really speak and so on. Well when he started school theyhad problems with him like not staying with the class, not working on what the class was doing. Kinda doing his own thing and thats what got the ball started. Right now his DX is only ADHD but he is being tested for speech/ language,nuerology to rule out seizures, audiology for his hearing sensitivity, IQ testing to see what his placment should be. They have mentioned Aspergers and PDD and ASD ( I think they are the same thing but 2 different dr said them) and high functioning Autism. He is currently on 2 meds. He takes Clonidine0.1mg daily in 3 doses and Risperidol 0.25 mg 1/2 tab three times a day. At home I don't have too much problems with him except understanding his speech and getting him to do his homework. In school they have a hard time getting him to do his work and do what the other kids are doing, he doesn't play with the others just plays beside them usually doing the same thing and his newest thing is he has decided that he doesn't like PE so he tries to leave the class and go do what he wants to do. Thats my story and I am so glad I have found this site. I borrow ppls computers to get on line so my visits will be random but I really hope to learn alot here.
JOJO
My name is Jason and my daughter is 8yrs old and has been diagnoised with PPD with borderline Autism. I am divorced from her mother for 2 yrs and see her along with my other 2 sons every other other weekend. however I hear from their mother many times throughout the week. She is one problem after another. She is in constant trouble at school. She lies constantly for no reason, She does not feel remorse when she does something wrong. For instance, today I had to pick her up at school she went to the bathroom and picked up her "poo" put it all over the toilet and than washed her hand and of course made a mess there. The worst part is this apperantly the third time and she has been suspended. They didnt put it together till today they have approached all the girls in her class twice and no one came forward. Finally they started a sign up sheet. When I ask her she has a differant reason everytime. Her school works to hard, someone hit her. she bleeds down there. I asked her if her mom checked it she says yes, I ask her Mom she said she never said that to her. We are at wits end am I in the right forum..Just looking for support. Hi...my name is Joan and I'm not totally new. I came here once when this board began and didn't come back again. I guess the message boards were too new. I'm not actually sure why I didn't come back. Today I noticed the link on my tool bar and decided to try here again. My husband, son and I live on Long Island in Suffolk Co. Our son is 14 and has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS, bilateral moderate hearing loss, Tourette Syndrome and ADHD. We knew when he was 2 that there was something wrong and he started getting private speech immediately. That speech therapist recommended Just Kids and our son was accepted for their summer program, so he was in preschool at 2. By 2.5, we found out that he had hearing loss and started him on hearing aids. Just before kindergarten, we took him to Dr. Pomeroy (way before the Cody Center -- those of you from LI will know these references) and got him diagnosed privately, thinking we might one day need this diagnosis. Of course, we eventually did. He went to a 6-1-1 kindergarten in our district (Wm. Floyd) and remained in District through 7th grade. Middle school proved to be too much and we took him out to spend his 8th grade year at BOCES Jefferson School, a school for higher functioning kids with neurobiological disorders. Most of the children there suffer from Asperger's Syndrome. There used to be a wider range of academic ability in that school, but the year my son went there, they were forced by NYS to offer ONLY Regents-track instruction. Loosely, this means he has to study material that is meant for children going on to a higher education. Our son, with great difficulty, actually got C's and made it through the year, but it became clear to everyone that this was not the direction his education should take. Over a year ago, we started looking for HS placements that would work for him. The difficulty is that every place is either on this Regents track or is teaching at the K/1 level. Our son is learning at about the 3/4 level. Our home District has Lifeskills classes in our HS, but our HS has nearly 4,000 and the DIstrict feels it would not be an appropriate environment for our son. Actually, I agree with them, but I am stuck. He has been accepted into a BOCES vocational program that is PERFECT for him. It is a special ed vocational program, taught by special ed teachers. He's big and strong and interested in Horticulture, so he'd be in that program. Problem is, the program is half a day and we have to have him enrolled in an academic half day program, too. And we WANT to. The only program that is half a day won't take students with IEP's that have behavior plans. Our son's does, because having a written behavior plan makes him less stressed. He's not violent, nor does he have misbehaviors that would warrant something like a time out room. He can be silly and giggly but not aggressive or mean. So we were left with only a half day for him and that is not a legal placement. The District's position is that we should put him into the program that is taught at the k/1 level. I told them this was a default placement and I wanted my son in a more appropriate placement to HIS abilities. The result is that he's been on home instruction all year. We have a lawyer dealing with this right now. Over the years, I've been very involved in autism groups and support groups and was even our SEPTO president for 6 years. This is not a clear cut case, but I refuse to just warehouse our son. I can't even call for an impartial hearing at this point because the day before our CSE a couple of weeks ago, the US Supreme Court decided that if parents bring a hearing, it's incumbent on THEM to prove the District is wrong. Until then, the District had to prove that it's right. YOu can imagine the sea change this is going to bring about. No one knows the legal status of our son's placement at this point. I'm waiting to hear from our lawyer. Hope to be on these boards often. Clearly, I'll need support and advice to get me through this mess. Hi everyone.. My name is Yasser and I am a father of 3 children. My youngest who is a beautiful two years old Daughter (Aya) was diagnosed with Autism a couple of weeks ago by a doctor who is a friend of the family and married to a psychologist who supported his view. Simply I am heart broken and still in a state of shock and don't know what to do.. I immediately got into the internet and started to read about Autism and its syptoms and I clearly now understand that she is Autistic.. She does not speak, not interact with us, no eye contact, extreme focus on the task in hand and blocks herself from everything else and endless energy (Jumping all day long).. I initially thought it was a hearing problem and took her for a formal hearing test and the doctors said she has good hearing, but only reponds to sounds that are familiar i.e. The etsy betsy spider, twinkle and the xylaphone.. but other than that no response to our voices.. I am glad I found this site, it almost gave me hope because there will be others who share the same experiences and can advise on next steps and what to do and whom to contact and so on.. I never thought that I could be that weak, I never thought that I could cry so hard and with so much pain.. every time I look at my daughter and she looks away and every time I try to hold her and she wiggles out of it, I get this bitter feeling and sense of disappointment and fear from the future.. My wife seems to be the stronger one, but she could also be in denial or simply busy with the 3 children who are keeping her very occupied, particularly Aya who constantly wants someone after her to make sure she does not harm herself from the jumping and running.. I would appreciate it if anyone can guide me on the steps to take to deal with this.. The only thing I keep hearing is that early intervention is critical to the success of the treatment.. But I really don't know how to go about it and whom to see and how to put a plan together to start the treatment journey.. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.. Yasser Yasser -- I hear your pain loud and clear. We have all gone through it. Pain can be good, though, if it forces you and your wife to pursue the best possible treatments for your daughter. My son is 14.5 and there were not nearly as many options for him when he was 2. Also, some of the research that has been done on autism makes a prognosis for a girl far better than that for a boy. There seems to be something in the female brain that can help girls overcome some of the symptoms by the time they enter school. Of course, this doesn't happen for all girls, but only 25% of all children with autism are girls and the thinking is that a female brain is more likely to "recover" given the proper early intervention. The advice you've gotten about early intervention is THE BEST ADVICE. You should ask your doctor about early intervention programs in your area, call your school District or contact the local chapter of the Autism Society of America. What you will be looking for is a program that offers 40 hours a week of ABA training. ABA is the only thing that has been PROVEN to work for autistic kids. There are other methods. My own son was exposed to the TEACCH method in preschool. But back then, ABA was reserved only for the most severe cases in our area (Long Island). The critical thing is to get your daughter into a therapeutic preschool. Federal law REQUIRES early intervention at no cost to parents. Each state has its own laws and some states offer more than the Federal government requires but no state can offer less. Most early intervention programs also offer parent training, especially if ABA is involved. Make sure both you and your wife take advantage of this training. The more you get involved, the better the outcome. Put your grief to work and your daughter will do far better than it seems right now.Hi my name is Laura and I am a mommy of two beautiful kiddo's. My son is 5 yrs old and has High functioning Autism, Distruptive behavior disorder and apraxia of speech. He is a hyper handful and his behavior can get very out of control times. We are currently in New Mexico but will be moving in May. Still not sure where I am so glad to have found this site. Hugs, Laura Hello, I have a son who will soon be 5, and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 2 1/2. He is extremely intelligent and cute as can be, but can be a total handfull as well. I have found that 4 has been a really rough age for him (and subsequently the rest of the family!) But I love him dearly and hope to get to know some of the folks on this board. Thanks! (I think I originally posted this in the wrong section... so I'll just copy andpaste) , I am a single mother of 2 teenage sons and my little girl Leila. leila was doing fine, at 9 months she said her first word, "book". Shortly she began saying other words, kitty, daddy, bye-bye, pretty, ball,and a couple others I cant think of right now. Then about a month in a half later, she learned to walk, and stopped speaking. i thought maybe she was distracted by the novelty of walking but it is now December, she is 16 months old and has not regained speech. She no longer responds to her name, eye contact is minimal, no more kisses , changing her diaper is like wrestling a greased pisig... I have to pin her down on the ground with my feet on her shoulders because it is the only possible way of changing her! She does not play with toys properly, she has also started mouthing/ licking things and also seems to want to nurse like a newborn again, she hates her fingers or toes being touched and the child runs with abandon any chance she gets... practically all day long... running running running! Also likes to twirl socks. So all these combined with the loss of speech... ECI came yesterday for an initail screening and she has an eval scheduled with them next week. I was told my daughter has some definate sensory issues and coomunication problems ( DUH!) However I was told if I want an actual "diagnoses" i have to take her to developmental peditrician... ( not having much luck finding one... the ones I found have a 10-11 month WAIT!!!!) Meanwhile...I am saddned,as she was fine ... but then its like watching a light bulb go dimmer and dimmer... very slowly... I have so many questions... and I am emotionally tired... I dont know how I am going to get us through this.... hello i am new here and it's good to find you all. i live in the uk and have an 18 year old son with autism. along with his autism he has severe learning difficulties, epilepsy and mild cp. he is 6'2" and sooooo handsome it's good to find so many parents in one place Hi - this is my first post here, I stumbled accross this board via a link onanother board I frequent. Anyway, I have an 8 1/2 year old son, diagnosed with autism, who joined our family by adoption. Donny has been with us for a little over two years - he initially entered our home as a foster child (our first foster child). It's been a long hard fight to adopt him, but well worth it. We got Notice of Placement last month, and now are just waiting for the final Adoption Order. Donny wasn't diagnosed with autism until just before his fifth birthday, even though he was glaringly "autistic" from toddlerhood on, looking back at his first documentation with child development. He was seen, on a referral from his preschool, when he was 3, and, while it is very evident from the report that he had autism, he then lived in a rural community, that didn't have the resources to diagnose him. They stated that his behavior was "bizarre", and recommended his hearing be tested and he be sent for speech and language therapy. Neither happened. Donny's history, prior to joining our family, is filled with violence and neglect. He was abused and neglected by his birth mother, who was/is a drug addict. His first foster placement, which was through a Satelite company, and thus not as regulated as if it were directly through the Ministry (child welfare), wound up being abusive/neglectful also. He was there for three years, was undernourished, physically abused, inadequately supervised, etc., etc. He also received no early intervention, even after his diagnosis. When Donny entered our home, he was described as severely autistic, non-verbal, self-injurious, aggressive, and developmentally delayed. He had a history of running away and fire setting. I'm VERY proud to say that today he is an entirely different boy. These days, Donny would be considered "high functioning autistic", although behavioral issues related to his background are a constant challenge. 90% of our daily struggles don't relate to autism, but rather relate to anxiety/trust/learned negative behaviors from his past experiences. Right now, we're actually having a really tough time, due to school issues. We had to change schools due to the whole thing, but it seems we waited too long. In two months, the school he was at, with their incompetence and abusive practices (they were segregating him, restraining without documentation, etc), undid two YEARS of hard work and progress
However, we're in a good school now, with a rockin' new TA, and I KNOW we'll get back on track (although it may take awhile). As for treatments and therapies: Medically, Donny is on Risperdal (was on it before he joined our home - we've tried to go off it twice without success), and Paxil (has been GREAT for addressing anxiety-related irritability and aggression). We do some biomedical things, including: CLO, methionine, taurine, selenium, zinc, cal/mag, enzymes, probiotic, GSE, MB12 (oral), B vit complex, magnesium sulfate cream, etc. He receives OT/PT once per month, and we incorporate sensory strategies into everything. He receives speech and language therapy informally from us, with an SLP overseeing. We're just starting an Intensive-Early-Intervention-style ABA program. Glad to be here!!!merry christmas from new zealand i am a single parant and have 3 kids ben is 11 and has kabuki sys and adhd. my 5 yr old is PDD and ADD where do i start jericho has always being a hard kid 2 look after and is making my life very hard. 1 good day is all i ask am i nuts 2 be glad that he goes 2 school and im away from the yellin and demaining of him. or 2 go out as a family and not worry what is going 2 go wrong or be looked as my son decided he needed 2 be a puppy in the supermarket. i get a small amount of help but nolthing for his behaiour all i can do is time out. i also work partime and have 4 cats that have learnt 2 run when they c jericho and 1 baby rabbit . Hello. 4 days ago my 3 year old daughter (my angel!) was diagnosed with PDD-NOS. Since then my mind has been all over the place. I can't keep it still. I have cried, a lot, been angry, gone through the "why her!", been optimistic for brief periods, been in denial, (they have to be wrong.) I am so confused, I have so many questions, and I as far as I can tell we can't do anything until we get the report from the evaluation. I keep wondering is my daughter in danger of getting worse over the next 2 weeks? I want someting done now!!!! Most of all I feel so alone. My husband is away all day, and I have nobody to talk to about this. The few family members and friends we have told just looked at us like we are crazy, and think she was mis diagnosed, and insist there is nothing wrong with her and that she is nothing like "RAINMAN". I have noticed that there are a lot of posts here and I don't know if anyone will read this, but I do feel a little tiny bit better expressing myself. Thank you. Hello everyone. I am the mother of a four year old autistic son. We didn't find out that he was autistic untill about three months ago. So I am trying to learn everything that I can. I am a single mother, so I don't have the support of the faher, but I do have a great family. We are all trying to learn what we can. My son is the light of my life. But there are times after he is in bed that I get so mad at the fact that my son will lead a different life then other children. Then I feel guilty. At least I have a beautiful child. I have just stumbled across this site. And I can't tell you how happy I am to have done so. I now feel like I am not alone in some of my feelings. Thank you and have a happy holidayHello! My name is Robin and I have a seven year old son who is on the Autistic Spectrum. He wasn't diagnosed until he was five years old, even though I suspected it when he was around two or three. I was kept being told that he would "grow out" of his speech delay. I finally had to switch to a different doctor for him, and the new doctor pushed to find out why he wasn't talking (he did talk but it was mainly just repeating things from television and from books). It's been a frustrating experience for all of us. He was seeing an "autism" specialist for awhile. That didn't do much good (in my opinion) and then she closed up shop and moved out of town. Right now, he's in the second grade. He's very smart. He gets good grades. The only problems he has in school are with his behavior. He gets a thought in his head and he just focuses on that and it doesn't matter what the teacher or anyone else says. I am so happy to find this board. I go on our local Autism website every once in awhile. They do offer some good info, but I've always thought that they needed a message board. It would help a lot for people, like me, who are unable to attend the support group meetings (I work second shift). Hi everyone, I am the Father of a 3 Year Old Autistic Son. My 2 other children are 8 and 4 and the show no signs of Autism, but my Youngest does display ALL the KEy Features Of Autism, and Doctors just dont seem to see that it is Autistic. Though you name a element of Autism and he Has it. I have been doing research for about 1 year and i believe this is the diagnosis. HE lines all his toys up, he does not speak except on VERY rare occasions, He has a learning Delay, He tends to have Extreme trantrums if things are not EXACTLY how he would like them. He does not Eat normal meals. He also does not seem to understand why he is being repremanded when he does something wrong such as attacking his Brother or Sister when they inadvertantly move something he had set up his way.
It is noce to have a resource my wife and i can frequent and speak to others who might have helpful hints and tips.
Hi. I'm a mother of a 3 year old who has PDD with Autistic Tendencies. I've known since he was less than a year old that there were problems. Everyone used to tell me that my son would grow out of it or that everyone develops at different rates. My son is delayed in speech, has social issues, and extremely hyper. He is currently in speech therapy but that's not enough. I find myself frustrated that nothing is ever easy with him and then ultimately find myself crying because i don't know how to help him. We are currently battling with the school system...they don't want to supply special education even though we have had him tested and have a diagnosis. I find the worst part of my day is the two seconds it takes from me asking the daycare teacher how was he today until their answer...never knowing how it will be. My son is a very fun, energetic boy who needs help and i hope to start meeting people who are going through the same issues that I go through. It would be nice to finally have someone say to me "hey, my kid does that as well." I'm tired of explaining myself and my son. Does that make sense? Thanks for letting me babble. Welcome to all of our new members. Carrie, I also have a 3year old with autism. Come on over the parents of autistic children thread and to the hangout with friends. This board provides lots of support from people who are going through the same things that others are. I consider this board to be my second family.It's time to get this intro out of the way... by now I could write a book, so I'll keep it brief. I'm single, working mom with a very intense and awesome 6-year-old son. He was high needs from the beginning, but back then it was due to me "spoiling" him. To an untrained eye, he's just a cute, hyperactive, high-functioning boy. They finally took my concerns seriously after his pre-K early childhood evaluation, where he scored below average on everything except gross motor skills. Since then, we've gone through the whole shebang (medications, evaluations, day treatment, behavior therapy, respite care, special education, all-inclusive classrooms, etc). Everyday presents a battle. He's a complicated little guy with a bunch of diagnoses (ADHD/ODD/PDD-NOS, Conduct Disorder, Mood Disorder, and possible Early Onset Bipolar). He was recently reevaluated for his IEP and they're calling it Autism Spectrum Disorder with a significant Language/Communication Disorder. He doesn't fit any of those labels perfectly, though. When it comes down to it, almost all of his relatives have some sort of mental illness. He just got the full-blown version. It's hard not to feel hopeless and alone, especially with no support system, but being his mom and advocate is my #1 job. Hi everyone!! I am a mother of three beautiful children. Samantha- 13, Skyler -11, and Sabrina-9. My middle child Skyler is autistic. The holidays were difficult for Skyler. Going to realitives are so confusing to him. The smells, the noises, etc.. But we made it through!! I am interested any learning about other autistic children going in/ in middle school.
Thanks~! Hi,my name is Tanya i am 28 and i live in ontario i have twin boy's and they both have autism and they are going to be 5 in march wow where does the time go..lol and Iam looking forward to getting to know all of you here..Hi, My name is Sally and am so happy to have found such a great forum. There has been so much information, it's wonderful! My husband and I have 3 children, our middle child, Ben has PDDNOS. He is 9 1/2 yrs.old and basically non-verbal. He attends school, a special classroom is set up inside our elementary school, where, when he can handle it, he attends certain classes with typical kids. He absolutely loves to be with children his own age, even though he can't communicate with them. He also loves books, and movies. He has issues with writing, holding pencils, pens, crayons, ect. and absolutely hates getting his hands messy! But enjoys the computer, any learning game or fun game for that matter. Thanks for letting me share. Sally, Hi, just want to introduce myself. My name is Beth and I have 2 boys, an 8 year old dx pdd-nos and an 11 year old. We have struggled lately with lots of melt downs and aggression, especially against older brother. My son is currently on prozac (for ocd) and abilify (to help stablize mood swings). He was moved to a special autism program at school this year because of behavior issues. Life revolves around trying to balance the needs of both kids. Guess I feel I'm not balancing so well right now. Beth- Your story sounds so familiar!! My son Skyler was on Prozac for a year. (between the age of 8-9. Prozac did help him with mood swings, and help him control his aggresive behaviors. It helped him so much!! HE is now 11 and is not on medications. Reevaluate in a year, see if your son is ready to wean off the meds. Skyler was, but I know others who weren't. Not balancing so well?? Taking mom time out will help you be more balanced when you come back to your kids. (Sounds easy right? HA!) How does your older child feel about your 8 year old. My daughter (13) has anxiety for Skyler to go to middle school with her next year. We start transitioning him this semester and Samantha is worried he will embarass her. Tammy Surber he is 4. Caleb talks but he is very,very aggressive which i am not sure what to do about that and it drives me crazy some days. But i thought i would introduce myself. Thanks for reading  gsgsgHi my name is Tanya i live in canada i have twin boys..Luke and Brian both have autism. Brian is high fuctioning he can talk he is potty trained and he is in school now and doing great..Luke also has cp as well and a lot of medical problems he is very low fuctioning but he is doing better now that they both are getting IBI,ABA ...luke is noverbal but is using pecs now..Luke and Brian are going to be 5 in march wow where does the time go..luke has a mind of a 18 month old now Brian is normal what you want to call normal lol but has a hard time with hes speech...TanyaHey does anybody have twins...they both have autism or just one i would love to talk to you let me know..Tanya Hi everyone. My name is Linda and my daughter Emily who's 2 1/2 years old was recently diagnosed with Autism. We knew about 6 months ago that she was speech delayed since she was really only saying single words. So she has been in speech therapy since June. It has really helped, she still says alot of single words but she also says several 2 word sentences and a few 3 word sentences. I am still devastated that she has Autism and I pray that I can get through this. My husband has been very helpful. We suspected it could be Autism when she started speech theapy but both of her speech therapists did not think she had it. So of course I made myself believe that even though my husband thought she did. So my heart broke the day she was evaluated at MUSC in Charleston, SC and they told me she did have it. The dr thinks she will be pretty high functioning but I am scared to death!!!!! Emily will be starting preschool in August with other children who are developmentally delayed. Right now she goes to daycare and loves it! I've decided to stop working so I can put more effort into being involved in Emily's therapy and anything else she may need. I've started reading the book "Everything you need to know about Autism". I like the way it's written, very basic and easy to understand. This is a good book to start with to understand the basics. Right now Emily has 2 speech therapists and we're going to be getting her evaluated for an occupational therapist in the next few weeks. We also just found out that our insurance will cover 25 hours of ABA therapy a month so I'm inquiring on that too. I am just so overwhelmed right now and I do feel better when I talk about it. Some days I feel ok about everything and I know we will get through this and other days I feel like God is punishing me and I find myself asking WHY ME? I did everything right during pregnancy, and after battling infertility for over 2 years and a miscarraige I finally had Emily. I did everything right and some days I just feel like this should not be happening to me. But other days I feel "chosen" by God because he knew I would do what is right for Emily and get her all the help I can. Does anyone else go through this? I look forward to getting to know you all. Is anyone in the Sumter/Columbia SC area? I really would like to find a playgroup for Emily. Wow, this got really long, I better end it before it turns into a book! haha Linda L. Hi!I am new to the group. I am the father of beautiful 13 year old daughter and a special 11 year old son. My daughter is very gifted and my son has severe autism and mild mental retardation. Six weeks ago today, my wife and son were in a tragic car accident. My bride of 19 years was killed instantly and my son was airlifted to the Medical College of Georgia where he was in on life support for three weeks. My son is at home now and is going to make a full recovery. Praise God!!! A single father - whew! Thanks in advance for your prayers. Vernon in Georgia Vernon, I am so sorry for your loss! I'm not really sure what to say, I can not even imagine how you must be feeling right now. I will keep you and your family in my prayers! Vernon- I will keep your family in my prayers. I can't imagine how you and your family are feeling. I am not sure what to say. Please keep us posted on the recovery of your son. And the healing of your whole family. Tammy I'm so gald I found this sight! I have a 3 yr. old little boy. His name is Camden. At almost 2 my friend who is Occupational Ther. Assnt. told me that he was showing autistic tendencies. Camden would get into tight spaces we he was overwhelmed and have major meltdowns about minor things. So I took him to our pedtrician and he had me take him to an Occupational Therepist. She diagnosed him with Sensory Intergration Dysfuction. After she discharged him he regressed in his behavoir. His vocabulary is very limited and to me he doesn't comprend at a 3 year old leavel. He gets VERY obsessed with things (fruit, elephants, vaccum cleaners). Everything I read describes my son. I'm SO confussed and agrivated! In Febuary I am getting him evaluated by a Nurological doctor. I feel like I'm running in circle's trying to figure out what is wrong. I feel like my son is slipping through the cracks and not getting the care he needs. We have been to speech and occupational therepy. I don't know what to do. Any advice?Hi everyone!! My child is 7 years old and has a mild case of autism. I'm having problems finding someone who will watch after him when he gets out of school. Currently my mother is watching him for me, but it's preventing her from doing things she has wo do with her time. I've tried to enroll him in the Boys & Girls Club, but they told me that they aren't certified and qualified to deal with a child with special needs. What is the correct procedure to follow regarding finding a qualified childcare provider for my son? I appreciate any replies or suggestions given to me relating to this topic. Hi! I don't know if you have it where you live, but you might try checking with MHMR (Mental Health/Mental Retardation) and see if they can help. My sister works with the MHMR where we live and she has told me that at any time, if we wanted to, we could get my 4yo dd (moderate PDD/Autism) signed up for part time home care....she said that would be where someone would come to our house and basically watch her for a while, but they would also work with her in certain areas if we wanted them to, but that way if we needed to do something and not have her with us, then there would be someone that is state certified in all areas pertaining to disabilities, first-aid, etc. It is state funded, so their services should be free to you, but you would have to check on that for sure. I hope that helps!
Nice to meet ya all.
Well I have gone on long enough Hello! I am new to this forum and happy to have found it! I have a 3 year old son diagnosed with PDD NOS in July 2005. He is in a special ed class with 6 other children. He is receiving physical therapy and speech therapy through the school. He has made great progress since starting school. We are just beginning this journey, and I am trying to figure out the best treatments for my son. Nice to meet all of you! Hi Everyone, I am excited to find this site. My son Jared is 5 and is autistic-mild to moderate. We are transitioning from a regular ed kindergarten class to a self-contained autistic class next week. I look forward to sharing and learning as a part of this group. teacher and have found that parents sometimes are more knowledgeable and helpful than any book or training class. I appreciate all the help I have received from reading your posts, Please keep advocating and supporting your children  Iam so sorry to about you loss.. TanyaHi All, I am from Missouri, my step daughter has been diagnosed as Educationally autistic in the school setting... I am confused...The school district diagnosed her WITHOUT a doctor...?any advice or help is wanted Hi everyone. I have been a long time lurker but finally decided to join. My name is Michael and I am the proud father of a 29 month old boy named Jayden who was recently diagnosed with pdd-nos. Hi, I'm the mother of a 3 year old who was diagnosed with PDD about 10 months ago, at which point we had already begun ST, OT, PT. She stayed with it until she turned three, at which point her therapists started saying, "well, she's doing pretty good, so we'll see her every other week" and so on. What's odd is that my daughter has never had much trouble sleeping, eats pretty much anything, and is the height of a 5-year old. She has a fantastic memory, particularly for music, and she will put things she says to songs she likes, but she doesn't use a name for me, only sometimes for other family. She will approach me for attention and give hugs sometimes, but she still is very distracted at times. Her verbal skills are good, and she's starting to learn her letters, but she mainly repeats her favorite songs or movies and she hesitates when I ask her a question about "why, when," etc. She has come a long way from her therapy, when she only said about five words, but it worries me that every teacher at her daycare says she seems just fine, and her timid nature with other kids is still noticeable. I'm glad to find so many other moms who are dealing with the frustrations of a child who may ask for something and later only whine and cry. Hi evryone, My name is emma and I have an 11yr old daughter that has only just been diagnosed with A.S (aspergers syndrome). I always knew something was wrong but everyone including doctors told me she was just difficult and challenging. We have always struggled with daily activities. I must admit I was quite scared at first, thinking that I was the only one. I am so glad there are other people like us.
He currently uses a laptop at school. He does excell at many things also, he ice skates well, he spells and reads well. He is in a regular class at a parocial school (aside from the laptop use.) He has some minor odd things he does, tapping,some rocking type movement in the morning and, he's very particular - he will correct you every chance he can. I want to know if anyone has a child with similar situation to chat with (parents). Or it would be great to find someone in Indiana to talk to or maybe meet. hello ladies i am a mother of a 12 year old with ASD you are welcome to chat with me any time i am in North Carolina but will be happy to talk to you and help in any way i can . just a mom Hello! I have a 7 year old son with severe ASD. He is almost completely nonverbal except for the occasional "mama", "bay, bay, bay" for baby- his name for both his little sisters and "guh boy guh boy" for good boy. He's not toilet trained, although when we sit him on the potty he does pee. He is in an autism program in a special ed school in West Michigan. I found this forum when we were doing searches on special education in Ohio, because we were briefly thinking of moving there. But the idea of uprooting him out of his current educational set-up and trying to get him into another one is so overwhelming that we decided to stay where we are. He's a sweet affectionate child most of the time, but at times he gets quite aggressive and bites, hites, headbutts. He's quite destructive at times. He broke several of his Christmas presents within a day fo getting them. We do have respite set up, although we don't use it as much as we could. I look forward to meeting other parents. Hello! My name is Lynn. I live in eastern Iowa. I have 5 children one of which we suspect has an autism spectrum disorder or PDD. His name is Jacob and is 9 years old. We have been fighting for a diagnosis since he was 18 months old and have yet to get one. He displays 13 of 14 criteria from the DSM-IV but yet the Dr's say it is not severe enough to diagnos. He is in 3rd grade and is in special education. He is always in trouble at school because his behaviors are so uncontrollable. He has his recess priveledges revoked because he needs constant supervision outside with other children. He has not made any progree with his IEP goals and is at a standstill. I am currently out for blood because I am going to get a diagnosis no matter what it takes! I'm looking for a new dr to get a 2nd opinion.
My youngest daughter who is 4 also shows some signs of autism but not as severe as her brother. She does not play she will stand by her sister and watch her play and also lines things up around the perimeters of the rooms. We have just currently realized these and are going to make an appointment for her as well. hi Lynn my name is Kris I've been going through this since my son was about the same age. My son who is now 7 has the same problems as you descibed. He was kicked out of special Pre-school because he headbutted his teacher. I was not told they where trying to restrain him in a chair with straps he lost control and hurt her . His explanation was his teacher hurt him and he turned in to the hulk. I then went crazy at his school. They have now put him in a new school to my avail he was doing better till he hit the first grade, now all of those behaviors are back. I contacted his social worker and explained that I feel he has autism, He has new behaviors, such as very fixated on certain items potato head, hats, he is also more vocal constant screaming, not his fault he really can't help it the school is very hard to deal with because there so called budget. my sons behavior is also getting worse he is constantly in trouble I get reports from his teacher everyday telling me how bad he is. It is frustrating to say the least you would think there would be alot more resources, for all that have children with autism. Not only do you feel bad for the child, but it makes you doubt yourself as a individual because we feel we already let our child down. Sorry if I went off the subject of your posting but it seems to happen all the time. It is frustrating and I need to vent. If You need anything feel free to get intouch.
My name is Liz, I have posted a bit but thought I'd share our story.... My son just turned 5, he has PDD NOS and ADHD, I think we always new he was special, certain things he did always seemed a bit like he was from another world. Sam is very high functioning with an above average IQ, for him the social stuff is a real problem, not that he doesn't want to make friends, he does...he just can't seem to quite pull it off. Now he is in private therapy for play, behavior modification, and speech. Our local school system is working their way - slowly - through an evaluation and (I won't say luck) but we will have aN IEP when he enters Kindergarden next year. I love too ( and excel at) research, strategy planning, and negotiations so I'm hopeful those skills will come in handy. There is not a thing I would change about my son, he is beautiful, engaging (once he gets to know you) and one of the most loving kids I know. Lizzy Hi, my name is Julie and we suspect that my son Liam, 16 months is on the autism spectrum. He is nonverbal, stims constantly, does not point, wave or communicate in any way other than crying. He becomes frustrated at the slightest things. We are in the process of getting help through Early Intervention. We will be pursuing a diagnosis in a few months. Right now we are educating ourselves and trying to help Liam as much as possible. Julie - You hang in there...all of us are in the same boat...you will do what's best for him don't ever doubt that...trust your instincts. In the meantime if you need to talk or email...I'm here. My email is in my profile. Lizzy Hi everyone! My name is Amy and I am so glad I found a good place to chat with other families who have experienced what my family has experienced. I have two sons, ages 9 and 6. My youngest has PDD-NOS. He had a normal development, reaching all milestones at the appropriate times, until right before his third birthday. Then, he began getting frequent ear infections and high fevers, and not long after that he began exhibiting symptoms of autism. He has come a long way since first being diagnosed (improving his CARS score from 33 to 21) but we're going through an aggressive behavior period right now that is very difficult on all of us. Thank goodness for these internet sites! I don't know what I would do without them. I look forward to being a part of this great information exchange.Amy- I believe you just helped me with something! My son met his milestones and then started exhibiting symptoms just before he was 3. I never put this together, but he had severe recurring ear infections and was on long term antibiotic treatment. Does this have a correlation with autism/PDD? There does seem to be a lot of ASD kids who have had lots of problems with their ears, and I have read that there are many parents whose children developed normally until they developed an out-of-control infection. The theory behind this is that there are immune system problems in the child that can lead to autism.Lynn, I read your introduction and I just wanted you to know that I can totally relate to you. We are having serious behavior problems at school also. It really makes everything that much harder. They have placed my son with a home-school teacher until they can find what they call "the proper placement." I'm here if you ever feel like talking or just need a friend...AmyAmy - You know Sam was exactly the same as you described...normal development, normal (or above normal academically), but he always had frequent ear infections, then when we left CA and moved out here they got worse and he even had puenomia twice, lots of antibiotics. I wonder if its the antibiotics that trigger something (maybe genetic) in our kids? Lizzy I definitely think there is a connection of some sort, because every time my son is on antibiotics he has a meltdown. I would love to know if studies are being done on this. I have found an article about ASD and possible immune system defects, but it didn't specifically mention whether it was the infections themselves or the meds used to treat them that brought on the autistic behaviors.Hi, my name is Tami and I have an almost 3 year old son, Brandon that they think may be autistic. He has speech delay for certain, but we haven't been evaluated yet, just starting the process. I'm trying to get as much info as I can so I'll know what the doctors are talking about.Hi! I'm new to the boards. I have a 3 1/2 year old, diagnosed with PDD-NOS about 5 months ago, right after our second child was born. Life has been a challenge since then, with lots of behavior issues, therapies, lack of potty training, etc. I will be posting questions regarding these things, as I am looking for some support. Looking forward to chatting with everyone.Hi everyone... my name is Melissa. I'm the mom of three beautiful children. My oldest daughter is 7 yrs old. I also have a 3 yr old daughter and a 10 1/2 month old son. Madison my 3 yr old was diagnosed with PDD/NOS April 2005. She will be retested this summer to see if she's made any improvements since placing her in preschoo this year. Madison has a speech delay. She can say many of words but she just can't put them together yet. She can't express her wants or needs. She takes us to what she wants. She has no concept of danger, someone is with her at all times, we take no chances. This is just some of what we go through each day, that's why we take one day at a time. I thank God every day for blessing me with Madison. I couldn't imagine my life without my blonde hair, brown eyed little girl. Her smile and laughter will brighten up anyones day. We have good days and bad days at our house. Some days she will take a step forward in her learning other days she will take two steps back. There are plenty of times when things get stressful around here, but then she will say or do something she's never done before or just out of the blue she will give me the biggest hug and say wuv you. On thoses days I couldn't ask for more. I just recently found this site and I wanted to introduce myself and tell you alittle bit about my daughter. I don't know much about PDD/Autism, was hoping to get some ideas on how to help my daughter with the struggles she faces each day. By reading alot of the messages and stories on here, I now know we are not alone in this. Thank you for taking the time and reading about my little girl. melissa Hi I am currently an Occupational Therapy Student. I also work part time with a wonderful young boy who has autism. I will be graduating soon and look forward to working with more children in the future.Hello everyone, I am glad to find people who know what I go thru. I look forward to learning new things from all you wonderful parents. Thank you for being the best moms and dads out there! My name is Angel, and I have a 4 y/o with PDD, he is high functioning. HIs name is Austin, he goes to school 4 days a week. He is very loveable to all people. He does not talk and is not able to communicate. I also have a 5 y/o daughter her name is Samantha. I also was diagnosed with MS in Feb 2005. So that is a rundown of my family. Oh by the way we are driving my husband bald! with all the stress. Thank you for letting me join this group. My location is Dayton, OH.Hi, I'm new to the website. I have a 5 year old with I believe PDD-NOS, Drs. keep telling me its not, but everything I read proofs to me. The reason they say he's not is because he can look at people in the eyes. But he has major speech delays, major behavior problems, hyper active, delayed socially, educational wise. He's basically delayed in every area. My son is currently on clonditine and seroquel for his aggression. Have any of your kids been on this combination? It doesn't seem to be working for us. He's so hyper its not even funny. Any recommendations, I would appreciate any information you guys could give me.
Thanks aarons mom in missouir I really do sympathize with you. It took 11yrs for them to diagnose my daughter and I really had to fight for it. They said she was just naughty and gets over excited but I always knew there was something wrong. It turns out that she has Aspergers syndrome and all they have done is put her on Clonidine for her anger. I have to say this doesnt really work. We get no help from local authorities either I have found the national autistic society really helpful, they send info and talk you through stuff and have meetings probably in your area too.hi, my name is Tanya and I just found this board! I'm the mother of 8 children, and my youngest son, Jackson has autism. He is 2 years old and also has a twin sister, who is typical. Looking forward to reading all of your stories! Okay, so I did it a little backwards - I just found this post for new people, even though I already posted to a few topics last night. My name is Vicki and I am the mom of 34-mo old Nathan, who has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS. I am looking forward to all of the information available on the message board and to communicating with people who know what we're going through. Hello, I am grandma to Corbett age 13, PDD. His mother, Shayla has learning disabilities. I first noticed Corbett was having a problem riding in automobiles when I was driving his mother to the Adult Handicapped Workshop. Corbett would scream and cry the whole ride and most babies I had been around loved car rides and went to sleep. A local doctor diagnosed him PDD and at age 2 he began going to Early Intervention classes. His behavior was very difficult but his nature and interest filled our life. He loved flowers and bugs, knew no fear and kept us busy. We live in He has a sister, Mariah age 7. His father is a truck driver and only home on weekends so they live with us. I have MS and my husband has worked in the coal industry for 36 years. We have 6 more grandchildren and Corbett has learned a lot from all of them. They include him in everything but he likes to observe and just be with them. He also takes Clonidine HCL 0.1mg twice a day along with Risperdal 1mg twice a day. He is a very picky eater, mostly protein. We supplement his diet with Ensure, strawberry flavored. He seems shaky in the evenings so we recently tried to add Strattera but he became very agitated immediately, so we stopped that. He only “stims” in the evenings with a small stuffed animal and the shakiness may just be part of the autism. It is a pleasure to find this forum. I belong to two MS forums and know how much a person can learn from them. I have forgotten so many things we tried with Corbett but remember a lot of different vitamins, etc. We have stopped all of them because he drinks about 4 Ensures a day and they have supplements in them already. He loves to eat hot wings and chicken nuggets. He will only eat curly fries and takes all the batter off the fish and chicken he eats. He loves bananas and apple sauce along with fruit juices. But he just doesn’t like breads or vegetables. The only way we get bread in him is Pretzels. He is a wonderful gift in our lives. He will soon need to shave and says he won’t. We will see in time. Looking forward to reading here and hope to post some, too. Hi, I'm Linda, mother to 7 year old Kyler who has PDD NOS and ADHD. We live in St Louis, and he is very hig functioning. He enjoys computers and reading,he is a whiz at math.
I am 41 years old, in the Air National Guard, and I am getting ready to publish a children's book about a little boy with PDD NOS and ADHD and why he acts quirky. I hope to get to know everyone Hello everyone~ I am brand new here and so glad I found this site. I am a mom of 3 boys 9, 5 and 2 1/2. My youngest, who will be 3 in May was just diagnosed with PDD, high-functioning. he has been recieving speech, OT and special ed services through EI. We will meet again with the neurologist in 6 months and soon get all his DNA blood tests done. ( help me with that!). We live in NY, James is not hyper-active and he does make eye contact, his social skills are over 50% delayed and he has major senseory disorders, also auditory processing disorder, he repeats and repeats mostly and has no sense of self soothing skills. James looks mad most of the time and does not want anyone to be "happy" sometimes. If a stranger or even ones he knows looks at him, he becomes very upset and angry. My pediatrician thinks he has aspergers, but the neurologist says that they can not diagnose any of that until he is closer to 6 years old. Right now, it's PDD, high functioning. The thought of putting him in a small school setting makes me so nervous, but we will see what happens.
Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself and I look very forward to getting to know you all! It's great to have a place where others understand you and we can all support and encourage one another! James is teaching me patience in a hard way, but I am taking every day one step at a time..:) My name is Jenn and I just joined this forum page. I have a 2 1/2 year old named Dominic who has PDD. I have been recewivng loads of info. on support groups and websites, and this site caught my attention. I'm so glad there are places you can go to to get answers, opinions, or just vent. We are from Columbus Ohio, and Dominic is enrolled at a school specifically for autistic children. If anyone is from this area let me know and maybe we can answer each others questions or just chat about our kids . Nice to meet all of you!Ryans Mom,
My son has the same issue with clothes, especially shirts. He has his favorites, and I have to make dure all the tags are removed from the shirts. Yesterday I went thru 3 shirts that he did not want. I finally told him go pick your own shirt, he did and it was actually one of the shirts I had picked out for him.. He just turned 4. Austin is a very hyper little boy, the doc does not want to put him on anything yet because he is so young, I rather him not be pu t on anything if possible. Maybe try letting him pick his own shirts? Austin is very picky with is shoestrings they must be tied straight and perfect. I feel what every mother is going thru. All I can say good luck and God bless you! Ryan's Mom, Same thing here, except its long sleeves....we have a really hard time in the summer with wearing tempature appropriate clothes...I been reduced to rewards for shorts and short sleeve shirts (oh and no jacket - he figured he's be ok with a jacket). Sam is 5 with PDD NOS and ADHD, very high functioning, the tried Abilify...it was a nightmare (less than 3 days and he was off), now we have decided to treat the ADHD and work on the behvior stuff with therapy. Search for the med on google or alta vista, it should prove helpful, also there are a couple of other sites, yahoo has a shadowkids forum for kids in the AS spectrum that are high functioning...might find some more help there. Good luck 0 and hang in there. Lizzy Hello I am a new member. I have a 10yo son who has many diagnosis'. Began at age 4 with ADHD, then hearing impairment/loss with aids by age 5. Genetic disorder by age 5 also but to date unable to find specific chromosome deficit. He basically has what is called dysmorphic features-sounds bad and no one would know looking at him-he is actalluy very cute. But he has small hands/fingers, external rotation fixation at elbows, displaced thumb, under developed cheekbones and possibly hearing loss related to this genetic disorder although he had numerous ear infections as child and required 9x tube placements, also with left inguinal hydrocele at age 3. Then diagnosed with CAPD, SID by age 6-7 and oral motor/langauage problems, apraxia. Then last year at age 9 PDD-NOS. One MD actually thinks Asperger's but with the oral/langauage issues doesn't meet that criteria. My son has been served in the hearing impaired/deaf classrooms since first grade because of hearing loss (he will be eventually deaf as it is progressive) and now he is at a residential school in Florida for the Deaf and Blind as we moved to a county which had poor services for these children and his needs were not being met. I have been very happy with the school and we plan on moving closer this year so he can be a day student (he's only been there since last August) With this new diagnosis and now abetter understanding of why he was different but never had an anwser this has opened up many more questions/concerns. With these many diagnosis and educational needs I think it can be difficult to have a program that is multifaceted for these kids. In many ways the deaf children have many charcteristics of these children socially and as a result this school does have social skills classes to address these needs. I am just now trying to put all this together and investigate appropiate interventions educationally, socially, etc. Is there anyone out there who also has a child with similar diagnosis-at least the hearing impairment and PDD-NOS and maybe the ADHD? I would love to talk with them about their experiences, suggestions, recommendations. If not thanks for letting me ventilate and if anyone has any information to offer please feel free to let me know. Best to you all in your everyday struggles, joys and adventures with these very special children who we all have been blessed with. Hello What a wonderful forum. I've been searching for a year for a place to talk about autism and many of the forums out there aren't used much. It's so nice to finally find an active forum. I'm a mom of three. Our youngest is 3 and a half and was diagnosed at 18 months with PDD NOS. We had many signs that he may be autistic as a baby but didn't know and the clues didn't add up until he 15 months. Hind sights 20/20 and I'm still trying not to kick myself. Overall, little man is pretty mild for a PDD NOS kid. His stims are starting to fade and he's talking now. He's enrolled at our local MRDD preschool and they have been the biggest blessing in our lives. He does have some sensory issues and they are getting better. His physical issues are becoming more typical for his age also. It's so confusing with him being a PDD kid. To us he's just little man and that's the way he is.
Hi everyone, My name is Greg. I am the proud 37 year old father of an extremely special 6 year old boy named Christopher. Christopher is diagnosed PDD/NOS. I am very happy to have found this message board. I hope to find friends here Hi am new to the boards and I wanted to say hi. I have a beautiful 19-month-old girl who has PDD NOS. I am filled with fear and just sadness. I have been in fear that something was wrong with her since she was 10 months and not really even trying to say Dada. She still does not call me Mommy or my husband Daddy. My family and husband seem to think she just needs some extra attention and stimulation and she will be fine. The doctors I believe down play the situation and almost had me believing that she could just be really laid back and it is to soon to really know if it is autism. However, the ADOS revealed she was Autistic and the CARS score was a 27, a 30 would be on the spectrum. My little girl will give eye contact but inconsistently. Her verbal skills are poor. She will not point to things she wants all she will do is cry and we have to try and guess what she wants. At daycare I observe the other children greet her and she has no interest in responding back with a smile, a wave or saying hi. We know she can talk because she will repeat words and some phrases but often the word does not match up to what she is looking at. Her play skills are very limited, however she imitates you if you show her how to play with a toy. From what I have read although the doctors want to say she has "mild autism" I think that is a load of bull. It seems to me saying someone has mild autism is like having mild cancer, you either have it and it sucks or you don't. It makes it seem like with early intervention she can become normal and from what I have read so far that seems unlikely. I will do everything in my power to get her whatever help I can get her and I pray every night that she will be cured or that this is all just a mistake and she is a late bloomer. I pray that the OT, Speech and floor time will help her escape this disorder. Sorry to ramble I am such an emotional mess right now. Thanks for listening and for being there everyone with all your stories.
Corrine, I don't know where to begin - first hang in there...we've all been in those first few days (or weeks or months) of the dx and its scary....but - and this is important...with early intervention your daughter CAN get better, she may always do things a bit differently but there is no reason why she can't catch up to her peers in almost every way...the key is early detection and early intervention. Read everything you can on the disorder, read everything you can on therapies to help, talk to your local school district to see if they have an early intervention program....my son has PDD NOS and ADHD...in the few WEEKS we've been working with him, we see improvements...it can get better. There is no cure yet for Autism - but she can improve. Try the yahoo group shadowkids....lots of great info there. Please email me if you need more info or just need to vent... Lizzy I need to vent. lol I have a beautiful 4 year old, Connor. Said Momma and Daddy at 12 months old. Never spoke another word until the age of 3 1/2. No eating issues, really, so for that I'm immensely thankful. Sure, he is still learning to chew correctly, but the vomitting has almost stopped, so that's good. You think they are getting so much better, and you start to feel normal, and the next thing you know it's a cold day, you are giving them a bite of hot dog, and you shock their lip. All heck breaks loose. They're screaming and shaking in fright, of you, of hot dogs, of food in general. It gets so old. So tiring. So defeating. I know it gets better. Every day, he makes amazing strides. He's a high-functioning autistic boy. I'm thankful. And tired. Always tired. I wonder . . . are you SURE that God only gives you as much as you can handle? 'Cause some days, it seems like he's forgotten what he gave yesterday. And the day before. And the day before that. Geez, am I a downer, or what? KC Hi all. I am new and glad to have found this board. I don't know where to begin. I have a 15 yr old boy who has just been diagnosed with PDD. Our lives have been a roller coaster with this one. We have run the gamut of doctors, hospitals, meds, etc. He has been diagnosed as Bipolar for the last 8 yrs. This last hospital stay they re-evaluated him and changed his dx ruling out Bipolar. His dx is now PDD, ADHD, ODD. I am more confused now then ever before. I know nothing about this new diagnosis and am looking for info. I was always under the impression that a PDD/Autism/ Aspergers dx was made much earlier in life. If anyone has comments, suggestions, or ideas I would love to hear them. Since I just found this site I am still navigating it and will possibly post else where on here as well. Thanks for listening Hi, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Holly and I am the Mom of 2 a son Austin who is 7 and a daughter Grace who is 4. We are just going through the process of diagnosis with Austin we are pretty sure he has Asperger's. He is such a great boy and I have always called him my "little man" because of some of his quirks like wanted to read factual material whether it's books or magazines, interests in the computer, his mannerisms. We never had heard of Asperger's before but when we read the discription of it we knew that was our son. He will only wear soft clothing and has to have soft bedding as well it was pretty funny going to the bedding section to buy satin sheets for a 7 year old, he has extremely sensitive ears and we have learned to have ear plugs handy, has 2 subjects that he is really interested in Star Wars and the computer. He has minor interests that used to be his only ones such as animals, he has trouble with his fine motor skills. I want to help him however I can to have a successful school career 2 weeks ago he didn't make it through a single day, he had to stay in the office because of how disruptive his meltdowns were. I just hope that I can find the help I need for him and for our family. A little about me, I am a stay at home Mom who sells Partylite to get a break from home once in awhile and to have some fun. I love Disney and we are always planning our next trip. I enjoy reading and camping. Thanks for listening. Hi, My name is Kim C. I have a 4 year and 10 month old son who was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with PDD and he registers a 21 on the Autism Spectrum. I've known he was a bit different all his life but his pediatrician wouldn't listen to me. I went over his head and got a private child psychologist to see my boy in action in his office and at his school. This was the key. This psychologist contacted my son's doctor and said he needed to be evaluated. I was referrred to the best doctor in the area! Jeannine Audet, M.D., here in Massachusetts. I'd recommed her to anyone. She and her team of Psychologists, OT, PT, and Speech pathologists, evaluated him and in two weeks I had my diagnosis. I can't tell you how wonderful it has been knowing I wasn't nuts. Not that I wanted something to be wrong, I just had this sweet, gentle and overly anxious child who was stuck in his development. My son is the sweetest most wonderful little boy ever. (of course I'd say that) but he appears so typical, until he gets over stimulated or frightened and then the obsessive verbal traits and hand fluttering start and the toe walking. He's almost 5 (April 24th). He speaks like a 3 year old, walks and has the fine motor skills of a 2 and a half year old and the maturity of a 2 year old. Yet he is as smart as a 5 year old. He can think in abstract ways and can apply critical thinking skills to some tasks, that are verbal. But he has the self preservation skills and self care skills of a 2 year old, so he gets very frustrated when he can't do what other kids do. He was in a preschool in a private school. I had to pull him out after only 2 and a half months because he was a menace with his clumsiness and he would sometimes cry all day. So he is back home. He should be in a full time program in March that will include all of the therapy he will need. What am I headed for. Will I face any battle with the school system that any of you can help me head off? I have many questions that I will be posting. Thank you so much for all of the help you can be. Best regards...Kim cntrygrl- My son is a few years behind your son but kind of the same situation. My son is 9. I have yet to get a Dx. We have an appt April 3rd at the University Hospital Children's Autism clinic. He was DX with ADHD and ODD at the age of 3. But I knew there was something more. They thought possible bipolar but didn't settle on that either. He is having lots of trouble in school academically and behavior wise. It has been a very long frustrating road for his father and I. The best advice I can give you is educate yourself on everything. This is a good place for you to learn! Thank you for your support mom_of_5. I know how frustrating it can all be. Orran's problems in school are related primarily to his behavior and defiance. He is very bright and enrolled in honors courses in an effort to keep him from being bored in class. Our goal was to challenge him academically. He is failing most courses, but it is not because he CAN'T do the work. It is because he won't do the work. He is also disruptive and misses quite a bit due to suspensions. His behavior and social interaction, or lack there of, that causes so much concern at this point. I am learning much through this site, and appreciate all the support I receive here. Hi. My son is a high-functioning 14-year-old autistic person. Like many of you, I feel overwhelmed a lot of the time and exhausted nearly all of the time. For some reason, it's gotten worse since he turned 14 this past Christmas. I think that part of it has to do with the suspicion/conviction that "this is as good as it gets." While he was younger, I could delude/comfort myself with thoughts of a better future. Not anymore.So, I live with the suspicion that I will never get a break from what I'm feeling now. I need a sabbatical from my life but it's not going to happen. I love him and resent him at the same time and he senses it which only makes me feel worse. I find myself often comforting him and assuring him that dad isn't mad at him. To hisown fool: You need to give yourself a break. These are all normal feelings. I have a sister in law who has a HF AS boy and she sometimes gets away and comes to my house for the weekend. You need to do that for yourself. You also want to not accept that there isn't hope. I teach that age group and I have some students with HF Autism and I can tell you that by Junior year there is a BIG difference in these kids. They are growing, their brains are developing, they are finding interests and yes, even happiness. They are still high maintenance kids, but there is always hope. I also think that you need to take care of you. You sound so overwhelmed. And mainly forgive yourself for feeling bad. You are human. As parents we forget that we aren't perfect. And that is also ok. As manic as my own PDD kid is, he is starting to see that Mommy isn't perfect, we spend a lot of time talking and when I screw up with him, like get VERY angry with him when he erupts into a tantrum. When he comes down off an obsessive spell and is past the rut of his own thoughts, we (sometimes) cry together and apologize and work through it as best we can. It's a battle they fight and we are along for the ride and yes it sucks, sorry about the language. But it does. You aren't alone. Let us know what we can do to help. -- Kim C Thanks, Kim. I know that my feelings aren't necessarily reality. Fortunately, I'm going to get just such a break this weekend.Hello all. My name is Bryan. I joined the Forum a month or two ago, but never introduced myself. So here goes: My wife and I are raising 2 children. An 11 yr. old boy who has no disabilities and a 5 1/2 yr. old girl who was just recently diagnosed with mild/moderate PDD-NOS. I must say that I have alot of respect for all of you out there with PDD/Autistic kids/grandkids. I know my wife and I have many trying times with our daughter. I can't even imagine what many of you are all going through. Kudos to all of you. I am looking forward to interacting in this forum. It's nice to read about others' experiences and also to know that we are not alone. Bryan Hi my name is Heather I have a 6 year old with ADHD and PDD he also now has seizures and a learning disablity. Well I guess that is all Im so glad i found this message board.
Thanks Hi, My name is Theresa. I am mother to two beautiful children, Cobi (3yrs) and Kyla (14 months). My son, Cobi, will be beginning screening for autism in two weeks. He has some speech delays and has been seeing a speech therapist for aproximately 8 months. He also sees OT and PT on a regular basis because I was concerned with some of his gross motor skills, which were thought to be caused by rapid growth, but now I'm not so sure. He was diagnosed with central precocious puberty last August and takes an injection every four weeks to regulate his hormonal development and growth. He is obsessed with wheels and other parts of vehicles. He loves to take apart his toys. He can name most construction vehicles and specific parts of each vehicle and knows his alphabet, but if you ask him to count he can't get past 2. He can't stand it if anyone touches his hair and will have temper tantrum if his space is invaded, but has no problem invading other's space. All the lights have to be on in our house and all the doors have to be closed. He insists that the blinds be shut and gets upset and panics if I play music of any kind. He is very good at completing puzzles, knows his colours and shapes, but has a hard time remembering his age and familiar people's names. He has an odd habbit of licking people and mouthing objects. He seems sensory seeking in some ways, but sensory avoiding in others. He has me so confused at times. lol Reading these boards has helped me to put some of his behaviours into perspective. I think he may have some autistic tendancies and it's a comfort to know that I am not alone. I am very curious to see what the specialists have to say about him. Hi everyone!! I'm Julia and I have a 2 1/2 year old son who was diagnosed with autistim spectrum disorder: PDD/NOS this summer. It has been quite a haul since we(my husband and I) have found out. Now my son is in special needs preschool thru our city and in the short time he has been in has made some noticable progress. My son is currently non-verbal although he does say some words and uses the "lead you by the hand" technique to get what he wants. I have noticed that he does understand what we say to him. We live our life day by day and try not to look ahead too much. We accept and love our happy boy as he is. To him, his world is great> sometimes I wonder if his world isn't the world to be living in! Juls24inva I am just the oposite of you. I look to the future. You have to. My daughter was diagnosed of being on the Autism SPectrum. I have to look forward. We want these children to be function. That is why we set goal for them to reach. This Autism is puzzle pieces but each one of as parents have to get our children functional. [QUOTE=Sierrasmommy] Juls24inva I am just the oposite of you. I look to the future. You have to. My daughter was diagnosed of being on the Autism SPectrum. I have to look forward. We want these children to be function. That is why we set goal for them to reach. This Autism is puzzle pieces but each one of as parents have to get our children functional.
I'm sorry I don't mean that we are ignoring or downplaying the needs of our child I just meant that we take the whole process day by day. To us every day is a new day for new progress and every day we hear and see new things in our child. For some parents the whole issue of dealing with any autism disorder is depressing especially when they think of the future. Have I thought of the future? Absolutely!! when I first found out that Adam was ASD I was sick with worry about what the future would hold for my child,how will he function,will he ever speak, be able to take care of himself....etc. However instead of focusing on those issues right now, I look at each day as it comes. I also believe in accepting my child regardless of what his future may hold. I'm hopeful that he will be the best that he can be but I'll love him and accept him just the same if he never says a word. i have a son whos nearly 3 and is autistic and an older son with adhd. And im getting by but finding it hard to cope with and im worried for the future. Im just looking to talk to people in the same boat as me. At 9 mos old my son Jacob started having seizures. He continued to have prolonged seizures. At 13 mos he was life flighted and intubated because of his seizure. He was in ICU for 3 days and put on a ventilator for that time. I thought because of the length and severity of this paticular seizure, that he might have suffered some brain damage. We were told he would be fine. Jacob met all the milestones at appropriate ages. When it came for him to talk it never happened he babbled has a baby said mama all the typical stuff. After that seizure it seemed that all was lost. I kept waiting.......... NOTHING! At his 2 B-Day I called Easter Seals for an eval they started Speech therapy and OT therapy 2x a week he later joined their toddler class. Its been a long process but finally this past Nov. he had a diagnostic eval and was diagnosed with PDD. When I look back I Jacob had some unusual behavior. He would line his animals up from his noahs ark collection in an exact line with its correct animal partner before he was 1yr. I would just say thats jacob and how smart to know the correct animal. He was always playing with those animals. He still is. Jacob is very delayed in some areas but in some he is very ahead of the age group. I am still amazed when you put a puzzle in front of him. He can figure it out in minutes.I try to take it one day at a time other wise I set myself up to be overwhelmed. You never know what the day can bring you. Hi! My name is Kandi, I am the mom to a 9 year old Aspie boy-Noah- who is an absolute delight- at least for me anyway! My husband has now accepted this diagnosis, but only calls it aspergers- refuses to assimilate it to Autism. This is ok, at least he will now talk about it...in it's own context! We are expecting our second baby- a girl in August. Noah is not that excited about the baby. I am taking him shopping this weekend for new clothes and hope to pick up a few things for the baby...and maybe excite him a bit more. He chose the name Hailey- after Hailey's Comet. He is a science whiz! Anyway, I am really happy to have found this group. It is so frustrating trying to understand this...when you are pretty much all alone! Take care, Kandi
Hi... I am at a loss right now. I've been reading all of the posts as often as my son allows. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope with him and our whole situation. I'm a single mom, have been since he was 30 days old. My son's name is Clay, he is 11, turning 12 in April. He started having seizures when he was 7 months old. He has been seizure free for 10 years. After that it has been one battle after another as far as trying to "catch up", just accept that this is what we've been dealt, and not go crazy through the day. He is severly autistic but, loves to be rocked to sleep. He fights haircuts but, is willing to take a bath or shower and often has to be asked numerous times to get out. He is overly social but, will have barking fits, inappropriate laughter, you know the list of "signs. But, he has all these non-autistic things thrown in too. I have posted here before about my son's school having him only going to half days---that was months ago---he just started full days last week. I just gave up with fighting the administration. I'm tired---tired of fighting with school districts, with my family, and with myself. I am pursuing a group home type of enviornment for him and really am not getting ANY support from my family in my decision. Everyone keeps telling me how much improvement he has made over the past months, years, days, minutes, etc. I've finally let them know that yes, clay is improving but, the situation isnt. I've been called selfish (God forbid that I start to take care of myself), unloving, amongst other cruel things because of the choice of looking for PCS or group homes. I've gone through half of our local PCS providers list and most of them had already "heard" of Clay and all of his demands and flat out told me that he would be too much for them to handle. I dont blame them, i feel the same way 8 days out of the week. :) He was recently admitted into our local hospital/psych ward to regulate meds and to give me a break. His psychiatrist told me "YOU ARE ON THE EDGE OF BREAKING" he also added that Clay's meds needed to be figured out, along with the much needed break. I knew that if they started to toy with his meds while he was at home and he started having more violent behaviors or increase daily behaviors, there wasn't enough vodka in Russia to make the time easier---not that I drink all that much or while he is awake but, a "mommy drink" after he goes to bed, does this body good. :) Well, so he was admitted, 16 hours later---go ahead read that again, 16 hours later they called me saying that they couldn't keep him there, that they didnt know what to do with him and that i should call the state school and hospital's crisis team to deal with him. I asked them to give me a detailed description of what he was doing---what they described was all atypical behavior of a severly autistic child with a ton of ADHD thrown in---a.k.a Clay. So, laughing the whole time about the chaos I call life, I went and picked up my boy---where just the night before I was crying so hard for having realized our lives had gotten to that point of hospitalization, and now i'm just wondering---if they, trained personel, doctors, psychs, etc can't deal with him, how is a 30 year old, single mom supposed to do it. anyway, so he is at home, in full days at school, i'm looking for group homes, and for support for me. Now that our current story is here and updated, I was wondering if anyone could give me some ideas of what to look for in a group home. if there is something/somewhere that would be better, any ideas or information would be wonderful. I am just tired, i'm tired of doing everything and i need a break. i'm not sure if a 24/7 is what i'm needing but, i know i hate weekends, I love going to work because it's my time to not be here. I have NO life at all. I just dont know what to do anymore. Thank you so much for any and all information! Clay's crazy mom, Jen Hi... I am at a loss right now. I've been reading all of the posts as often as my son allows. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope with him and our whole situation. I'm a single mom, have been since he was 30 days old. My son's name is Clay, he is 11, turning 12 in April. He started having seizures when he was 7 months old. He has been seizure free for 10 years. After that it has been one battle after another as far as trying to "catch up", just accept that this is what we've been dealt, and not go crazy through the day. He is severly autistic but, loves to be rocked to sleep. He fights haircuts but, is willing to take a bath or shower and often has to be asked numerous times to get out. He is overly social but, will have barking fits, inappropriate laughter, you know the list of "signs. But, he has all these non-autistic things thrown in too. I have posted here before about my son's school having him only going to half days---that was months ago---he just started full days last week. I just gave up with fighting the administration. I'm tired---tired of fighting with school districts, with my family, and with myself. I am pursuing a group home type of enviornment for him and really am not getting ANY support from my family in my decision. Everyone keeps telling me how much improvement he has made over the past months, years, days, minutes, etc. I've finally let them know that yes, clay is improving but, the situation isnt. I've been called selfish (God forbid that I start to take care of myself), unloving, amongst other cruel things because of the choice of looking for PCS or group homes. I've gone through half of our local PCS providers list and most of them had already "heard" of Clay and all of his demands and flat out told me that he would be too much for them to handle. I dont blame them, i feel the same way 8 days out of the week. :) He was recently admitted into our local hospital/psych ward to regulate meds and to give me a break. His psychiatrist told me "YOU ARE ON THE EDGE OF BREAKING" he also added that Clay's meds needed to be figured out, along with the much needed break. I knew that if they started to toy with his meds while he was at home and he started having more violent behaviors or increase daily behaviors, there wasn't enough vodka in Russia to make the time easier---not that I drink all that much or while he is awake but, a "mommy drink" after he goes to bed, does this body good. :) Well, so he was admitted, 16 hours later---go ahead read that again, 16 hours later they called me saying that they couldn't keep him there, that they didnt know what to do with him and that i should call the state school and hospital's crisis team to deal with him. I asked them to give me a detailed description of what he was doing---what they described was all atypical behavior of a severly autistic child with a ton of ADHD thrown in---a.k.a Clay. So, laughing the whole time about the chaos I call life, I went and picked up my boy---where just the night before I was crying so hard for having realized our lives had gotten to that point of hospitalization, and now i'm just wondering---if they, trained personel, doctors, psychs, etc can't deal with him, how is a 30 year old, single mom supposed to do it. anyway, so he is at home, in full days at school, i'm looking for group homes, and for support for me. Now that our current story is here and updated, I was wondering if anyone could give me some ideas of what to look for in a group home. if there is something/somewhere that would be better, any ideas or information would be wonderful. I am just tired, i'm tired of doing everything and i need a break. i'm not sure if a 24/7 is what i'm needing but, i know i hate weekends, I love going to work because it's my time to not be here. I have NO life at all. I just dont know what to do anymore. Thank you so much for any and all information! Clay's crazy mom, Jen Clays mom....I feel your pain. I have a 4 year old son w/mild/severe autism. I have just recently started him on Risperdon for help w/ aggression, have you tried that? I have thought of foster homes and others like that for me. I'm not a single mom but I am pretty much alone with dealing with Shawn, all the decisions concerning meds, therapy, etc, I have made on my own. He was smearing poop all over his room at least 3 times a night, every night for about a year. I had had it! I always cleaned it alone and him after as well. I know it sounds harsh but I didn't want him in my home anymore, I couldn't deal with it. My family said to me," well thats what being a parent is all about", BULL! He won't eat anything but pablum still, is very agressive to his younger sister and hits me as well. My hubby is out of the house for work and then on days off he is either at his friends or his studio, I usually leave the house maybe one day every 2 weeks, to go shopping for groceries, fun huh? I feel like a prisoner doing this alone. Its not bad parenting to move him to a group home. you need it for your sanity, you won't be much help to him if you end up in the psych ward will you? Do what you need to do.....seriously. If you need to talk or cry or vent....IM me.I'm here for you!! Jessica Hi, My name is Tracy and I have a 21 month old son Lucas who was just diagnosed with PDD/ nos. He is now borderline. I always knew that it was something. At 12 months old he wasn't imitating certain basic skills, such as clap hands and touch head, and he was crying a lot. Didn't always look at you when you called him from far away or when backround noise was there. Everything else developed on time so I didn't pay attention to it. He seemed to learn new pictures and everyday routines.Then as the weeks went on, I noticed at 14 months, Lucas wasn't talking. He seemed to just like it when you sang and spoke to him. He would smile and laugh and seem interested, very awareand social. But I knew that there was a speech problem. Everyone thought I was crazy. I took him for a hearing test and he passed. I didn't know until now how many people thought the same exact thing. It's kind of spooky. It's all the same exact things that happen to these parents happened to me. He had reflux until about 14 months, I even took him to the hospital to look into his stomach. I didn't relaize how many children with PDD/ Autism had refux. I know that as the days go on Lucas will be expressing more noticable signs of having PDD. I don't want to wake up anymore, I'm afraid of what I'll see that day.Just like some of you, I have good days and bad days. My good days are when Lucas doesn't cry or tip toe much, I could go shopping and he laughs at my jokes. He seems like any other child but then there are days it starts from breakfast. Not wanting to eat and hand fla Hi... I am at a loss right now. I've been reading all of the posts as often as my son allows. I feel like I'm at the end of my rope with him and our whole situation. I'm a single mom, have been since he was 30 days old. My son's name is Clay, he is 11, turning 12 in April. He started having seizures when he was 7 months old. He has been seizure free for 10 years. After that it has been one battle after another as far as trying to "catch up", just accept that this is what we've been dealt, and not go crazy through the day. He is severly autistic but, loves to be rocked to sleep. He fights haircuts but, is willing to take a bath or shower and often has to be asked numerous times to get out. He is overly social but, will have barking fits, inappropriate laughter, you know the list of "signs. But, he has all these non-autistic things thrown in too. I have posted here before about my son's school having him only going to half days---that was months ago---he just started full days last week. I just gave up with fighting the administration. I'm tired---tired of fighting with school districts, with my family, and with myself. I am pursuing a group home type of enviornment for him and really am not getting ANY support from my family in my decision. Everyone keeps telling me how much improvement he has made over the past months, years, days, minutes, etc. I've finally let them know that yes, clay is improving but, the situation isnt. I've been called selfish (God forbid that I start to take care of myself), unloving, amongst other cruel things because of the choice of looking for PCS or group homes. I've gone through half of our local PCS providers list and most of them had already "heard" of Clay and all of his demands and flat out told me that he would be too much for them to handle. I dont blame them, i feel the same way 8 days out of the week. :) He was recently admitted into our local hospital/psych ward to regulate meds and to give me a break. His psychiatrist told me "YOU ARE ON THE EDGE OF BREAKING" he also added that Clay's meds needed to be figured out, along with the much needed break. I knew that if they started to toy with his meds while he was at home and he started having more violent behaviors or increase daily behaviors, there wasn't enough vodka in Russia to make the time easier---not that I drink all that much or while he is awake but, a "mommy drink" after he goes to bed, does this body good. :) Well, so he was admitted, 16 hours later---go ahead read that again, 16 hours later they called me saying that they couldn't keep him there, that they didnt know what to do with him and that i should call the state school and hospital's crisis team to deal with him. I asked them to give me a detailed description of what he was doing---what they described was all atypical behavior of a severly autistic child with a ton of ADHD thrown in---a.k.a Clay. So, laughing the whole time about the chaos I call life, I went and picked up my boy---where just the night before I was crying so hard for having realized our lives had gotten to that point of hospitalization, and now i'm just wondering---if they, trained personel, doctors, psychs, etc can't deal with him, how is a 30 year old, single mom supposed to do it. anyway, so he is at home, in full days at school, i'm looking for group homes, and for support for me. Now that our current story is here and updated, I was wondering if anyone could give me some ideas of what to look for in a group home. if there is something/somewhere that would be better, any ideas or information would be wonderful. I am just tired, i'm tired of doing everything and i need a break. i'm not sure if a 24/7 is what i'm needing but, i know i hate weekends, I love going to work because it's my time to not be here. I have NO life at all. I just dont know what to do anymore. Thank you so much for any and all information! Clay's crazy mom, Jen [/QUOTE] clays's mom please email me at circlesgirl26@aol.co we have alot in comon. I have 4 kids my youngest is Christoper. He developed normal untill he was almost 2. He has become so different since! I have been through more crap within the schools, and child study team. They tell me I'm overreacting they will see overreacting when I have them in court. I have a appointment on 3-30-06 with a neuroligest to determine what is wrong. I know what is wrong, The system will tell me he is learning Disabled. Oh Really, I Know this allready!!! I've been through testing since he was 2! I thought he was deaf because he didn't speak I went through our state program for no child left behind, I've been through alot. If u ever need to talk? Im me r write.Clay's Mom. Hi, I just want you to know you are not alone. I know what you are going through. My son is 15 now and just recently dx'd with PDD. I have had alot of the same probs as everyone else throughout Orran's life. He has had several dx's. About 8 yrs ago he was DX with Bipolar. We were on the med game circuit at that time. I have had to hospitalize Orran twice due to his behavior. I have just as recently as last week place Orran in residential care. He will be there for at least 6 mos. In this time they will work with him on his social skills, behavior modification, and a host of other things. They will also change meds again if they find it necessary. This treatment center has an inpatient hospital on the grounds, so if it is neccessary to reresidential he will still be cared for. I also had reached my limit with him and all the problems that went along with having him at home. I had protests from family and such, but felt that it was in HIS best interest as well as the best interests of the family for this kind of placement. I am hoping this all works, as it was a last resort. It was not easy putting him in treatment like this, but my how my house has become quiet and manageable in the last week. I too am a single mom of 4 boys, Orran being the youngest. I have raised the 4 of them on my own since Orran was 6 mos old. It has been a struggle, and a major roller coaster trying to get an acurate dx, as well as help and support when and where it was needed. I also currently have custody of my 2 grandchildren who are 1 and 2 yrs old. I do not know where you are located at this time, but I am sure the help is out there. You need to do what you feel is best for Clay and yourself. You are right in that you cannot deal continuously with out the help and the support for your self. Please feel free to pm me or write at anytime. I am always willing to lend an ear for venting, help with advice, or just talk about anything anytime. My eamail is cntrygrl@centurytel.net . I wish you lots of luck Hi all, I'm Kim, mom to Seth- 8 yo PDD-NOS and Zach- NT 13 yo......teenager I've just discovered this board as I was looking for people who are dealing with medicine issues. I've read a lot of interesting "stuff" here- what a great board! Anyway, my son is large for 8- he is 4'7", 140 lbs with a size 7 Men's shoe. He has always been a big kid. As he has gotten older some OCD traits have emerged along with his natural "hyperness". We finally took the medicinal plunge and he is on Zoloft- for picking his fingers and some other anxiety traits. We still need something for the "hyperness" but are moving slowly. He is currently in the local elementary school in an ABA classroom with a consulting PHD to oversee everything (1x/week). HE receives MANY support services and for that we are thankful. I am a teacher in the system & I think that helps. One thing I wonder is if anyone else out there has a big kid and has your child always been that way? Luckily Seth has not gained weight from the Zoloft...a worry we had.
Thanks for listening- I'm sure I'll be posting more!
Kim Hi Kim! I have a son that is 9 years old. He weighs 115 lbs but isn't as tall as your guy! He does have large feet too! We have yet to get a Dx. We go April 3 for all that stuff. Hopefully we get some answers. Jacob sounds like your son. He has many anxiety traits. He picks himself raw, especially during the summer (bug bites!) Jacob had been on meds since he was3. Mostly the regular meds for ADHD as that is what he was Dx with. He was on risperdal which we associated that with the weight gain. But his weight keeps steadily going up. He hasn't always been large. He was actually VERY thin till the age of 5. The pediatrician had us going to the dietician cause he was so thin, it didn't help! When he was little he was so picky about what he ate (still is I guess I've just got use to it by now). He would only eat certain foods, and have you ever known a kid not to eat pizza and mac n cheese. He won't touch them. Jacob is very hyper always has been. None of the meds have worked with that. I don't like meds but if it helps then I'm ok with it. They have never gavr us anything to help with his overactivity or agressiveness. It sounds awful but sometimes I wish we had something. He doesn't sleep well either. I have yet to see this kid sleep through the night (even as a baby he didn't). Feel free to PM me if you want to share stories!
Hello, I do not have an autistic child of my own, however my 8 year old niece (my brother's daughter) is autistic as well as my 1st cousins 14 year old son. I was wondering what the odds are of 1st cousins (one living in california and one in washington) each having a middle child who is autistic. Have there ever been any studies on this? Hello sherilantzy, My son (almost five) who has PDD (nos) and is low on the autistic scale, but is still there, has a 9 year old cousin who has pronounced asperger's syndrome. They are both high functioning, but they still struggle to be like other children. My son's developmental pediatrician said there are studies going on now, but nothing conclusive has come up as to whether it is in fact in the family line. She will be checking my son's DNA for it, but she doubts she'll find anything. There haven't been any connections to it in the the DNA as of yet. I'd keep asking around if I were you. I'm sure someone out there might know. Good luck. --kim c My middle child Trevor has been recently diganosed with autism. This has been a fight to get him diagnosed for 6 years when we realized something was wrong at the age of 2. We began with speech therapy. Then we were thrown into the school system were no one seemed to help. The only time we ever recived help was through some miracle. We would happen apon the right person who would lead us down the next road. As much as I didnt want to hear autism I glad we did. becuase now people are bending over backwards to help us. No More Games. I know I sound as though all Im doing is complaining. But like so many of you Its been a struggle and I feel that this is somewhere where people understand HEllo All.....I just found this site....Im 23 years old single mother..of a 3 year old beautiful boy..They just told me last week that my son has pervasive developmental disorder....I have known since he was about 2 that there was a difference in him from other children....We could not take him out to restaurants, shopping, or even church...he acted as tho he was in pain....when there was to many people around....I have to keep my house quiet and to a minimal...or he is upset and cant handle the situation....He is completly overwhelmed at holidays, partys.....We do not get involved iwth alot of family funcitons because of it....He does everything to the extreme....He will jump off the back of the couch all the way across the living room....He as absolutly no fear..Just keeping him in the house was a challenge..I have been taking him to the doctor for about a year now and they just now got his diagnosis right... first they said he was just an overactive child....then ADHD....when his speech wasnt quite up with his age group.....They finally just said PDD...I dont quite know what to expect out of him...I have never heard of this before....I have read up on it and know what the signs are....But if anyone out there has any advice it would be qreatly appreciated...thank you__________________ Amanda Hi! My name is Dawn, and my youngest child has just been diagnosed with PDD-NOS. He is 3.5 and operating at about a 2 year old level. I am a preschool teacher, and just recently left my job to stay home and get Noah on track. Potty training is a big issue right now, and trying to get him to sleep in his own bed without having to be rocked and before 10 pm would be nice! I have 2 other kids ages 7.5 and 15 who are both very helpful, and VERY understanding for their ages. I feel so overwhelmed with all of the info out there regarding his diagnoses. I just finished reading the Out of Sync Child, so much applies to our situation, and has been very helpful. I am hoping to find others in similar situations, and to have a sounding board where I can get advice or just someplace where people understand! Hello everybody,
This board looks great. My wife and I are concerned that one of our twin boys (almost 2) may be autistic or have some tendencies, etc. Just looking for infomation to be able to have an intelligent conversation with our pediatrician. Thanks Hello everyone, I own and manage www.autismfries.com, which is the world's first website linking autism with fast food and junk food consumption. Check it out and find out what EVIL and unnecessary ingredient in fast food and junk food is the cause of autism (also Alzheimer's and Type II Diabetes). 1 out of 100 cases of autism are caused by other factors, such as chromosome abnormalities, pregnancy complications, etc. None of these factors are epidemic in nature. Yet there is an autism epidemic. Why? Because something has changed in the food ingredient industry in recent decades, especially since 1990, and the diet of babies and toddlers has shifted more towards junk food and fast food. 99 out of 100 cases of autism have an epidemic cause, and it's directly the responsibility of the food ingredient industry. This epidemic has a name ----------- McAutism McAutism, That is a very interesting theory you have on your site. I would be interested in following it and seeing where it goes. I do have to say this wouldn't answer questions I have about my 15 yr old son who has just recently been dx'd on the spectrum. When my kids were young I could not afford fast food and such (as a single mom of 4). All Fries, baked goods and such that my boys had were homemade with out the trans fats you talk about. I do find your theory interesting though Hello. I am Victor from Spring, Tx. I have a 12 yo with PDD NOS and very quickly getting fed up with being lied to, wasting my time, & arguing to deaf ears and closed minds...and that's just his school! I often wonder "this is some helluva of Catch 22, isn't it? I'm (we're) forced to enforce laws that other people should be following but they don't have to listen cause they are way bigger than us!x10 Who are we but just parents fighting each of our own battles with no strength since we're divided. There has got to be some kind of socio-political Trojan Horse-type committe fighting anti-support for autism somewhere, right? At the very least, why couldn't there be a simple, USDA regulated standard 3 course menu of sevices for special ed? Entree 1 for the high functioning, Entree 2 for the middle of the road, and Entree 3 for the severe? That's it! Not much but it beats what we currently got...a type of Darwinian based game of Go For Broke!. There has got to be a way better, more cost effective way for both sides (school and home) way to get to an agreeable medium. This is 2006 for crying out loud!Hi everyone. My son Dan was diagnosed last week with PDD-NOS. It was a hard pill to swallow. We have been searching the web and found soooo much info. It can be overwhelming. He has had aggressive behavior for a year in school and the Drs. finally figured it all out. He started clonidine yesterday, so far so good, we had a great day. We live day to day on eggshellsHello everyone I am Jeroald. I live in New London, Ct. I am a single parent of 3. My 9 year old has been diagnosed with severe Autism. He was diagnosed 6 years ago. That was the last time he has seen a doctor. I just got custody of him from his mother. He just had his teeth cleaned for the 1st time. The Dentist advised me we will have to put him to sleep to fix his many cavities. I have set up pediatrics, neuroligist psych eval, audio (he holds his ears at times, like noise is bothering him). We are working on potty training. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Hello everyone I am new to I just signed up at the beging of the month. Our son is almost 5 and he has add with anxiety , depression w/sensory issues. He also has a specturm of autisim w/ pdd-nos. He was born with hydronofrsis of the kidney but is doing GOOD, @ two months old he started his battle with cronic ear infections. He has had three tubes and adnoids removed, finaly talking wiht speech therapy. But still not were he needs to be with everything else! But I keep telling myself we have nothing but time and PATENTICE! Any how I hope to get lots of help and good advice and mabey help or give some good advice to everyone. Thankyou Marcy mother of three boy Quinn 7 with add,odd,anxiety,depression--Spenser 4 & half with add,anxiety,depression,sensory w/spectrum and Wyatt 3 and proud to have his brothers!
Hello, Everyone, I am blessed to be Grammy to Sam, age 3. Sam has been tested, tested, examined and tested some more; we still have no diagnosis, just a list of what they ruled out. He has a neurologist, developmental pediatrician, regular pediatrician and has been through the battery of genetic testing at a major children's hospital. As I said, Sam is 3. He does not walk, crawl or talk and has limited dexterity with his pincer grasp. He has overcome most of his sensitivity to loud sounds (crowds at ball games, etc), but still is easily overwhelmed. He is healthy and growing up a storm! For that we are so grateful. But we are so overwhelmed with the inability to get much assistance for our precious boy. Am I in the right place to learn how to help?
Hi, I am Val a mom to 3 wonderful children. My middle child Zach (3, 4 in May) was diagnosed with moderate ASD or more so PDD-NOS in July of 05. We have gone from smearing feces, shoes & clothing obsession (he has to wear jeans & a long sleeve shirt), Aggressive behavior to-wards his sister and myself, and much much more. This has been a struggle in and of itself, and I'm looking for others dealing with the same trials to help support me. My family as well as DH's family is no help, and they just are not willing to understand the seriousness of it all! No matter what we do it's not good enough and when we need a pat on the back or a big hug they never seem to follow though. So I need a family and I am hoping all of you can be that for me. Hi. My son, Sam (6yrs. old), was dx in Jan. as HFA. Due to my having HELLP Syndrome, he was born 2 months early. Because of this, he has always had cerebral palsy (left hemiplegia), and we first thought a lot of his "odd" behaviour was due to the CP. His echolalia is what first sent out a red flag that something more was going on, but I never could get the school to test him. They just blamed his CP. I finally went to a Behavioral Specialist who came up with the HFA dx, but am now having a hard time getting the school to accept the dx. I don't understand why they can't just say, "Gee, thanks for saving us all the time and effort." and accept the doc's dx. Instead we will soon be having his fourth ARD of the school year. Anyhow, this appears to be a very friendly, informative message board, and I hope to learn a lot from other parents in similar situations. So far I've only been to the Wrong Planet message board, but thought I could learn more by branching out and meeting more parents. Kellie Hi everyone, My name is Tamika and my husband Ben and I stationed in the USAF here in Germany. We have 2 boys 2 & 10. Our 2 year old, Tad,is almost 3 and was just diagnosed w/PDD last week. The doctor said he has some symptoms of Asberger's and some of Atypical autism. We NEVER thought anything was wrong with him. He just seemed really laid back and in his own world at times. He really likes repetition and focuses on his Thomas the Train alot. He talkative (sometimes with his own language) but doesn't response correctly when we ask questions. He makes good eye contact and is very affectionate. He'd rather play by himself when he's around other kids his age. He plays great with his brother and us. It was the daycare provider that urged us to get him tested. After we told our family and friends they all seemed to think it made sense with him acting a little different.I'm glad we did so he can get early intervention. I'm already worried about him starting school and growing up. CAN THEY GET BETTER??? We don't have a support group on our base because it's so small so online was our only option. I don't know where to begin. I would like to talk to other's with children like mine. It seems so unnoticable to us. Do they have problems making friends? I've read alot and it all seems to be something different. They usually talk about sleep problems and aggression. We don't have that problem...or will we in the future? Is he going to be like rainman? Can kids have a mild case of it or is it..you got it and that's it? I know his problems are noticable to others and not us. Maybe that's way I don't think it's serious as they say. Denial? I just wanted to start by saying hello and I'm glad there's a group to talk to. Thanks for letting me rant and rave. p.s. When we turn Thomas the Train video off he flips out..is this a temper trantrum or the disorder? And how do other parents deal with it...thanks again Sorry, that wasn't me. I've only just started the message board thing since Sam's dx back in Jan. so bear with me if my netiquette is not so good I laughed when Tamika mentioned Thomas the Tank Engine. Sam has been obssessed with that show as long as he's been alive. However, he's branching out into trains in general. Right now he's in the process of memorizing every line from The Polar Express. His Behavioral Specialist says that fascination with trains is very common with HFA and AS kids. Tad sounds a lot like Sam. Very laid back and quiet....until it's time for a haircut. They really cause meltdowns. So do vacuums, blenders, basically any loud machine. His Dr. has started him on Paxil to help with his anxiety. Although he is using less echolalic speech, I have noticed an increase in agression and some trouble sleeping. Anyone else have experience with this med?
Hi! My son just turned 3. I didnt realize I signed up a year ago &just now posting. I think that I go from wanting tons of info to not wanting to hear the word autism, not sure if anyone else feels that way? About my story, my son was born 6 wks early, had trouble eating and spent 10 days in nicu. After we got home and settled in, hes an only child, things started to go well. He gained weight well, rolled over at 11 wks. crawled at 6 mo. & walked at 10 mo. So as far as all that goes he did quite well. I use to think that his being different was my fault, the fact that I didnt feel like a natural "mom", you know how some moms have 3 kids and do everthing they did before they had kids. I quit work to stay home with him,etc. but looking back now I dont think it had anything to do with it. He has so many people who love him , but he would rather they didnt "bug" him. lol! It makes me feel bad but what can you do? He is so CUTE and ADORABLE. He has been in st since he was 2. We just got in the school system for walk in services. He is to go to preschool this fall, if I dont chicken out! the thought of anyone being mean to him makes me crazy Hello my name is Jaime, I am a mother of two Autistic boys. Kristian is 8 yrs old,he has Severe Autism,PICA,sensory issues, nonverbal and my 2 yr old son has Autism ,PICA,nonverbal and Cute as a button! I am 29 years old and I am the mother to 2 little boys. My 3 year old Nathan was diagnosed with Autism in November. He's non-verbal and uses PECS to communicate with us. My youngest son is 2 and so far he shows no signs of anything so I am hopeful. Nathan is on his second school since we moved 3 weeks ago. He went from a special education school to a regular elementary school where he mainstreams with the Pre K classes there. Oh yeah and We live in Texas. Hello Everyone, My name is Michelle, and our son is almost 8yrs., and he is autistic. I also have a daughter who is 10 yrs. old., she has ADHD. My son was diagnosed when he was 4yrs. old. We started noticing he was having trouble when he was 18 months old. He speech began to regress, and he was falling more behind. He began speech therapy, and then we started to notice different things that just didn't make sense to us. He had one evaluation from a team, and they found him with a "Global developmental disorder", that is such a funny diagnosis, it makes no sense. He then got an evaluation from his school, and that is when they found he was autistic. We then went back to the team that gave him the GDD diagnosis, and they re-evaluated him, and found him autistic. My son Izak is high functioning, he is main stream, and is only pulled for 30 minutes a day to the special needs classroom. He is also pulled for speech and accupational therapy. His first school was very supportive. We were very spoile at that school. He had his own aid with him the whole day. He was still main stream, the aid was there to help him better understand his work, and help him move to different tasks in the day. We are now living in another state. The school is not supportive at all. They want my son to go to another school in the county that has a classroom for children with autism. I do not want this for my son. I want him to stay main stream. He has been doing so well interacting with his peers, and I don't want that to stop. He is having issues with his bowels, he has fecal retention. He will hold it in for a long time. He has been put on stool softeners to help make him go, and make it easier to pass. Izak struggles very much with math. He just does not get the concept of math, what is taking place, and how it is happening. I love my son so much. I have learn to have patience with, and remember that this is the way he is going to be, and I must love his uniqueness, because that is what makes him special. I know that God has given him to me for a reason. He knew that my husband and I would love him, and take care of him. I am a tired divorced mom of five. My son with pdd consumes most of my life... His twin sister is not happy with this. They are 9 and my youngest. I feel very depressed most of the time because I feel alone in fighting for him. I'm sick of the school system, lazy teachers, rude neighbors and the ex who thinks I made autism up all on my own(aren't I powerful) (smile) ! Sorry so neg today but I hope there are some parents out there who can help me, advice, resources in Seattle area, prayer, friend ETC! Bless us all! What a job!Hello Malakis mom Im also a divorced single mom...I have a 3 yr old with pdd and I know exactly how you feel....the schools say my son is to smart for early child hood intervention....and I also have an ex husband who says that I am making it up...So do feel like you are alone... mandi sorry dont feel like you are alone... mandi [QUOTE=Malaki s mom]I am a tired divorced mom of five. My son with pdd consumes most of my life... His twin sister is not happy with this. They are 9 and my youngest. I feel very depressed most of the time because I feel alone in fighting for him. I'm sick of the school system, lazy teachers, rude neighbors and the ex who thinks I made autism up all on my own(aren't I powerful) (smile) ! Sorry so neg today but I hope there are some parents out there who can help me, advice, resources in Seattle area, prayer, friend ETC! Bless us all! What a job![/QUOTE]
You aren't alone in your battle! I too am a mom of 5. Up until recently a single mom to 4. My son Jacob is 9. He is somewhere on the autism spectrum....we are FINALLY going for evaluation on April 3rd! We have waited so long for that day! We too, probably like everyone else on this board, have fought the school systems, teachers, the ex husband (he finally admitted there's something wrong after 9 years!) and neighbors! I also think that my 4 year old daughter has some autism or PDD in her. I keep seeing more and more things that she does everyday. It is very tiring having a child with any type of disability! And it's life long! I hope you find some respite and maybe you and your daughter can do something just the two of you! Hi, I just found this site and am thrilled. I have two children, my son is 8 and my daughter is 4. Last year we took my son to a pediatric neurologist because we thought he had Tourrett Syndrome because of a neck tic. We were shocked when the doctor told us it sounded more like he had an autistic spectrum disorder. I have researched everything I could since then and have taken every online test. I am now convinced that he has either Asperger's or is just high functioning autistic. We have seen the doctor every three months since May and still have not been given an actual diagnosis. I am very frustrated. My son is the brightest child I have ever known. He gets straight A's and is very sweet. He will not hug or kiss me or say he loves me and he does not want to be hugged or kissed. He looks like I'm attacking him if I try to hug him. When he was little he would line up his cars telling me he was "making a line" but never "playing" with them like an average child. I never thought anything of it. I figured it was just his personality. He didn't speak much and at his two year check up the doctor recommended Birth to Three evaluate him and they didn't feel he qualified for any services. He could point to every letter and number, but just didn't want to talk. By three he was speaking well for his age. He doesn't fit in well with children his own age and likes to speak with adults. I assumed it was because (at the time) he was an only child and my mother watched him while I worked so he was just used to being with adults. Right now all the kids his age are friends with everyone, but I definitely see that changing in a few years. He has very peculiar behavior and mannerisms. He is a mouth breather and as bright as he is cannot do the most basic tasks, like blow his nose, brush his teeth well, wash his hair well, tie his shoes tightly, forward rolls. The doctor keeps reminding me that we can't all have an All American Boy (his words not mine) which aggravates me because I have never expected him to be that. I am actually insulted that the doctor keeps telling me this. I only mention his oddities as a way for him to tell me how to help my son, not to perfect him. I only care for his happiness. I'm sorry for the length but I really needed to get that out. Thanks for reading my post. Nina
Hello, Someone from another forum told me about this one so I thought I would give it a try. We have 7 children with A being the youngest. Our oldest (although never diagnosed) would probably fall on the spectrum as aspergers. Some of the others have related difficulties~adhd,depression,anxiety,odd,etc. A has an in-home-support person (or BS1) who accompanies him to a small private school 9 hrs weekly. We homeschool the rest of the time. He is HF autism (desn't qualify for aspergers because of the speech difficulties). He also has a seizure disorder, asthma, and type 1 diabetes. I'll have to talk more later. Having 7 children means I have to give up the computer to them occasionally.Thanks, Merry So Glad you joined us Kim!!!! I LOVE this board and I'm sure you will as well!!! Jaime!!!Hello everyone. My name is Candida and I have a 10 year old Autistic child named Shawn. I refuse to give up on him or my other two children. I refuse to let anyone baby him and I will not have anybody talking down to him. I am 33 and I am married but my children are my life and I am so thankful I found a place to talk to people who know and understand what we are going through. Jaime, Your children are sooo cute! Merry Hello everyone! I was looking around the net for a group chat such as this one. I look forward to sharing and learning with others in the same situation I am in. My son will be seven next month and has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS by some and Aspergers by others. I have taken him to every specialist known to man and leave frustrated almost every time. My major concerns are my son's verbal expression capabilites and socialization problems. The newest development is his anger issues. He has 3 siblings, ages 5,4 and 13 months. He hits his sister EVERY DAY. He also hits himself often when frustrated. I am hoping to talk with someone who is dealing with similar issues that has some ideas for me to try. I am also having problems with the school system and their lack of education regarding Autism/PDD-NOS and realted issues. Thanks to any and all that can help! Bia Hi Mommas, I'm new here, my name is Jean and I have a two year old. He was diagnosed as Autistic/P.D.D. today. We need go to a doctor to get a formal diagnosis, but the people that came were from the Birth to 3 program. I'm 25 and have three children. Nick, my 2 year old is my middle child. I have a daughter who is 7 and a baby girl who will soon be 3 mons. I feel like my whole world fell apart. I already noticed that people don't know how to talk to me, that they're afraid they'll say something "wrong" to me or offend me. My husband is in complete denial and doesn't want to accept what the news. I feel like I need him now and he is not worthless, but... Is this normal? He keeps throwing all these questions at me and I don't have the answers. A huge piece of me feels like I could have done something to prevent this, maybe if I played with him more? I am just so heartbroken. Is he going to lead a normal life? Thanks for listening. ~Jean Hello everyone,This is my first time posting on this forum. My name is Michelle, I have two boys; a two and a three year old. It is my three year old who MAY have Autistic Spectrum Disorder, he is a good, well behaved boy (though he has his moments), has slow speech development and according to his nursery he doesn't play WITH the other children, just alongside them. We had a development check at the hospital in February and the doctor saw him for just 45 minutes for the Griffiths developmental test and then told me that he had ASD. Since then I've spent a lot of time researching symptons, some he has, some he doesn't and has put me on an emotional rollercoaster, mainly because I know someone who's son has had two years of assessment and she has only just been given the diagnosis of ASD. I have never had any major concerns for my three year old apart from the delayed speech. I have a long period of tests and assessments ahead of me and I am so glad to have found this forum. (Incidently, my two year old is developing at the same rate as his brother, so no doubt I will be in the same situation with him next year!) Michelle hello, I am new here and am very greatful to be able to hear other parents thoughts and troubles. It makes me feel not so alone I am a mother of 2 year old b/g twins Devin and Mackenzie. Devin was just recently diagnosed w/PPD/NOS at high risk for autism. It was not a surprise but it still hurt like crazy. We knew there was something wrong at 18 months when his sister was talking up a storm and playing blocks and things like that and he wasn't involved at all. Devin still does not speak and he will turn 3 next month. We have had him in DDD for 8 months and he has progressed tremendously. He is starting to do fine motor skill tasks, sign "please, more, and thank you". He is even doing almost consistently one step directions. He is very affectionate, humorous, and animated. He will start pre-school through the school system next month and is up for another evaluation for his autism in 3 months. The hardest part about Devin having autism is that I am so afraid that he will feel inferior to his twin sister. She is such a big help to him and loves him tremendously but it is so hard when one twin has it and the other does not, not to say that it wouldn't be even harder if both had it, I just don't want him to feel stupid or left behind. My only hope is that I can instill in him enough confidence that he will never doubt himself. Hi devman.....you sound like a great Mom.....Its good that you want to instill self esteem within him, it is hard when one has ASD and one is NT......keep smiling, it means everything!!i am a 29 yrold father of three. My oldest son is 7 and was diagnosed with pdd last year. my biggest concern isn't his diagnosis, but the fact that his diagnosis is keeping him from coming on regular visitation with me. Can a child with pdd still be treated properly and progress with regular overnight visits included in his daily routin. Could someone please give me some feedback on thisIn my opinion, I don't think that there should be a reason why he shouldn't be able to have his regular overnight visits. Even though he has PDD, I think it is still important that he has both parents there for him and the visitation should notbe inturupted. Things might need to be explained to him a little more in detail so that it can become part of his routineI would think that if you had regular visitation and a good relationship with your son, it should be allowed to continue. Moving away from what has been the norm would not necessarily be beneficial to the child. As long as his mother keeps you apprised of his diagnosis, therapies, meds etc, and you agree to keep routines familiar(ie: bedtimes, meals, disciplines, home therapy etc). There shouldn't be a problem with visitation. JIMOWelcome Corey!! I dont know much about it myself , but I dont think it should interrupt your visits together, especially if he enjoys spending time with you. I mostly wanted to say that I think its great that you want to care for your son alot of kids arent so lucky. My nephews dad can see him anytime he wants & usually makes 1 visit a year!! GOOD LUCK!!& I hope everything works out!!!!Hi Corey, I dont know what your communication situation is between you and your ex-wife but, if it remains open---then overnights shouldn't be a problem. If you can keep the consistency that she has set up (dinner time, bathtime, etc) then the transistion should be smooth and enjoyable. Make sure that you tell the school and anyone else that is involved in your son's life (doctors, therapists, etc) about the change, then they can watch for any behavior increase or even decrease! They could also give you some suggestions that might help. Good luck with this! I sometime wish my son's father would pitch in but, it's a blessing he doesn't. I wish you all the luck and patience! Hi, I'm a younger mother of 2, Madison is almost 3 and diagnosed with PDD, and Olivia is 5 months old and hopefully normal. Madison is a challenge but such a loving and sweet child. I'm glad there is a place where I can meet other parents who go through the same things I do. New to the board and diagnosis. My 5-year-old has just been diagnosed with PDD and I have a "typical," perhaps advanced, 4-year-old. Though the diagnosis was not what any parent wants to hear, it is so good to just know what it is. I have fought for my son since he was 18 months old and hate that it took this long to get a diagnosis. Of course everyone just said he was a "typical boy. He'll grow out of it," but I knew something wasn't right. I guess mother really does know best. Anyway, I'm thrilled to find this site and know it will be of great help as we begin to learn even more about our son and this disorder.I'm typing this as my 2.5yr old sleeps under the desk at my feet! He receives early intervention at this time but we are waiting to hear from the office to call back for his eval. We are sure he's pdd-nos as is his 12 yr old big brother. His most recent diagnosis came yesterday. Our 3.5 yr old daughter is "normal" or whatever thatmeans. I guess I just need to know as alone as I feel I'm really not? I'm not sure where to go or what to do because I feel like everytime I begin to make progress with either one of them or help with them, etc. I get shot down and the process takes even longer. PLEASE tell me I'm normal! Hi my name is Melissa. I have 2 beautiful children. Jacob is 3 and Michaela is 20 months. We are stationed in DC till September and then off to Phx. My 3 year old son is why I am here....I will start a post and hopefully someone can help me out. Thank you. I am involved in Autism in 3 ways: 1. My neighbour has an Autistic child and we help in his care 2. My wife works as an evaluator 3. I am the Founder and Executive Director of the Kindersite project, a web resource that is used by many Special schools, homeschool and parents My purpose in joining the list is to understand others experiences and try to implement ideas onto the Kindersite Project Hi!! I found this board while looking for some info on a new medication for our son Sammy..........he is currently on Clonidine, and it just isn't doing the trick anymore for him, and we need to find something different that is safe, and has very few side effects. My husband and I are right at the end of a marriage and in the middle of a divorce, but we are still very best friends, and always will be. Our whole life kind of revolves around Sam and helping him to get the best care he can and in the mean time trying to be good parents as well. Sam is a cute sweet little boy, but as he gets older he is becoming harder to control and has more and more behaviors, so of course, we are looking for input on how to deal with some of these new things that might be older things for other parents. I can't beleive in almost four years of being online I missed this site before now! I am Katrina, wife to a wonderful guy named Jim and mommy to Bobby, Andy and Logan. My three boys are all special needs. They all inherited a rare genetic syndrome called Rieger Syndrome. It affects them in different ways, but on top of that Bobby is autistic and epileptic, Andy is high functioning autistic and has ADHD and has a possible siezure disorder, and Logan is epileptic and has CP. I actually run support groups locally and online for parents of special needs kids. But lately I've been missing just having a supportive group of people I can talk to who can help support me as well. I'll share more about my boys as I get to know you all more ... and I can't wait to do that. I just posted another message as a general topic. I'm excited to be a member and look forward to getting to know you all a bit better. Hi everyone. I have five kids, my youngest son was diagnosed autistic at a little over two years of age. It has been over two years since the diagnosis, and we have been through the entire range of emotions associated with it. We accept and love him as he is, at the same time we want to help him learn to make his way in a world that makes little sense to him (or to us, for that matter!) He is a beautiful, smart, funny, and sweet natured boy with a lot to teach us. I am glad that a dear new friend who pointed me to this forum. Thanks littlebopeep! I hope to get to know you all, learn from you, and offer words of encouragment when you get down. Hello...My name is Tina. I am a Mommy to 3 wonderful children. Justin 5, Kelsey 3 & Megan 1. This past November Justin was diagnosed with Aspergers. After 4 years of being in the "oh he's just being a boy" denial, all the while knowing that something was just not right we got the diagnosis. It was very hard to deal with at first, but, now where are getting down to business. He is doing ABA weekly and we meet with his OT soon for motor skills and sensory integration. Our main concern now is school issues, and getting the family to understand that this is not a disipline issue. Anyway...I am glad to finally find someplace to talk with other people who know what I am going through.
Tina Tina~ Amen! I have a 15yr old nephew with Asperger's and the sooner people understand that the better. He has obvious soial issues but he has started making the honor roll this past year and is an EXPERT at what ever his "subject of choice" is. I also have a 12 yr old with PDD and an undiagnosed 2.5yr old definately PDD spectrum. Isn't it ironic that I often forget that my 3.5yr daughter is "normal". Thanks for letting me ramble! ~Allysen hi everyone!i am an aunt to a beautiful 9 year old niece with autism who is the love of my life. i have been reading this forum for about a year and figured i should probably get on here already : ) i think that this forum is one of the truly greatest sources of information on the subject of autism that i have ever come across. i think all of you moms are amazing and i would take your advice and knowledge above most others. my heart is with you all, i know what you do on a daily basis and it is inspirational. i look forward to joining the forum Hello everyone. My name is Candida and I have a 10 year old boy with autisim and ADD. Shawn is my 2nd child. I have 3. Robert is 12 and he has ADHD and Taylor(a girl) who is 8, she is dyslexic. I love my children very much as I know everyone does. I look forward to talking to everyone. We just found out about Shawn and I am trying to learn everything I can. He is very aggressive and we are having a rough time but I have hope and I refuse to give up on him or my other two. Anyone who wants to vent or talk feel free to email me. God bless to all. Hope to talk to everyone soon. Bye.....Hello all! I have twin 3 year old boys who aren't diagnosed yet, but have signs of ASD. They are in a head start program that they just started a few weeks ago. I was given this sight by another woman on my twins board. Glad to have some support.
I promise to get on and tell my story soon...just have crazy hyper children with colds today Hello. I thought I had posted something, but maybe it didn't make it through. I am from Ottawa, and I am the mother to Clarissa, 4 1/2 who has PDD-NOS and Francesca who is one. Clarissa is in a special kindergarten with a specialized teacher getting attention to her issues. She gets some speech therapy. I'm looking forward to learning more. hello everyone, i found this site actually today while i was googling for books on autism and i stumbled upon the remarks made in this forum from some people saying they were tired of reading all the books on autism and i started laughing to myself because i had my credit card next to me ready to order books for the first time. lets see, my son is 2 1/2 will turn three in june. he was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder in october of 2005. since then we started the early intervention, etc. and he is now in the transitioning phase getting ready for school i guess. i have to admit i still get sad when i look at him and wonder why this had to happen to him (i have a daughter who is 5 and normal and i have an eleven month old girl who i worry about everyday now since she doesnt babble that much). i guess i first want to mention that i am still kind of confused about him even though they have said he has ASD (the develop. pediatrician diagnosed him). My husband is in denial whereas i go around telling people he has autism. my husband gives me that look like "why are you telling people." his attitude is well the help isnt going to hurt him. my son has extreme language delay in my opinion. he is at a 1 year old level instead of going on three. his fine-motor skills are great but he does have sensory issues. everytime he says a new word or two together my family members say "see he is going to be fine he doesnt have autism." then i have to go through that whole "he is on the spectrum speech." but i guess what i am still confused about is because he does not have full blown autism does he have a PDD-Nos or is it asperger's syndrome. and asperger's i never heard of until his occupational therapist through out the comment that he doesn't think he has autism but asperger's. or is he high functioning autistic as another friend labeled him after watching him. i know it is stupid and i shouldnt care about a label but it kind of helps me in my mind frame. also, i can look about things in that area then. in the end i just want to help him and i am very new at this and it is hard when practically all your family members keep saying he will be fine. aside from the help he gets from early intervention and the advice from his teachers i dont have any outside friends with children with similar problems (i dont have much free time with the other two kids as well). my service coordinator even made me feel like a bad parent because i havent taken him to some mommy and me classes. but she doesnt understand my life and time that i have. i know that sounds selfish but i love my son to death. in fact this is the first time i am reaching out to people who may have an idea of what i am going through. oh well, i hope i didnt sound like someone who is just complaining i am just a little confused as to where my son stands in terms of his diagnosis. anyhow, that is a little bit about me for now ( i have to change a diaper). sincerely, rehana Hello rehana and welcome. I know what your going through. I have a 10 year old boy that they just told me has autisim. My husband thinks there is some miracle cure and if anyone knows of one send it to me..... Shawn is my middle child. I dont understand all the terms that go along with it. I suggest talking to your childs doctor. Sometimes doctors want to rush you but dont let them. Write down all your questions and dont leave till they are all answered. This is all new to me also but the one thing I can say is dont give up. My husband is going to therapy with Shawn and I hope in a way its helping them both. And please never let anyone make you feel like your a bad parent, your not. I have found that only parents of special kids understand parents of special kids. Your in my thoughts.hello candida greene, thank you for keeping my spirits up. it is nice to hear reassurance from others out there in the world. today was my first day on this site and it made me feel a whole lot better about myself as a parent after reading a lot of postings. I wish you all the best with your son Shawn as well and thank you once again for keeping things in a positive view.
Rehana Hi Rehana! You are sooooo NOT alone. I have my 1st eval for my 2.5yr old on Monday. I kinda know where it's going at this point. He's had early intervention for 7mos now and making huge strides everyday! He's actually starting to say "bye" to people! That's as good as it's been! My 12yr old has a PDD diagnosis but the Dr. failed to include his ADHD in his axis 1. So, after formally disagreeing with her I have yet to read the amended version. Anyway, my reason for responding is to talk about my 15yr old nephew who has asperger's. He was VERY verbal when he was an infant and a toddler, never really had a speech delay and is very intellegent. He's on the honor roll this year! He has some "quirks" but we know it's "just Stephen". There are alos some physical characteristics associated with asperger's. Check that out it too! Anyway, please feel free to get in touch. Sometimes we all need to talk. ~Allysen Hi I'm Sheila i have two children diagnosed with PDD-NOS. My son is 10 and my daughter is 8. I believe she is more aspergers than PPD. She is very gifted and mastered checkers at age 5 after two or three games, and recently has learned to play chess after, again two or three games. My son dianosis has been scattered with ADHD, tourettes, and now mild MR. We have searched for a diagnosis, an accurate one for the last 7 years. the battle has been very long and devistating, frustrating and is far from over. i have read some of the boards and can relate to all the other parents. I have dealt with lack of spousal support ending in divorce, to unsupporting family (most in denial till recently, my sons 10), major struggles with the school system and our local mental health agencies. To isolation and feeling all alone. I'm glad i have found this web site.hello! i have posted a few times already but have not formally introduced myself....i am a 31 year old mother of two. lula is 2 years old and tess is 9 months. we have just started the 'getting services, getting a diagnosis, getting a grip' process. i live in michigan and 'early on has been to the house a couple of times and referred us to the school system for a full team evaluation, which we are waiting to hear from them...tick tock tick tock... we are starting OT twice a week and have seen one dr. that was very non committal and wishy washy, so we are going to a highly recommended specialist in ann arbor in 4 wks. we still havent figured out how we are going to pay for any of this... the wishy washy dr. said he wont make any diagnosis until shes older but said he feels she has "sensory integration disorder and regulatory disorder with mild autistic traits" from what i understand the school system will wait on an educational diagnosis as long as they can, but with a medical diagnosis we can push them to give lula all the services that are available to her and that she is entitled to. thats why we have decided to pursue a diagnosis. we know she will fall in the spectrum but shes not severe so we will have a harder time getting the school to get her what she needs. anyway!!!! i guess thats more than enough introduction! pamela Hello. My name is Jamie and my son was just diagnosed as being Autistic. He's not Asperger's or PDD but fits into several areas of the Spectrum. He is 6 and is high-functioning. His biggest challenges are with social skills and communication. Oh, his name is Zachary. He is bright and intelligent. My biggest fear is public school. I really don't think they know enough about Autism. I am currently a senior in college (will graduate very, very soon). A local college is offering a graduate certificate program dealing with Autism that I hope to become involved with. I am also planning on doing more to raise awareness in my community.Hello everyone. I am a mom of a 2 year old. He was just recently diagnosed borderline PDD/NOS. We started him with therapy when he was 13 months. So far he has made such an improvement. He is crawling finally. He does walk only with assistance. His speech is not there. However, he has started pointing to things he wants and tugs when he wants attention. I am so proud that he is such a lovealbe and happy kid. At this point I am in such a delima and I was wondering if anyone can give me some advise I would really appreciate it. I just found out yesterday that I am pregnant. My husband and I are petrified at the thought of having a second child when the first doesn't walk yet or talk or sleep through the night. He is so dependent on us that it scares me if we can handle so much at once. The other thing that we are not sure is what if this child turns out is also PDD/NOS or worse. I am so distraught. Hello, I found this board while looking up information on autism. I believe my nephew is autistic, he will be four in july and is displaying most of the signs. I wanted to know if anyone could suggest how I may approuch this topic with my brother and sister inlaw, they have had several people mention they notice a problem with my nephew and his preschool has suggested testing but they have not mentioned what the testing should be for. How would you deal with this situation? I want to be gentle but at the same time firm anough for them to understand it should not go ignored. thanks, Tara Hi everyone! I am new to the board and new to having a diagnosis of PDD-NOS for my 7 year old son. We have been trying for YEARS Hi I am new here and I am glad that I found this place. I have a 5 almost 6 year old that no one can tell me what is going on. the DR's are thinking PDD-NOS or Autism. I have been trying to get my son help from the time he was 1 years old and at frist they felt he was Bypoler (sorry not sure if spelling is right) ADHS and a lot more. I filly have a DR that is relly looking at what is going on. my son has been on so many meds to the pont we have one more to try and then we are not sure what we are going to do. I have heared over and over from all the DR's about PDD-NOS and maybe autistc from the get go but no one is welling to say it becase my son dose not have all the problem that are with Autism. the DR he is seeing know said he had a child that was just like my son and it was hard to find out what was going on becase he was able to copy everything people said . I belive that my son is very much autistc I see so much of it in hem. anyway I am glad I found this place. thank you for having this here god bless sorry for my spelling
Hello. I am the father of twin 2.5 year old girls. One was diagnosed with autistic tendencies about 3 months ago and the other has shown some slight learning delays but not as severe as her sister. I joined this forum to ask questions to parents about how they deal with everything. We are attempting some of the diatary changes that we have read about and have been doing well but I know that we will eventually run out of packaged food and will need to get creative. See you in the forums! Hi! my name is Candace Phillips I am fairly new to the world of Autism. I am currently working as an Autism Interventionist . My job is at the very least challenging but also very rewarding. My heart and prayers go out to all autistic children because as I have seen the very smallest of things is a challenge and often some of the greatest joy when finally acomplished I am very pleased to have found this forum I am sure I will learn lots!Hi. I'm Lisa, wife to Thierry, mom to Luc who's 29 months old (2 years old). We live in Chandler, AZ. We met with Childhood Specialist at his 2 yr appt and again 3 months later. We met with AZ Early Intervention and they referred us to a child psychologist and he has 50% or greater delays. But we're getting a 2nd opinion in June (earliest appt we can get). Anyway, Luc seems to only speak about 60 words when he wants to, barely asks now the past 2 weeks for milk or applejuice. He has ezcema - hereditary on my mom's side of the family. He's allergic to dogs and possibly cats (I am allergic to cats that's for sure). He's also allergic to corn, soy and the berry crop family and mainly gets diarrhea or rashes from it. I've been quite mad, frustrated, in denial, etc of Luc's delays. I feel like it's either my fault either personally or reproductively. I just recently had a miscarriage two fridays ago and either due to low progesterone or more so could be from this stress after I found out that Luc has possible PDD and then so, autism. I am fearful to have another child. I felt all brave about my miscarraige thinking that the progesterone is the excuse but in all could be factor of Luc's behavior and these appts I've been having. While I was pregnant with Luc, it was a normal pregnancy although I had a rare heart shaped uterus which caused the placenta to split into two resulting a postpartum hemmorhage and two huge chunky clots. So, I am trying to take a breather and relax about it and try not to stick blame to my husband or myself. But to learn more about it. I know Luc is not the only one. But he's my son. Thanks for letting me vent. Hello everyone! My little Ben of 4.5 years (alomst) was just Dx with autistic disorder two weeks ago.......so that is what brings me here. He is the second on our three children. My name is Cory, I am his mother. I look forward to reading the posts on this messgae board.....
mememom You can call me Rennais. I have 2 kids (boys). One is 2 and has a diagnosis of autism ( I refer to him as Little One). The other is 6 and has a diagnosisof PDD-NOS (though I have had a few people suspect that later he will be dignosed as Asperder's. I refer to him as Frog- a nickname his grandmother gave him). We only discovered this a year ago. It's been a rough year to say the least. Just about the time I think I have a grip on the world around me I discover Idon't really. The boys have been in early intervention (Frog at age 4 and Little One at age 2). In the last year I have had so much information to process from psychologist, teachers, speech and occupational therapist, and people who think they have good advice....I think I'm tired. Frog has reasonable speech skills. Little lost all his speech when he was about age 2. We've been through genetic testing. There is no sign of genetic X. We live in Cali and have been refered to the MIND Institute (I guess it's a USC program). There's so much paperwork to do all the time. I'm not even sure how I've managed this far. I don't know if anyone will read this. I think I just needed to post it.Rennais, Ugh! paper work is really the pits!! If I had gotten paid for all the paper work I've done over the years I'd be a millionare. Do you mean Fragile X Syndrome? I have just been reading about that and it said every child with autism should be tested for Fragile X. I had never heard of it until a few months ago and my son is 9. We have never had genetic testing. Is this something most everyone here has had done? Any replies would be greatly appreciated.
Hey Merry, I don't know if this is a standard practice (the genetic testing for Fragile X, that is what my kids were tested for..both came back negetive) I think the reason we were refered for testing was the fact that both my children were having developmental problems. Guess they figured there had to be some kind of genetic link. There was another test that they ran that involved urine samples from the boys, but they did not have definite results from it when I talk to the genetics people last. Anyone else know more about if Genetics testing is standard for children diagnosed with autism or PDD? Hi everyone my name is Ellen. I am happy to have found this great place with all this info. My son Jake is 6 years old and has autism. It will be great to talk with some people who know what he and I are going through.Hi, my name is Carrie. My son is 3 and he was diagnosed with autism last August. My daughter is 5 and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS in November. It is a relief to have an explanation for things that I always wondered about. On the other hand it is heart-breaking to know that your children will have to live with this for the rest of their lives. My children are my whole world. It is nice to know that I am not alone in what I am going through. Hi my name is jennifer, my dd was diagnosed with mild autism in March of 2006, though we have known for about a year, she will be 3 tommorow. I have four children, 9,6,5,3 two boys and two girls. She has alot of behavioral problems and a lot of speech. I think she is too smart for her own good. I am glad you guys are here. thanks Jennifer hi jennifer! pamela here, love you!My name is Christine, and I am new to the board. My son Nicholas was diagonosed yesterday with PDD, NOS. He is 6 years old, and has always been recieving services since he was 18 months old. I am not surprised by the diagnosis, but it was the first time I had a Doctor tell me without any hesistation or doubt that it is what I had always feared in my heart. I am so angry, so angry and upset and confused, and worried what type of future is in store for my son. I look at families that have kids with no issues and I just want to scream, it's not fair!!!!! I am doing everything possible for my son, and I will always continue to do so but this just plain sucks. My husband has always been the stronger one, but the true realization of this has even shaken him, and I feel so helpless. I know I'm just feeling very sorry for myself right now, and in a few days I'll be back to my usual self, but I felt the need to vent. Thanks to anyone who listened. Christine, I know exactly how you feel. I look at other families & think "WHY ME" I know I shouldnt, but I cant help it sometimes. You have every right to feel sorry for yourself, having a doctor confirm what we already know is still very hard to hear. Welcome to the board, & I hope you find it as useful as I do. (((HUGS)))I look at your letter and I see you as someone lucky to know what your dealing with at a early age. You have the ability to make appropiate interventions and find the appropiate resources to improve everyone's quality of life. I also understand your sadness, frustration, etc. with the diagnosis. I myself had been looking for an explanation for so long that it was a godsend to finally be able to understand what was going on. I just found out and my son is 10 1/2 and this new info effects all aspects of his life and we now are educating ourselves to find the appropiate interventions. There are a lot of resources available and with the right help and education it will be amazing how easier your life will become. With husband's I think it is basically always more difficult as they have the notion to want to "fix" things and this can not be fixed. But it also is not broken just different. Like an anaology I read which I thought made a lot of sense was (much shorter version) Like buying airlines tickets to France and learning the language before you go, buying the right clothes for the weather, knowing the right foods, knowing where to sight see and shop. Then uou land in Asia-not prepared at all for anything-no language sense, no idea about culture and food and where to shop or sight see. You arnt and rave at the travel agent-nothing helps, your stuck. After a whiel you your tire of fighting and begin to look at what Asai has to offer. The beautiful culture, the lovely landscape, the interesting foods. This isn't exactly what I planned, but it's not so bad." Having a child with autism is supposed to be like this-not any worse than having a typical child-just different. Hope this helps and as I live my new understanding of life. I wake up each day ready to take the challenge and each night beat up by it. As one professional told me if it is too easy and your not frustrated your not working very hard. One day at a time. Continue to network and educate and things will get easier. My best to you and your family Remeber Your Not Alone!! Marcie Parent of 11 yr old boy with PDD-NOS, hearing impairment, ADHD, CAPD, SID and LD Marcie~ That was probably the most inspiratonal post I've read since I joined! My 12 & 2.5 yr old boys are both PDD-NOS and I do the same things~ curse other moms who complain about "normal" children and the stuff they go though everyday in their "normal" lives. When I only wish I knew what that would be like. I truely felt like you understand. Thank you! ~Allysen Thank you to those who replied. I've calmed down since I wrote and feel more focused. Marcie, I cannot tell you how moved I was by your reply. You so eloquintly said so many things I've been feeling. I read your letter to my husband and for the first time ...he was speechless. I'm glad I found this web site, and know now that I am not alone in this world when it comes to this. I am positive I will pass on your words of insight to my other friends who are dealing with this, when they have their bad days. My deepest Thanks- Christine Hello to everyone, I just want to share my story with all of you.I have a 22 years old son EJ with autism. I can't believe how lucky I am. I came from Asia. Those days, I didn't know what is autism till I immigrated to Canada. EJ has very bad temper and also self injury. He did not like school. He did not response to other except with the family. I have 2 other normal children. I and my husband have travelled a lot to look for doctors to cure my son's problem. He has been put on medication. We also try accuputure. All these no working. As he grows older, we worry more about him as we want him to live a normal life i.e. at least can take care of himself. Then we start looking into other remedy such as herbs, vitamines, supplement... 3 years ago, friend of mine introduced a bottle with 23 herbal extracts liquid to us. WE were so skeptical in the beginning. My husband not allow me to use thois on EJ. But for a mom with such a son, I will try anything on him to bring him "alive". I did and miracle came (I should not say like this). I think it is because of the vitamines, minerals in the drink that give our son some new chemistry reactions in his body. I read a lot of articles about missing chemistry reactions in our autistic children. I now really believe that. Certainly, my son is not full recovered from autism (there is no full recovery I know) but things change a lot on him. He now can go to learn computer, painting and also go golf with my husband. Well, it is a bit too long. EJ is open up a lot but I still looking for strategies to develop his social and communication skill. Thanks for reading this message. Hi! My name is Judy and I am the mother of a 17 year old by with Aspergers and OCD. We have gone through some rough times lately, because he needed to be hospitalized for 2 months. He is back now and seems to be somewhat better. He has severe OCD with germs, and that seems to be affecting is life greatly. He has tried all the meds to help OCD, but they don't seem to help him. He is not strong enough to start "exposure therapy." His OCD is a HUGE part of our lives. I pray that some day that he will get a handle on it. Hi HIRP, I am glad that your son getting so much better but can you give a more detail on what happened after he started on the suppliment. I heard about this suppliment but I still don't have the confident to use it on my son who is 10 dx autism and adhd. Do you think that will help him? Can I PM you? Christine, Please no thanks expected or needed. Your entitled to your anger, sadness, frustration, etc. I am just a few steps ahead of you-not different than you. There are so many days I feel helpless, hopeless and extremely, extremely frustrated. I think for me the hardest part is not knowing what will or will not work. But he is my 2nd child and my oldest who hasn't had any unusual challenges except just trying to exist has put me through the test too many times to count. And she is "normal" (I word I've grown to hate) and all the mistakes and sadness just being a mom from a child who has no special challenges. Because of that I sometimes think it makes this very slightly easier. Then all the other times where this is nothing in the world that is the same as this and no one could ever understand what you experience, how you feel, how sometimes it is difficult to show love. I went through with my son a lot way before I knew and I was so sad as to what I did not understand. Now my love for him is so big and my frustration is even greater. The balance of all this-husband, sibling issues, friends, extended family, etc can be very tiresome. I get my strength from knowing there are mor epeople like you and me doing the same thing we do every day and in many cases much worse than I have it. Regardless of that I also let myself mourn as I think a balance of emotions is normal as long you do not let one overtake you and consume the progress you need. As one other professional told me (you know sometimes they tell you things that are so simple and make sense but sometimes oyu need someone to say it as it just can think so simply when it is so overwhelming) you handle what you can at the time and you do your best. Don't do would of, should of or could of-just be glad your trying. If you ever need any info, resources, network info, etc please feel free to ask. I just started this journey but will be glad to share the ride. We were chosen for this quest for a reason. I tell myself cause I can handle it-or at least try. Marcie Hello, I am new to the boards. My son was just diagnosed this past Wednesday as having Mild to Moderate Autism. I will admit, my wife and I are quite overwhelmed with everything. We had the evaluation conducted about 2 weeks ago, then they came and observed him at his day care provider (his grandmother on his mother's side you watched about 5 children varying in age from 6 months to 4 years). We were quite shocked. We have seen several physicians and other medical professionals concerning this issue. Maybe I should post the story on the "Tell us your story" rather than here. While we were provided a lot of information by the evaluators, we still need to soft through it, and do our own research. There is so much information out there, but determining what is true and what is less true is definitely a challenge. So many people can create websites now are politically slanted toward their personal beliefs rather than an objective presentation of information. One thing I have remembered my Statistics teacher in college saying over 10 years ago: "I can gather and present information to prove absolutely anything I want. Well enough on that rant. I was hoping this could be a good starting point for my own research. Sorry for the rambling. Glucoweb Hello,My name is Stephanie and I have a 13 year old boy with moderate to mild autism,I also have a 15 year old boy that has ADHD and ODD and a 14 year old step-son that has autistic tendencies but has never been formly diagnosed.It affects your life everyday as you're constantly being the voice for these special children.They can't be advocates for themselves therefore you have to do it for them.It affects you emotionally as it becomes quite draining dealing with the self stims and behaviors.It affects you financially as you try so hard to buy educational supplies so that your child can be taught at home as well as at school.It affects your families as they don't always understand why he's doing that and why he just can't stop.It affects you because you begin to feel isolated from your family and friends.You most of the time feel that you are being misunderstood by people and the public school system.You get overwhelmed sometimes with having to be an advocate,teacher and mother.One thing that I have learned from all of this responsibility is that you can never show anybody that you feel defeated.You need to show that you believe in your child's future and that he is capable of reaching his fullest potential no matter what others think.When I first received my 13 year old son's diagnosis in 1997 I was told that he would never talk,walk or be toilet trained and to just put him in a institution and close the door and never look behind.Well I beat those odds because my son can do all those things and so much more.He just needs somebody to be patient and loving and teach him skills by breaking them down for him.I firmly believe that my son has taught many people how to look from his world.Having all these children has made me appreciate that they are truly angels from the great one above. Fedupp Dear Fedupp, I know what you mean about the isolation. I have 2 kids on the spectrum (3yr old Autistic and 6yr old PDD-NOS). We had to go to my sister's wedding yesterday(my husband had to work, so I was on my own) and I pretty much missed the ceremony because I was chasing my little one (the wedding was at a park and the arbor we were in was by the lake). My older child seemed fine playing with the other kids, but I spent hours chasing the litle one. I don't think I said more than 2 words to anyone there (including my sister and her new husband). I never got a chance to eat or enjoy a piece of cake. My mother decided I should participate in the toast so I was running around with a glass in my hand trying not to spill it. It does get isolating. Not only are your children different but the way you live and think is different than other adults. I was watching how alot of the parents there seemed to get so upset over little "misbehaviors" of thier kids and I think "Man, that's nothing, no need to get so upset". Just thought I'd let ya know we're out there with ya. Hi, I also have an 8 month old girl who is doing well and only has feeding issues - but she also has an immune deficiency. We are in the process of getting stuff set up for school. We have yet to have a meeting - and his third birthday is in June. We are prepared for a long fight because Will is SO high functioning - and he is doing SO well since we started ABA in February. I am just looking for a community where I can vent, share, laugh - ya know....just be US ........ Thanks hi everyone, i'm Monica, I have twin boys who just turned 4. One of my sons was diagnosed with autism early last year. He has been in preschool since he was 3 and gets ABA, OT, PT and Speech. He has made super progress! He went from no words at all this time last year to at least 100 now!
Looking forward to posting here! My name is Jerry Grasso and I have a six year old son who is mildly autistic. While he is mainstreaming more and more in parts of his life - a good thing we think, getting there has been bumpy and painful.Seems like we've read all the books, taken a number of seminars, and adapt all we have learned the best we can to the boy, but our interaction with other parents in our boat is limited. I'm hoping by joining this group, we are able to learn more about the 'everyday' dealings with parents/kids versus just the continuous 'clinical' we get from educators, doctors and therapists. Thanks, Jerry Grasso Hi. My name is Heather, but Cafe is my usual online nick. I have four children. Two girls, 13 and 11. Two boys 9 and 7. I had DS1 evaluated for ADHD and at the evaluation, they noticed some signs of PDD. DS2 has some major signs of it. I feel terrible for not getting them help sooner, especially for DS2, but I thought they would outgrow their delays. For my husband's side of the family, my boys really are pretty 'normal.' Odd and brilliant, you know. Both of them have always been personable and cuddly . . . anyway. Hindsight and all that. So now I'm trying to learn what I can and make sense of it all. To me, my boys really seem fine overall. They are a little harder to raise than my girls have been, but nothing major. I just want them to do okay in life, with other people, school, and eventually careers and families of their own. I'm reading over descriptions of autism and they seem very hard to get a grasp on. I'm hoping real people dealing with real kids can bring me a little clarity and wisdom. At this point, the school is hoping to get their evaluations done by the end of the school year so we have a handle on what to do next year. Hi, I'm new to the board and here's my story. I have 2 boys; a 7yr. old and a 4yr.old. The 4 yr. old was recently diagnosed autistic. The 7yr old is waiting to be evaluated for autism, right now I'm told he is ADHD and is on medication. I felt bad at first because I let people (family members included) tell me nothing's wrong when my gut said something was. They could have been diagnosed a long time ago but i really didn't know the signs. I just knew the 4yr old needed help because he was driving me nuts. He barely knew 10 words at 2 and was HYPERactive. I consider myself blessed because I do have 2 boys that I love so much regardless of what they are labelled. When I look at them I see my boys I don't see autism. I realize that finding out now rather than later is still a good thing and we can go down the long road of getting them the help they need and learning about autism together. Hello, My name is Trina. I have 2 beautiful boys ages 2 and 6. Today, after months of waiting, we finally got into the specialist. My youngest son was diagnosed today with PDD. I really have been eduacating myself on ausism while waiting for his appt., not sure the exact differences in the two. The dr. said he's too young to kno where he is on the spectrum, so thats why he said PDD. His father doesn't participate in his life so I kno I have a long, overwhelming road ahead and I plan to try to find "friends" on here to communicate with so I can learn as much as possible and maybe be able to help someone as well. All i kno is the next steps are OT and speech which we can't even get in for the evaluation until June. So I will probably be around askin a million questions and looking for some guidance and support!! Thank you!!!!Hey to everyone new. Welcome to the site. I hope it helps. It really has helped me and I have made some great friends, so far. Prayers for all. CandidaHello, My name is Marla and I have worked as an ABA therapist in a clinical setting for three years working with infant/toddler and preschool aged children. I found this board while searching for families to tutor for the summer. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Therapeutic Recreation with a minor in Psychology. I have extensive experience with instruction of learning readiness, self-care, pre-academic, socialization, play, and language skills. I also have served as a shadow for typical inclusion into the community and have worked as a home tutor. I live in the Akron area am searching for families that are in need of a tutor for the summer. Hi, My name is Leanne and my second son Patrick (4 yrs old) was just diagnosed yesterday with severe Autism. My ped and I feel he is more in the moderate range. We have always known that he was different. He's just....MORE! His biggest delays are in communication and behaviour. He has a super vocabulary but doesn't communicate well with it (a lot of echolalia) and he doesn't play or interact with other children at.all. He is impulsive and doesn't understand even a little bit the concept of danger. He makes very little eye contact. He's big and strong so when we have to move him physically it is very difficult. His gross motor skills are fine and so is his learning (so far his "intelligence" is at par with his peers). His fine motor skills need work. Patrick also has epilepsy. The biggest impact in our lives has been the planning required to do anything with him. Very few ppl can watch him close enough for him to be safe and so that limits our "mom and dad" time. He really needs a hand on him all the time...literally. We've been waiting for this dx since september. Man, the red tape one has to go through just to get an asessment. We are still going through the grieving process right now and I'm just trying to reach out to others who understand. Great info btw for us newbies. Thanks! Hello, My name is Myriam my 7 year old son was dx last week with PDD-NOS. I feel lost and reliefed to know that he was misdiagnosed as mild mental retardation. His biggest problem is in speech and socialisation. I am reading Unraveling the mysatery of autism and pdd, he is off milk and dairy products WOW what a diference. We live in Dallas, Texas please if anyone knows of support groups, summer camps, schools etc. I will be forever grateful. Thanks!!! hi Myriam, i was reading your story and i was curious about you mentioning taking your son of milk and dairy products. what did you see happen???my son is 2 1/2 and has autistic spectrum disorder...his biggest problems as well are speech and socialization. i just wanted to know what happened when you took him off this stuff and for how long before you saw something happening. also what do you substitute for milk...soy??? curious friend rehana
Hi Everyone My Name is Mary. I am a stay at home mom with 2 children. I one child with autism (Aspergers Syndrome). He is very smart, he's four and reads on about a thrid grade reading level. He is just now starting to play with other children, but still would rather play by himself. He was a very quiet baby. there was not any response from him until he started speech therapy at 2 years old. He repeats alot of TV shows, websites, commericals. About 90% of his language is what he watches. Because of this he does have very limited TV time but he only has to watch it once to remember it. I also have another child who is 9 months old and we do not know what is going on with him yet. He has a gross motor and fine motor delay right now. He is a very responsive child. He will laugh when you talk to him, he will show that he recognizes me when I come into the room. The most troubling thing for me is that he is not gaining very much weight. He eats four bottles a day at 6oz and usually leaves about an ounce in the bottle. He also eats about 5 jars of baby food a day at 4oz each. He weighs only 14lbs and 8 oz. The not knowing is the worst for me. I wouldn't trade either one fo them for anything they are the cutest sweetest children you would ever meet!
Hi Rehana, We replaced the milk with soy, within the first day he was more alert. By the second day the slur in his speech was gone, he used to speak in a low soft voice, now he speaks in a normal tone and more clearly. We noticed that he no longer covers his ears when there is a loud noise. The redness in his cheeks is practically gone (wich by the way we suspected it was an allergic reaction to food since I get it when I eat too much bread) and the red/white cottage cheese like bumps on his upper arms that he had for years are gone. All this since Tuesday 5/02/06. Hello, my name is ED. My son Richard who is three has autism. I really don't know where to begin. I found this site while I was looking online for information about autism. I had heard that the drug Thermosal, which is used as a preservative in vaccines may cause autism and other disorders. I thought about suing, but it is hard to get evidence because of the privacy act. Anyway, I guess I will browse around and see what you guys think about it, and what ground you have already covered.Hi, my name is Michelle. I'm a stay at home mom with 4 children. Age range from 11 1/2 to 2. Kyle is 9 1/2 and was diagnosed with pdd-nos in 2003. He was also diagnosed with xyy syndrome last summer. This has been a very, very long and confusing road for us. Our school redid testing at my request last month. He now falls into the moderate range on the CARS scale for pdd. We also realized he is suffering from sensory issues. He is below average for his expressive language. Does not maintain eye contact, initiate or maintain conversations. Just a whole host of stuff that I used to just write off as quirks. I knew he was different when he was 2, but NO ONE would listen to me until he started school. I don't even know where to begin....my story is very long, as I'm sure all of our's are. Michelle Michelle, I know your story would not be unique as I have heard this from many moms. Our son is the youngest of 7 and so I had seen a lot before he came along and just knew I had a child who was not developing anywhere near "normally." Now that I know so much about autism and it's spectrum I know our oldest would fall on it as Aspergers and another who might also (who has mental health issues too). This is not easy but if you can find a network of professionals and families to brainstorm with and support you it will be easier. This forum (there are others out there too) has a wealth of knowledge for you. Good luck and keep visiting!! Michelle, Sorry, I meant to ask you ~ What is XYY Syndrome? Thanks! Xyy is a genetic condition. My son has an extra y chromosome on all of his genes. It is thought to be common, 1 in every 1,000 male births, but most people are never diagnosed with it. The only people that are usually diagnosed with it are those that have problems. These boys have learning difficulties, language difficulties, some have aggression problems, epilepsy is common, and they're very tall. It has been found that add/adhd, and autism/pdd kind of go along with the xyy. (at least for those that have problems) Not a whole lot is really known about it. Michelle Hi everyone,
The website Cure Autisim Now has a link to ultimatelearning.net which sells a software for children with learning disabilities, a portion of the sales go to the CAN organization. I recommend the book 'Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder' a mothers story of Research and Recovery by Karyn Seroussi, this is where I learned about DAN (defeat Autism Now)and Lisas' paper, from there to- CAN. I hope this helps.. Oh almost forgot, there is a summer Camp for autistic children been held in Dallas, TX - Camp Thunderbird- I do not have dates or fees yet but will post as soon as I get the info. Carlos' Mom! Hi, my name is Sarah. I am a 36 yr old, divorce mother of 3 daughters (previous marriage) and 1 son. My son Andrew just turned 3. He is Autistic and hyper active. The past 3 yrs have been challenging years taking care of Andrew. Everything that deals w/Andrew is a struggle. He is literally *out of control* and I stay at home for the most part because he is such a handful to take care of. I cant express how happy I am too have found this group for parents!!!!!! I want to surround myself w/people who understand what is like to deal w/this every day. It is truly a blessing for me to have found this site! :) hello my name is Julie. I live in England and i have 2 children. my youngest has Autism, and severe learning and communication delay. he is 6 next month. I find it hard at times as my son can be very demanding but i love him to bits but each new day brings challenges and im pleased i have found others to chat too here as i know no one with a disabled child where i live.thanks and look forward to chatting to you all take care Julie xxx
Hi, My son Jack is 3 and 1/2 and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS about a year ago. Actually, we started early intervention at 13 months, because PDD was suspected but since he was so young, the doctor wanted to wait before giving a diagnosis. When he was a year old, I had switched from our family doctor to a pediatrician, and the nurse practitioner we saw happened to have a son with autism, so she was aware of the signs, and recommended we get an evaluation. He received early intervention services until he was two, and from then on he has been in a special ed preschool, which has been great for him. He loves it, too! I am glad to have found this board, and look forward to chatting with you all! Jack's mom hey everyone, 26/m/ny living with autism. I'm just glad to have parents like mine who are able to help me out and put a roof over my head. Thanks to all the wonderful parents of Autistic children world wide. Hi! i have a 23 yr old highfunctioning son. he was diagnosed at the age of 4 and alot of progress has been made in the study of autism. however i have not been able to find much information relating to autistic adults. i'd appreciate any info... I suppose I should properly introduce myself after coming on earlier today for other reasons. I am Tom, Candy26's husband and father of Leo and Jade. I am 27 years old and am currently serving in the United States Air Force. I have not come on this board ever mostly because I have been busy with deployments, my education, and other military related duties. I feel very passionate about not only helping my son through this disorder, but also protecting him. Take care all and feel free to contact me. Tom, foreverknight Welcome Tom!!!!!Its great to have you hereHi! I am new to this just found your site tonight. My son eli is 7 and
has(not dx) aspergers. He is going to 1st grade this year with little
assistance. I don't get much help at the school even though it is
supposed to have an autism specialist there.I hope that I can find some comfort in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you amanda, My prayer is that you are able to get him the help that he needs. Does your son recieve any other services right now speech, OT? Are you currently seeing a neurologist? d Hi, I am new to your forum . I am a mother of 2 autistic boys 10 and 12 years old. The youngest boy is non-verbal and not toliet trained and the older boy is high functioning. I just want to see what people are talking about.
I am going to the CURE AUTISM NOW walk in Chicago next Sunday. I hope we can find out what causes autism. As you know one out of 166 children are diagnosed . TandNmom, Thank you for your prayers!! He met all requirements to be released from speech and the teacher even said his english was so proficient that he should never have been in there anyway. OT isn't really needed either he had alot of that in pre-k. As far as a neurologist, no I can't seem to find one that I can be satisfied with. I am so frustrated with our school system, because he is high fuctioning they seem to focus thier only attention on the lower fuctioning children and he gets left out. He is capable of going to class on his own but sometime he needs guidance and they are not giving him any. He is supposed to be working on his socialization skills but they don't do anything in thier but put in videos and let him play computer. They are supposed to have him doing therapy throughout the day but no such luck. ...Hi my name is Kim and I have three children D.J. 14, Sarah who is 12 and diagnosed with MR, and Emily 9 almost 10 who was diagnosed with Autism when she was 8. I have only been on here about a week, but you have all helped me so much! I have very supportive people in my life but it is nice to talk to people who really get it. Anyway I am divorced and doing this on my own, because dad has some things he needs to overcome the kids do not go to his house but I supervise visits with him so its just us. I work part time and go to college. I am very blessed to work at my church and I can work around Emily's schedule and take her with me when I need to. Besides the Autism, Emily has terrible migraines that cause her to vomit all day long she misses between 30 and 40 days of school a year. Anyway I feel very blessed that I can support my family and be there for Emily. It is great to be on board! My name is Pattie, and I'm a mother of a wonderful 10 year old daughter that was diagnosed with PDD NOS a few years ago. My daughter is very high functioning. And very intelligent at the academic level. And very creative. Most people that peripherally know my daughter, say that you would only think she is an 'odd' child. Only people that have really gotten to know her have been able to see the effects of autism in her. Right now, she is fighting her therapies. She has a mobile therapist, a theraputic staff support person (a therapist of sorts), and she goes to an afterschool program three days a week for more therapy. At the moment, she does not want to do any of these things, and does not understand why she must do so. So I'm looking for information on how to explain PDD NOS to a child that has been diagnosed with it. I feel certian, that once explained, and understood, she won't fight it as much. However, I am having no luck in finding any web sites, or books, or anything geared towards autistic children for their understanding of the disorder. Anyway, I'd better stop now, before I turn this post into a biography of her life. Thanks for letting me join! Pattie Hi, I have 2 boys, ages 8 and 4. My 8 year old is a very intelligent 2nd grader (honor roll, no problems). However, my 4 year old has some problems. First of all he has been in speech therapy since he was 2. His speech now is almost normal. The speech problem was related to a hearing problem that was resolved with tubes. He has always had behavioral problems at home and daycare. They are better at daycare now. Here are his problems: 1) he has a real memory problem, it takes him a long time to remember names of other people, etc. 2) he doesn't identify letters or numbers (he can count to 10 and partially say his ABC's, he will be 5 in July and start kindergarten) 3) he asks silly questions (he just got a haircut this weekend, and he asked me the next morning, do I still have my haircut?) 4) he wants you to answer him or he continues to talk about the same thing 5) things are really hard to explain to him Does this sound like autism? Some days he seems completely normal. He likes to play with the kids in his class, no trouble with eye contact, no trouble with sleeping or eating.. I go back and forth believing he has autism or adhd (he is quite hyper). Thanks for any info you can provide.
Hi, My name is Kim and I have a 9 year old ds (ASD) and a 17 year old ds (nt). Yds is verbal, attends school (ESE) and gets ABA and lang. therapy. He does fine at school, but at home we are dealing with aggressive behavior. We always said no meds, but ended up giving them a try after he broke our sliding glass doors and put holes in the walls, ect. He is taking Straterra and Tenex and it has helped a lot, but still has "spurts" of aggression. This happens when our plans change (even though I try my best to warn him), if we say no to him and when he's frustrated. His teacher told me the worst he's ever done at school is roll his eyes toward the ceiling and growl at her. With dh and I, he hits,kicks and pinches us (mostly me). Anyway, can't wait to get to know you guys! moms~angel (he is an angel most of the time)
hello. i am the soon to be step mom of a wonderful little boy who happens to also be autistc. he might be comming to live with us and im trying to find some info on how to help him adjust. i know that he doesn't deal with change too easy. he also has a little brother..my son who he isn't very comfortable with yet. if anyone has any advice please post me. thank you Hi Everyone, I'm new to the group and would like to introduce myself. My name is Ann and I am currently training to be a School Psychologist. My interest in autism spectrum disorders began when my nephew Robert was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I have been immersed in the topic ever since. I'm looking for mothers of children with ASDs to participate in a study I am conducting as part of my thesis requirements. Interested moms, please email me your contact information so I can send you a packet of questionnaires - name and address, please. My email address is asirico@optonline.net Thanks. Hi. I'm Laura-Lee and the mom of an 8 year girl typical above averge and the mom of a 7 year old child who started out in this world typical until he met head on with menengitis and that changed our life as we know it for the last five years. J could talk well, toilet trained by two and social as the day was long. I once was a theripist with mainly aitistic kids so was always cautously thankful for the healthy family I had but always watching for signs. After we "lost" him - slowly the ASD symptoms appeared but it wasn't until age seven that he had behaviours and more ASD symptoms. Now I am struggling trying to figure out if it's because he's on meds now and never was before or if he just can't deal with life. He is becoming agressive, loud and defiant but on a good note he does talk more and his social awareness and eye contact are improving rapidly. Has anyone else aquired ASD in this way? Has anyone else felt that after giving meds their child's personality changed for the worse??? Help! I know I should be able to help him as a therapist but right now I am failing at most attempts but speech! Hi Laura-Lee, We tried ridlon (sp?) with our son and it did decrease his activity level but increased his autistic symptoms. He wouldn't talk to his peers and wanted to sit in the quiet corner all the time and be in his own world. I'm not totally ruling out medication in the future but right now we are not giving him the ridlon and are working on the attention and activity level other ways. hi my name is windy and i am interested in weighted blankets.. where do you find them and how do you know how much weight to put on a child.. we finally have a room for my son and he wakes up waaaaay too much the dr wants to put him on clonidine but i refused it.a ny help in this area would be helpful]thanks' breezyme Breezyme, you could check on ebay for them. My friend made me one. She use fleece and pading and for weight she used upholistery fabric. My dd love hers and it does help her sleep through the night. Hi everyone, I am the mother of two children, my son is almost 4 with autism and my daughter is almost 7, probably en route to an aspergers diagnosis but pretty NT most times. My son was diagnosed right around his 2nd birthday. He is in a 40 hour ABA program with 10 of the hours spent in a "typical" preschool with a shadow aide. He receives speech therapy too. He is GFCF and that has been helpful for him. I'm happy to find this forum. I have been browsing (lurking? I don't know) and am learning so much and enjoying reading all the posts. It's amazing how much I still have to learn. Nice to "meet" everyone! MCA2 Hi I'm Ruth. I'm married and have a 12 year old son dx PDD-NOS. I also have a daughter 10years old with no disabilities. My home revolves around my son and at times its stressful for all of us. I was glad to have come across this site when I did. I was at my wits end. Hi! I am new...but, I need help! I live in Mississippi and there is basically nothing here for my son! Can somone please tell me where I can go to find someone to hire to work with my son? He is 2&1/2. He was diagnosed with PDDNOS-But, he will be re-diagnosed in November. He is in early intervention and getting therapy 5 days a week...but only 1 hr. a day. HE NEEDS MORE WORK FROM A BEHAVIOR THERAPIST AND I CANNOT FIND ANYONE! Please help me? He has so much potential and I am losing him! He just need behavior therapy now...he has OT and ST. He is nonverbal. Thanks so much.sorry everyone....I didn't realize how big that was going to be! LOL- I bet I am getting a great start here! SORRY! -SUMMER.Hi! I am a mom of a 11 year old boy who was diagnosed with Nonverbal Learning disorder , Sensory Intergration by another doctor, but he definitely has characteristics of the Autism spectrum. Our last doctor said he was extremely over-sensitive. (Whatever) He is a very intelligent young boy who talks like a professor, but has the social skills of a three year old. He has been diagnosed with extreme anxiety disorders, and while he can get very mad, he hasn't directed the anger at any one person. He shuts down, refusing to move or talk. Public school was a nightmare, and while I tried the medication route, my son was becoming more anxious. We put him in a small private school and was able to take him off all medications for two years. As he gets older, some anxiety has returned, but a low dosage of antidepressant has help. I live in Louisiana, and the State and Local school system will not recognize my son disorders because he doesn't have a definite dx of Autism, Aperger, or PDD. Most doctors say that he has a mixture. He receives 504 services, but until the school officially recognizes that there are children like my son who are very intelligent, but need smaller classes with lots of supervision, and highly trained professional, then we will continue to place our son in private school. But as a teacher, I know that this is not a option for many parents because of the money. We have such high hopes for our son, but the lack of educational options can be very upsetting.I'm from Louisiana, so don't look this way. New Orleans may have had some good doctors, but now after Katrina, they are hard to find. You might want to contact the Children Hospital in New Orleans. I am so sorry and can understand you Pain. tracyw Hello everyone! My son is 4 yrs. old and diagnosed with PDD N.O.S. & sensory integration disorder. It kills me to see how difficult it is for him to relate with other children. How food bothers him and how noises just drive him bonkers. If I was given the opportunity to trade places with him I would in a heart beat. However, because of my love for him and my family I am determined to make it work for us and do anything and everything in my power to provide him with what he needs to succeed in life. God has given me a beautiful son that has changed my life forever.
Tracyw, We also took our son out of public school after kindergarten and although he is doing pretty well going part time, we struggle every month to pay for it. It is discouraging because he didn't get an appropriate program at public even though he does have a dx of autistic disorder. We live in Maine. Summer, Go to your early intervention department and set up a meeting to request what you feel he needs. Take an advocate or someone who knows your son to help. All the preschool programs should be covered by EI at no cost to you. It's tough to handle with other children. I know, we have 7. Good Luck, Merry Thank you Merry~mom. I did talk to early intervention and they don't have anyone else to work with him...and reguardless...he still cant have more than 1 hour a week of special instruction. He had a behavior therapist/special instructor...but their personallities DID NOT CLICK...Jack screamed the whole time to where the instructor couldn't make any progress with him. I have emailed all kinds of behavior therapists in different parts of MS...and not even 1 response. I don't know what I am going to do. At least now, I have someone to talk to that knows what I am going thru...I AM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS SITE. I HAVE 5 children ages 8 to 2. And it does get really hard...but we are hanging in there. He didn't get the PDD-NOS dx. until 11, but we knew. He echoed, banged his head for comfort (yup, for comfort), was hyper off the walls, didn't speak or potty until five, yet he knew his alphabet and numbers and read by rote at age two. His behavior problems went away. I sort of give kudos to his early interventions--OT, PT, social skills. I never thought diets worked and he's not on one and is about 90% better than he was when we got him. He speaks well, although isn't exactly a great conversationalist and would rather say "yes" and "no." He also has an obsessive interest in Mario Bros. videogames, can recite the entire television schedule of "my shows" (and has to be dragged out of the house not to play videogames or watch TV all the time). He is in special ed, doing well, and has friends at school, but prefers to play alone. He plays soccer and is on the swim team and does well. He has learned how to act socially appropriate, but still has trouble with eye contact. Since he's getting older, we are thinking about his future. Most likely he will need a guardian when we're gone and his older brother volunteered. At any rate, this is our story. He is 13 now. Hello. I found this place while searching for resources and thought I'd give it a try.I'm the single mother of two children, ages 6 and 4. My son, the oldest, with diagnosed autistic at age two. His little sister is...well, not really diagnosed, but it's acknowledged that something isn't quite right. Despite the fact that her behavior is pretty standard for a four year old, she has a rather severe language delay. In fact, both of them talk on a level expected from your average two year old. My son does a lot of repeating, is obsessed with birds, and stims by running at full speed back and forth through the house when he gets too excited. He's incredibly athletic, with an uncanny sense of balance (loves to climb up and leap from various objects), and absolutely no sense of his own mortality. My daughter loves to pretend, dress up, help with chores, throw tantrums, tell on her brother, and all those others things you can supposedly expect from a girl her age, except that nine times out of ten you have no idea what she just said. They're both in public school, and have actually been doing fairly well with it. Much as I would like to find them something better, there's no way I can afford it. Hi my name is Rosemary and I am the mom to 2 kids. 71/2 year old boy with PDD-NOS, ADHD, OCD and now possilby oppositional defiance disorder. We had to have him hospitalized for a week earlier this month. When he is doing good he is great but he is having such mood swings. one minute fine the next mad at the world. our daughter just turned 6 and she seems to be fine. sometimes we wonder about ADHD but not sure if she just hasn't picked up stuff from her brother. just found this web site and hoping to get some good ideas to help with him.
Hello I am new to this kind of forum. I thought I would give it a try. My oldest son Matthew has autism and he just turned 14 in feb. Matthew up to that time was really improving in school. Got along great with everyone a few outburts here and there but overall ...good. Ever since he turn 14 on that very day he changed, he didn't want to ride the school bus, he didn't want to go to school anymore. He justed wanted to stay home, not even go to the video store which was his favorite thing to do. His ped. neuroligist suggested abilify. It seem to work but when we got to 15 mg we saw alot of uncontrolabe twiicth in his face. Matthew is a big boy 5'6" 200 lbs. Thats why the bigger dose was needed. Since we didn't seea real inprovement my wife weaned him off and he is still anger all the times hurting others as well as himself. Any comment on what any one else has done about anger outburst would greatly be helpful. On my last wit end. Hi Ponch. My name is Summer...aka mommy_of_five. I wish I knew what to tell you...but my youngest son is just now 2&1/2. But, as you know (having a child with autism for 15 years) there must be SOMETHING that set him into his "change". Maybe something at school? Something with his senses??? I don't know how, but I would try to find out anything that might have happened to him. Is he verbal in any way? Maybe you could somehow ask him if someone did something to him or teased him? Like I said, I am new at this...so, you probably know more about this than I do. Just hang in there...Don't give up....It has to get better some day! Ponch- Everything i have read states that when they hit puberty things can get bad. have you had him checked for seizers? that is one thing that stands out from what i have read. when we had our son in the hospital they were telling me that puberty is hitting earlier now and that can really mess with the meds. we go see the therapist today and i have to ask about these mood swings he is having. it is like a light switch being flicked. i hope you the best. You should see a psychiatrist. They are in a better position to offer treatment related to these issues. Hello all. I'm new here, but not new to ASD. My son Peter is 4 and will be 5 in November and was finally diagnosed in May of last year with ASD. I have two other equally beautiful and wonderful children...Sarah who will be 7 in September and Mary who will turn three in July. I list them as those ages in my signature because their birthdays are pretty much right around the corner and Lord knows I'll forget to go in and change them! That being said, we have been on quite a journey with Peter. To make a very long story, very short, Peter was developing normally until around 10-11 months old or so. At that point it seemed that alot of what he was doing, especially in his attempts to communicate was disappearing. But it was a slow process and I guess hindsight is 20/20. But when I did get worried about it, other people, including our pediatrician offered well meaning reassurances such as the ol' "boys are slower," excuse, or maybe he's just quiet, etc. Plus, my oldest had actually talked at 7 months which I knew was exceptional, so I didn't have a very accurate gague at that point of what was appropriate and what was not. At about 20 months Peter began having trouble with chronic ear infections. Finally after four months of dealing with these anti-biotic resistant infections, we were sent to an ENT. The ENT right off the bat noticed that somehting was not quite right with Peter and that he was very frustrated. He suspected hearing loss. Well when they finally decided he needed ear tubes, they ran a brain stem test to determine whether or not he could in fact hear and it turned out his hearing was fine. BUT, nevertheless, something was wrong. So we were sent to our local early intervention office who hooked us up with a wonderful organization here in Illinois called Aspire Children's Services where Peter began his early intervention therapies. At three years old, he was transitioned into special education within our school district and continues to thrive. I look forward to meeting other parents of autistic children and learning your stories and what has and hasn't worked for you and your child. Thanks for "listening!" HI Im Debby, I have custody of two grands Mr. L age 5 and Miss M age 4. I have had legal custody for 4 years. Mr. L was DX at 18 months by our peds as ODD, sent to a nurologist that DX as PDD-NOS at 20 months. She wanted me to have him placed in a home for emotionaly disturbed children. I was furious. He does have very violant out burst. He was later DX with High functioning autism. Right now it depends on who you ask his nurologist or his psyciatrist. The nurologist says autism. and the psyc has him back at the PDD-NOS. ITs all words if you ask me. The school fought me all the way until he could not maintain he is very high maitanane. The issues of abandonment adds to the mix as well. IM glad that I found the group. I want to have time to sit and read through some of the post. Hi Everyone I have a 5 year old son that was diagnosed (finally) with ASD. I am 23 years old and married. My husband and I went through everything to find out what was going on with my son. When he was 16 months you started talking real good all of a sudden we noticed it was deterorating. The dr. blamed it on ear infections because he had them so frequently so when he turned 2 years old he got tubes put in his ears. About 2 months later no progress on speech. So i asked for a 2nd opinion. Then i to go take a mri, eeg, eye test, hearing test, and was evaluated by 2 Hospitals for children with different disorers. we have seen a Child Psychologist and had genetic tests done. it took until he became 5 he was diagonsed with ASD. It is very hard to deal with. The stress lead to marrital problem but we had to stay strong for our son. While getting tests done i was scared to have another child because i was afraid that the next child would have the same thing. The dr. told me that the chances of me having a child with the same disorder was low. So last year I finally became pregnant. I had a boy. I am praying that he would not get any disorders of any kind. My 5 year old is doing okay in school but he is not at the level of a kindergardener. He just graduated from kindergarden to the first grade and i am scared he won't be no where near the level others are in his class. I hope one day he would catch on a little faster so aleast he won't be too far behind because it is very hard tring to take care of house and dealing with ASD. Thanks everyone for listening to my story DebGreetings. This is my first visit to this site, and only my second posting. You can find my son Jaden's life story posted elsewhere here. He's diagnosed with cerebral palsy in Feb 98. The school and I also agree that he definitely exhibits behaviors in the autism spectrum, though he has had no official diagnosis. I look forward to comparing notes and experiences with all of you.Hello and God bless you all. I just found out my grand daughter is autisic. She just turned 3. I had thought for the past couple years her problem was that she couldn't hear. I sure wish that was true now. She lives in Florida with my step son and his girlfriend (the babies Mom) and I live in Georgia. I don't know much about autism but am going to find out as soon as I can find someone or someplace to teach me and my husband. She is a beautiful little girl and as any grandparent want the best, unfortunately her parents are not financially stable and may not know the severity of her condition. If anyone in here knows of a good school or therapist in the Clearwater area that could help them the info would be greatly appreciated. They can bearly make ends meet but they love their daughter, so this would be a charity case. I just don't want her growing up without any kind of help. We will be doing all we can but we aren't rich and can only do so much. They have applied for Flakidcare insurance but I don't know if it has been approved. We have been paying for her medical care since she was born. Thank you for your help in advance. I'm new here...just found this site tonight....and I am glad I did.I have 3 boys ages 6 and twins who are 4. Oldest has Autism/Asperger's/PDD/ADHD the dr's tell me.....and with the twins we are getting a diagnosis of PDD.... Now my friends tell me the twins are just mimicking older bro's behavior. I do wonder daily if they are just seeming like Autism....but if they were "copying" they would be copying EVERYthing....and they are not...... Oldest is very violent and I have to watch him totally for fear he will hurt the twins. The twins are soooooo laid back. But they have their own issues....trouble standing, walking, jumping, etc. They have some SI I know for a fact.....all of these things are not really oldest bro's problems. Oldest is on Risperdol. I hate it....but at the same time I do see a different child than the violent one I could not control. Well I hope I get to hear lots of comments and help from being around you all. Hello all! I'm an Autism Line Therapist in WI, I've been doing this for two years, and had previously done childcare for a child with autism for a few years before that. I've worked with nine very different children through my therapy program, and am currently working with five of them for the summer. I'm currently attending a University to obtain a degree in Special Ed, and I hope to eventually become a Senior Therapist for the program I work for. -Jess Hello I'm Anya, from New York City 42 years old and separated (in the process of divorce) my ds is 5.5 years old and has Pdd-Nos. He is doing very well, mostly as a result of the intensive ABA therapy program that we started him with at age 2. He will be attending a private special ed kindergarten/elementary school in the fall. Right now we have joint custody and our ds splits his time evenly between us which for various reasons is something that I am working to change. I have just moved into a new apartment and am getting ds used to it. He seems to really like it. I am also looking to get a dog. Enough for now... Hi everyone! I am a sahm to 5 kids: 3 boys, 2 girls. I am trying to find support and answers to some of the things we deal with. Our biggest issue right now is my 7 year old who was diagnosed PDD-NOS but seems to be more "Autistic" as he gets older. He has meltdowns that can be very difficult. It's bad enough that he is screaming terrible things in public but he also hits and kicks and it hurts! It's so hard to stay calm and it's embarassing to the other kids. They also have a hard time with how he generally "treats" us (mom and dad). We are very open with the kids and we talk about the issues but it's still very difficult for them. My biggest problem is that I am so embarassed/frustrated/angry/hurt/sad when he acts out in public. I want to scream at people to stop staring and explain why he is acting out, while at the same time protecting him. Knowing he struggles with the issues doesn't help us control our own anger at the same time and the guilt for feeling angry. The stress this causes is, as so many of you know, sometimes unbearable. Doctors, psychologists, etc. never seem to tell us anything except that we are doing all we can. We've tried counting down during transition, explaining it all to him, etc. Sometimes it works, other times not. We've tried rewards, distractions, etc. The only thing I can do is get him to a quiet area and restrain him by holding him on our laps, hands, feet and head (he will hit us with all available body parts) held, until he comes down from the tantrum/meltdown. What brings it on for him is transition, usually from being outside or anywhere outside that he is enjoying (like the playground). How do you all deal if/when this type of experience presents itself? Thanks for listening to my ramblings. I hope to learn some things by being involved in this group, as well as hopefully help others by solutions we may have found. Hi Robin. I also am a mommy of 5. 3 girls, 2 boys...ages 8 to 2&1/2, oldest and youngest are boys, girls in the middle. Anyway, I just wanted you to know...YOU ARE NOT ALONE! My youngest was UNDERDIAGNOSED PDD-NOS. I see more and more of Classic Autism every single day. He is in therapy 4 days a week (4 total hrs.) and that of course is not enough. He also has terrible melt-downs...he doesn't do a lot of the hand flapping and stuff, just mostly bad behavior problems and non verbal. I know exactly how you feel in public...I just want to slap some of those "staring better than me types". I know I am better than that-Thank God. I mean, when a child is screaming-you can't help but look, but, go on about your own business, and stay out of mine! People don't and can't understand what we go thru on a daily basis. I don't know if you have viewed this film, but if not...take the time to. It is called AUTISM EVERY DAY...on AUTISMSPEAKS.ORG If you can't find it, just email sr_12116911@yahoo.com and I will send it to you. It is so true. That goes for anyone on this site...if you want to see it, feel free to contact me. Well, enough for now...stuff to do...as always! -Summer. Hi. i'm amy - mom to clare age 5 and luke age 3 (turns 4 in august). luke has a dx of pdd-nos sine 3/06. we had him evaluated for speech and hearing at age 2 but they said he was ok. clare had been evaluated at age 2 for decreased social, perseverance, echolalia but the psych said she was ok and she grew out of everything except she's a little obsessive at times (like me). luke's not growing out of it. autism affects everything in our lives. i've been turned into advocate and i have him in school w/ ot,st, and now play therapy. i also got some parent training paid for by the school district. i'm trying to implement a schedule with difficulty. i have luke on a crazy diet i still don't know if i believe in and i'm giving him vitamins and vit b12 injections which i hate. on the other hand i am a more patient mom than i was a year ago. and he's a pretty happy kid. and i figure that i'll definitely learn not to care what other people think and that has always been an issue with me. and i realize how much i love my kids. i sometimes get angry and take it out on them but i keep trying. thanks for this forum. amyHi I joined this group because my son may be autistic. Still waiting to see a neurologist. Well I joined because I have become extremely depressed over this because he's my baby and I hate the idea that he may have problems and I hate the fact that he is still waiting for a speech therapist and he doesn't coorporate in his developmental therapy.. And well quite frankly I just need a hug. Also I need help with patience the lack of comunication is FRUSTRATING I don'[t know what he wants and he can't tell me so usually it ends in a temper tantrum from him and me giving up so if anyone has any advice it will be greatly appreciated. Thank You. Alexsmom23, how old is your son? have you tried picture cards such as PECS? you can also go online to www.do2learn.com they have a section where you can pint out the picture cards for free!!!!! My son is going to be 8 soon and we went back to using a schedule for him because it is easier. He can talk really well now (no speech th.) but when he was small he couldn't. The picture cards of his favorite drink food snacks ect. really helped! wish you luck My is Sandee I am a mother of 6 year old daughter who was diadnosed with PPD-NOS about 2 years ago. Before she was fully diagonsed she had many behavoiral problems so much that we would both end up in tears by the end of arguement or whatever the situation was. Since she was formally diagonsed and started getting info on it I have learned to avoid certain triggers so we dont end up in tears or whatever else. I have just started to understand more of autism so I can help others understand it too. It does fustrates because my daughters father does not accept or is in denial anout the whole thing. Despite having the diagnoses from CHOP out of Philadelphia. So I feel like I am alone, although I do have support from my family and my finacce. So if anyone has advise on how to get a father to accept that his child has speacial needs sure could some advise. arfriend, Your son sounds exactly like the way our son was at age 6 or 7. We got some in-home-support which we still have and that has made a huge difference in our lives. She has taught us that we can't allow him to treat us as if we aren't important (I had bruises from him hitting me) and taught us how to explain feelings to him because the only feeling he understood was anger. Depending on his verbal skills and level of understanding he will be able to understand eventually how his behavior in public and at home will directly effect what activities he will be able to participate in and which ones will be taken away as a reminder next time to behave. Try to teach him how his behavior makes you feel such as "when you told me to shut up at the store it made me feel sad and I almost cried." This method works pretty well sometimes. Just suggestions, but you should look into the support-Behavioral Specialist 1. Good Luck! Hi alexsmom, I am in a similar boat as you. My son is almost 18 months and he saw a pediatric developmental specialist today who beleives he is in the PDD range. My son is very sweet and is a joy but he can not communicate at all- no pointing talking, etc. so I spend all day trying to feed him, give him drinks, make him take a nap, etc. I find that trying to avoid him being hungry, overly tired, or overstimulated helps prevent tantrums. I don't know if it will help, but we started a night time routine with Lucas by bathing him at 730 pm and then straight to bed. He fights it at times, but we make him go to bed when it is time. Nap time is the same way- like it or not he takes a nap. We have to let him cry it out at first and then go in and soothe him. He eventaully caves in and sleeps well. Try to be as consistent as you can be- make sure he gets enough sleep and try to sit him in a high chair at snack and meal times with a favorite TV show on or something else he likes to distract him long enough to eat. My son also has eating issues, he still can't eat a lot of solid foods. He is still on primarily baby food, although he can eat crackers, etc. Hope some of this helps! hai, I am new to this forum, but have been visiting your boards quite often.I hail from an asian country, where facilities for helping kids like mine are negligent, if not absent.I am learing through trial and error and also from internet and groups like yours. My son was provisionally diagnosed with autism at 3 , after we visited a speach pathologist.He was verbal but with only words and no sentences and the therapists noted that he was socialy awkward.It is nearly one year after the first diagnosis and after speach therapy for one year, he has progressed to 3-4 word meaningful sentences.But with lot of echolalia. Throws tantrums bye Hi, everyone. An introduction, and also a question. I have a 7 1/2 year old son that is diagnosed by a pdoc with PDD, ADHD, and Anxiety-NOS. He also has CAPD, and SID, and is developmentally delayed. I assumed that kids with PDD have anxiety issues, but she listed it, as a separate diagnosis. He has a lot of anxiety issues-darkness, heavy rain, thunderstorms, separation anxiety issues, and has a lot of anxiety with crowded places. Is this common with a ASD child, to have a lot of anxiety issues? Looking forward to chatting with you all. Hi there- I feel that mommy insticnts are almost always right- keep searchin until you find a pediatric deveopmental specialist, a pediatrician, a psychologist, or psychiatrist that will see what you are seeing!!!! Time is so important here- get intervention as early as you can! You have valid conerns and I feel so fortunate that I have a pediatrician who saw signs at 15 months in my son that I saw as well- and he was diagnosed with PDD this week at 18 months. Good luck to you and I wish you well! PS Where do you live? I live in the Houston TX area. RubyGloom, I hope you find someone to take your concerns seriously. Your daughter is definitely showing signs. Look into your local chapter of the ASA, see if they have resources for you to get a diagnoses. Here's a link that may help too: http://209.200.89.252/search_site/index.cfm
I have a 9 year old who has PDD-NOS. I am now concerned about my 2 1/2 year old. His speech is delayed. More-so than his older brother. He doesn't stim though. I'm going to get him screened soon. I'm a stay at home mom of 5 year old twins, Dylan & Dustin and I welcome any ideas on dealing with autism.Both are in the autism spectrum. Thank you, Donna
Thats got to be tough Donna having two. I have to give alot thats got to take alot of strength. The best thing I can tell you is have patiences. I think thats one think I am starting to learn. And try and avoid trigger spots, if behavorial is one of their problem areas. When it comes homework since they are getting school age when getting into a situation where you both or all is crying walk away for alittle bit and come back, if that doesn't work just let the teacher know what happened. If they are good teachers they should understand. And may send it home the next day for a second try. Or they may even be able to offer a new approach on how to deal with the homework Hi. My 7 yr old Timmy and I are new to the board. He was unoffically been diagnosed ny three drs. PDD-NOS. I've always knew tht my Timmy was different and needed different cues for maintaining an easy going day. As early as the age of three, I've noticed that Timmy was different. He liked to line up his cars and Thomas trains in straight lines, and heaven forbid if that are not perfect (meltdown), delay with speech at first, but when he started he used "big" words and phrases, he didn't socialize much with the children at dayvare (tends to keep to himself), and his tantrums (kicking, screaming, crying)like his whole world crashed. Timmy is also a very "anal" and structured child. He needs precise instruction and advance warnings to make his day run smooth. If you take ABC, and take B out of the equation Timmy can't function. Timmy really began to stick out when he attended first grade. His tantrums, screaming and crying got worse. He was always being removed from the classroom and unable to finish his assigned classroom work. A lot of his school work became homework. I asked abotu getting him tested. The school shrugged Timmy off with being immature. (Timmy entered kindergarten at the age of 4, school cut of here is the end of the calendar year-his b-day 12/27.) Here he was 5 and in first grade. The whole year stayed the same and he got promoted. He had excellent reading and math skills dispite of being removed on a daily basis. Summer came and he attended a all day sumer program for working parents. Timmy got suspesended several times for his outbursts of tantrums. It was a long summer and missed seveal days of work. The new school year started and Timmy again had difficulties completely his assigned work and socializing properly. This year I work almost on a daily basis with his teacher, adjustment counselor, and principal trying out different behavior management for Timmy and help him cope with his explosive behavior. I've obversed some nervousness within the classroom and his interacions with the other children. Finally got testing done found out that Timmy is high functioning (superior intelligence) with very low processing skills. After meeting with three drs., we've gotten an unoffical PDD-NOS. But because Timmy is making academic strides his not eligible for an IEP, but is on a 504 Plan. I'm fighting this now and continuing to get the official diagnosis (more testing schedule for sept-nov). Timmy got promoted to third grade and got terminated from his summer program after only two days. They tell me that they can't deal with his outbursts and he needs a special program with one on one, but according to the schol dept his can function in a normal classroom setting. (did i mention that the summer program is run by the school dept.) I have arrange for a paraprofessional to work with Timmy one on one for the summer.I feel solost. I fell like I'm failing my baby. I feel alone in the whole porcess with no understanding or support. Timmy is such a smart and good boy, if people would just give him the time and their patience. We have a long road ahead of us. Theresa L Molloy Quickly here. Why is the dx unofficial? If your child has an ASD, he should be eligible for an IEP. My son has "very mild PDD-NOS", has normal intelligence, but is in a self-contained classroom. Hi, I'm Caren, and I just found this board. I'm so excited to read the posts and get more information to help us. My oldest daughter Katy is 3.5 and was diagnosed in December 2005 with Autism. She is considered high-functioning, so we have high hopes for her future. She is very personable, and most people wouldnt be able to tell she has a problem. She does have a speech delay, but with the therapy she had at school, she has learned a lot. We live in Germany currently, and are trying to get back to the states to get her in another program.Hi to everyone. My name is michele and I am a mother to 3 wonderful and beatiful children. I am married now for 8 years and my chidlren are anthony, 5 1/2, alyssa, 3 and daniella 2. Last year in February at the age of 4 1/2 my son anthony was originally diangosed with Intergrated Sensory after being evaluated by a developmentalist because of not potty training. After numerous doctors, we finally found a great doctor in April of this year who diagnosed him with aspergers syndrome and adhd. While watching my youngest daughter develop behind and seeing all the things my son did at her age and her not speaking and and not relating to the day care children that I used to watch, I knew in my heart that she may also have it. Finally after her 2nd birthday this month, she also was evaluated by a developmentalist and was found to have pdd, nos. It is very hard to have 2 children with autism, but we are blessed with special children. Thank you for this wonderful board and look forward to talking to you all. michele Hi I'm new as well! I have a 4 year old . Not yet diagnosed, but shows some autistic tendancies...perhaps PDD is closest? His main symptoms started with delayed speech. And some behavior issues. Mainly not being able to tolerate anything out of the normal routine of his life. Down to what we buy at the grocery store.. Because he couldn't explain his needs and wants through speech he would melt down easily and become violent. Even banging his head into walls. We found out early on that he most certainly has sensory integration issues, mainly HYPOsensitivity (thus the head banging) He is very advanced physically, and has NO FEAR. He will climb anything, jumps and runs constantly... As a baby he cried a lot and could not self calm at all. He never EVER slept. He has been in an early childhood program through one of our schools for two years now & will continue this fall. He is doing very well there, although he still struggles with paying attention, following directions. Also has no interest in writing, although he loves to paint, now that he is more tolerant of being messy. His speech is coming along , and he's saying spontanious (small) sentences now. His articulation is still very poor and I don't think many people can understand him very well. The other night he told me he loved me for the first time ever I just want to find some other mom's out there that understand me, that understand HIM, and that I can talk to without judgement...because you KNOW what it is like to really be in my shoes New to the board. Sitting at the library currently with my son who is playing on one of the children's computers. I'm bogarting the one next to him-hopefully no parents will report me! :-) Other than creating "our story" I don't know what to put.... He's been diagnosed as PDD-NOS, because he is definitely in the spectrum, but understands more than HFA, but understands LESS than Asperger's. He does not internalize at all. Repetition with EVERYTHING. Temper tantrums. Inability to focus for any length of time-EXCEPT with computers. We're in Louisville, Kentucky. He'll be 8 in the middle of August. Going into the 3rd grade, uncertain what school at this point (long story). I'm 35, and have a daughter who is 12. I'm petrified of having another child but am getting remarried in Nov and my fiance is 9yrs younger than me. We want a child, but obviously are scared. We think his was due to several different things...... Labor was induced with Pitocin. Cord wrapped around his neck during delivery (2x's), aspirated upon delivery, pneumonia-in the NICU for a week. (lack of oxygen???) I ate tuna alot when I was pregnant-high in mercury. He had large doses of antibiotics at birth due to the aspiration and pneumonia. My daughter had alot of the similar activities at birth and altho she is "normal" she is very immature for her age and has a few characteristics that he has, just on a smaller level. Ok, that's enough for an introduction!!! THANKS for letting me get it out!! it's easy to want to find out " why" or even blame yourself...My son's delivery was also hard 23 hours long...he was under stress and non responsive when they got him out. I wonder if I should have done something differently... then he showed signs of infection and they put him on an antibiotic right away. I still question that.... I guess most of us never find out the " why" end of things...but right now I want to find out all I possibly can to help him. I am hearing that a child psyciatrist is the best thing to do first? I tried to ask our Dr about doing a more physical work up, a CBC & hair anaylysis and he basically told me it was a dead-end and I shouldn't bother looking. Needless to say we're shopping for a new pediatrician. I just want to make sure I leave no stone unturned you know? but why don't Dr's want to help? HI EVERYONE! I just wanted to share my journal with all of you. I spent a lot of time and cried a lot of tears while getting it all together. PLEASE, leave a comment and tell me what you honestly think?! http://journals.aol.com/rmommyoffive/SPECIALNEEDS/ THANKS! HOPE IT HELPS YOU OUT WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ABOUT AUTISM! -SUMMER. You shouldnt be scared to have another child in case the next one might have Autism to. Yes it is scary but think of what were blessed with having a child. Yes they are challenging at times but some days I thinks its fun, then sometimes I dont cause I never know what the day will bring/ Like is my daughter going to freak out when she is with my sitter or my fincaee or with her dad. Which her dad does not understand any thing of what going on with our daughter. Wjich ticks me off because I feel like I am alone with no support for him. I have other support between friends and family but I need his to. But dont be afraid to have another go for it. lol ANd good luck with your wedding plans If anyone out there has advise on how to get someone to execpt the disability I could use advise or how to survive has the only parent ealing with it.
nina marie, most pediatricians don't want to help because first of all most doctors aren't trained to think out of the box. second, alot are afraid of getting sued so that until these interventions are studied alot (not just once) they won't consider them. alot believe these DAN interventions involving chelation or diets or supplements are holistic (which they are to an extent) and that immediately in their minds is quack medicine. most of these doctors do not have the time or some maybe even the smarts to understand the biochemistry involved. the DAN doc i go to used to be luke's pediatrician before he was diagnosed but then left the practice. all i heard was that he was working with autistic kids. i called him and have been working wlth him for about 2 months with some improvement. i also happen to be a nurse and have talked to alot of docs at the hospital regarding this stuff. my DAN doc has basically become somewhat of a pariah in the pediatric community. trying to find a new pediatrician for my kids for regular checkups is going to be hard, especially since i don't want to vaccinate my 5 year old who also showed signs of pdd but was never dx and grew out of it.... keep looking for a good doc. it'll be worth it for both of us. amy thanks for your reply!I had always liked our pediatrician aside from the fact he always seemed rushed..... But when I would question Malachi's speech delay, and his sleep issues he brushed it off. Then this last appointment when I pressed him about looking into this whole- autism question he REALLY made me angry! If it were his son would he say " it's a dead end- don't bother" ?? I'm not extreme one way or another, I have given my children a few shots, but refused the MMR, and have been doing any of the shots very slowly and not till they are older. I'm just not comfortable with all this contraversy with vaccines! It's SCARY! I just want to look into every possible avenue to help my son. If a hair analysis showed an excess of metals, or a blood count was off in some way, I would like to know it! I have no idea where to turn or how to start, I just feel like I'm wandering in circles. I know there are many many autistic children, PDD etc out there and why on earth do we have to struggle so to find each other, be heard, and be understood? Seems so wrong.. When you say your " DAN Dr" what are you referring to? Would you say a natural Dr is the way to go? or a psyciatrist first? I can't figure out why there aren't pediatricians out there specifically specialized in Autism/PDD ARE THERE?? And where on EARTH are they? and does insurance cover them? [QUOTE=Jackie75]Quickly here. Why is the dx unofficial? If your child has an ASD, he should be eligible for an IEP. My son has "very mild PDD-NOS", has normal intelligence, but is in a self-contained classroom. [/QUOTE] Where we live, EVERYONE has an IEP. Even "normally" functioning children. Here, they treat the IEP as a boundary for the children, what they need, how they need it, etc. My son's IEP has changed several times since he began school based on his levels of functioning and dx's. It's not so much that I'm scared to have another child who will be autistic. I'm terrified that I will not have enough patience to do this all over again. That I will be a horrible mother for hoping against having a "different" child again. Is it horrible to hope that we have a "normal" child? But then-I will have to worry about drugs and sex and alcohol and doing the stupid sh*t kids are doing these days. I don't have to worry about that with my son. I have to worry with my daughter, but not as much, since she's immature and I doubt very seriously if she would try anything like that anytime soon. (at least I hope that's what my gut is saying!!)I feel as if I'm reading about my son each time I read one of these stories. Tayler was not so much normal at first, but developed slowly. I just figured as most of you that he was a boy and boys mature and develop more slowly than girls. Having an older daughter who walked, talked and did everything else on time cemented this idea. thanks so much! I am definitely on the search right now, at the point where I'm ready to mow down any dr or anyone else that stands in my way! lol it's the momma-bear coming out in me
Hi, I have two sons who have been diagnosed with ASD. Peter is 3 and was diagnosed with mild to moderate autism right before Christmas in 2005. Nathan will be two in a month and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS in April. We are trying to keep to the same kind of lifestyle we would if the boys were NT. We go out to eat, we go to the mall, we go on vacation, etc. We have to make some accommodations for their needs (obviously) but we don't want them to think that they can't do the same things everyone else can. We also want to introduce them to as many social situations as possible. Our daughter, bless her heart, is a very giving and sympathetic person in the first place. Having two very special brothers has brought this out even more. My husband works full-time out of the home (I write part-time from home) so we try to have him go to at least one therapy appointment a week so he stays involved and knows what's going on with the boys. We are using sign language and music to engage the boys and we're finding that it helps by using different parts of the brain to process words. Peter is talking more (original speech not just echolalia) and Nathan is beginning to speak. fanny,With this food suppliment, my son's health is getting much better. He used to have mid-ear infection, eczema and sinus. Now all his problems are gone. Without the cold, flu and cought , he is much easier to CONCENTRATE TO LEARN. Especially good for your son if he has adhd. It will calm him down a lot. We have try this in our group of similar kids and it does work (way better than taking ritalin) and have no side effect. I know that taking vitmain C and B and some other food suppliments will help but to most of our kids, it is so hard to have them swallow all this tablets. This is a drink and it taste liske juice. My son loves it. No problem taking it. It has a cleansing effect, moving toxic from the body. If you like to try, please PM me and I will tell you how to order. I am new to this message board. I have a 3 1/2 year old son who was diagnosed in May with PDD-NOS. We have suspected it for a long time and are not devestated by this. He has been in speech and OT since he was 22 months old. He has made so much progress. A year ago at 2 1/2 he didn't even utter mommy or daddy. Now, my husband and I understand about 155 words, but other people probably understand about 5. He uses any word in only one context and does not generalize. He is developing very quickly in speech over the last 6 months. We are very excited about this. However, he never had behavior issues until now. We used to be able to go out anywhere and not have a problem. Now, it is very difficult. We are now at the point of looking at behavior interventions. He also likes things very clean. By the time we leave Walmart, everything is picked up off the floor and cleaned up. When he gets fixated on something, he doesn't give up. He has always been social with adults, but oblivious to other children. He has now started to enjoy physical play with other children (like chasing them). He doesn't know how to ask them to play. Often he comes over to me and points at a kid and moans about it. If the kid is a little older it makes them uncomfortable. I really want him to learn appropriate social skills, but without language this difficult. He is a great kid who loves to learn and figure things out. We love him very much and are devoted to a positive life for him.My son used to just chase kids all the time too...then it turned to bumping. He'd just go up & bump his body into them & they would not understand why he was smiling about it! He still bumps, but only if he gets really wound up, and mostly with his brother. He was walking up to kids on the playground & pointing right in their face & saying " What's this?!" and they would look so freaked out & walk away. But I finally got him to learn that we ask " what is your name" which he does, and then he says " it's Mal-keey!" which means " I'm Malachi" He's really trying now, and I see how he tries to mimick other kids to try to fit in. He's 4 1/2 now & just starting to do better with playing with other kids. He's never been anti-social, but just unsure HOW to be social, he loves other kids, but wouldn't know what other kids did to play, so he acted a little awkward, and still does really. [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] My name is nettashae. I have a 10 year old cousin who has autism. He likes to put his hands in your face and no one understands why he does this. If you tell him to stop he listens sometimes. Why does he do this and how can we stop him.I am so glad that I stumbled across this site. Maybe you guys with your great kids can help my family and I deal with the upcoming months of red tape and disappointments with doctors and teachers and appts. and etc. What I have read so far is a true encouragement that there is hope out there for all of our stars to shine. hi, my name is sara, i have a 4 year old son with pdd/adhd... it has been so hard trying to cope, i am in a small town with no resorces and little understanding. my son kylo just got his diagnosis last week but we have known for almost a year, and i still dont want to admit to it. i got a doctor for my son, and she has prescribed him prozac, which did nothing but made him more irridable, then she gave him trazadone, he has only been on trazadone for 3 months and has gone from 1/2 of a pill to now 2 1/2 pills, they are not helping so were about to change it again. hes not really angery, just easily upset, does anyone know what may be able to help? sara- my son is going to be 8 in august. he has pdd/nos, adhd, ocd. he has been on lots of different meds. he takes concerta 27mg in am and trazadone 50mg at bedtime. we were having a lot of problems so in may he spent a week in the hospital. that was so hard. he was on several different meds at that time when he came home they had him on a total of 4. 2 of them were mood stabilizers. he was having horrible mood swings so i called his psy. and told her i wanted him of the mood meds. she said fine. she really works with me. he has done sooooooo much better since i quit giving them to him. we have put him back on a picture/word schedule that has helped also. when he was smaller we used just pictures and simple sign. there is hope!!!!!! do you have a hospital in your town or a family service department? they may be able to help you with information. also contact the school district for special ed services. my son started with parents as teachers then first steps and when he turned 3 he started in the early childhood developmental program through the school district. there is hope!! he is going into 2nd grade this august and because it is a small school we work very hard to keep him in a regular classroom with just pull out services if needed. it also helps that they make sure he gets a teacher that will really work with him and me. we have a great iep team and i stay on top of what is going on which helps. good luck!!!!!! Hello All, My name is Michele and I am the mother of a 6 year old Autistic boy and a 4 year old girl (the boss in our home Our son is currently in school and will be starting 1st grade soon. He receives speech therapy in school and at a private facility. He also receives OT. In recent months, his speech has improved greatly and he is not nearly as echolalic as in the past. He is very hyperactive, has major sensory issues and is not potty trained. We are currently using a physician who is very good (expensive, though.) We have him on several diff. types of supplements (B-12 cream, glutathione, TMG, etc.) Hopefully, we will begin the chelation process very soon. I am glad to have found this site. It has been very helpful. HI. I'm totally thrilled to have found this board and I really hope that I can learn fomr those that have been doing this for a while. My son Chad is 12 and is very High Functioning. He will be going to middle school next year so I'm kid of stressed about that. I have a question.. what does it mean when someone writes DH or DS Hi, In november of last year, my mother was in a car accident and passed away. She left my autistic brother who is 9 to me. Our dad died the year before suddenly too. They adopted him from birth. I'm 30 and have a 5 year old myself. My husband and I have been helping her with him for years, but it wasn't like this. Full time no breaks, my son and my brother fight and Billy gets over whelming with all the little things he does. Some times my husband feels like it's too much, but don't know what to do. We just moved from michigan to Arizona to get him in a better school, but in this school he is just picking up alot more bad behaviors. He is in a Behavior school with just special needs children. I'm having alot of problems adjusting to not doing anything any more. It's really not fair to my son to not go out and do things we used to do, He has even said to me that i don't have time for him any more. I always watched Billy for my mom she didn't miss out on much I made sure of that but, no one is there for me. sara, hi. i'm a newbie so all i can give is my experience. if you live in a small town your resources may be limited but since your trying the medication route why don't you also look into more holistic avenues. try googling DAN (defeat autism now) they may have some suggestions as far as interventions since the meds your using are only going so far. we've done some dietary stuff with my almost 4 year old son who has pdd and is very hyper with really no results however i started him on b12 shots and we've seen big results in his socialization and speech. he's still hyper and becoming slightly more aggressive which may be the b12 or just him = the doc wants me to try actos a diabetic drug which they are studying on autistic kids. my point is try all avenues. also, is he receiving any special ed, ot st? amy Hi-I am Carol from Florida-a teacher (changing to ESE High School in the coming school year)-single mom and I adore my 3 children(K.M.19 with ??Bipolar issues since 14)(Patrick 16 Autism at 2.5 and Seizure Disorder at 14) and (K.H. 12 healthy so far)-Patrick was very typical until just before his 2nd bday(but not as advanced as his older sis who was conversational at 1yr)I focused on remedial academics and speech for Patrick because he loved to work and his behavior was great (except for weird sounds and jumping...)and compared to others in his "Autism Unit" he was happy and ?successful-until 6 grade(middle school)and the warm and encouraging atmosphere turned to abuse -then the seizures started and lots of meds and only homebound teaching-I had to go to work(no child support)and my oldest daughter who I thought was healthy and gifted slipped away and we were devastated-I remembered "if you can't beat them, join them"so I switched to ESE and am interviewing at 2 high schools (that so happen to have "Austism Units"also) I pray that Patrick will be able to go to school this year! and my youngest daughter will continue to be healthy!I too feel very guilty for not being capable of providing for all of my childrens' needs or knowing how when and where to get them the help they need-I hope someone will read this and have some similar issues with their teenagers-must be a genetic thing because oldest 2 have same father and I was told he was diagnosed Bipolar recently after Patrick was diagnosed with Autism(never knew when we were married-just thought he was a brilliant engineer who was passionate about his work ??)and with my oldest daughter I just thought she was acting like a "teenager" who was so sad about her brother being so ??involved...Patrick now has to be prompted though every daily activity like eating,tolieting,standing,sitting,in and out of the car,dressing....he was never like this b4 age 14??and the rituals he has to go through just to answer a yes no question-and if you interrupt this process he gets very frustrated and makes you stand perfectly still until he can continue-his academics have improved slightly as has his speech but his independence and quality of life have suffered greatly-he is now over 6ft tall but still a baby face!!-just can't go in the womens' restroom anymore !so we are limited where we can go and for how long-now my youngest is getting embarressed-this is too hard for all of us-too much info??for this posting??hope to hear from anybody and thanks for op!!
Tracy xx HI everybody! I am so glad to have found a sounding board like this. I have 9 year old twin sons that are autistic. It has been such a challange with them at times. It seems like one just gets over having some kind of issue and the other one picks up where he left off. I'd so love to talk with any other parents of twins that are in the same boat. I look forward to learning and sharing much here. Hello, I'm a 26 year old divorced mother of two and while neither of my children are Autistic, I have a 15 yr old nephew currently living with me who is severly Autistic. My sister who is also divorced has recently moved up to KS with me to unable us to help one another out financially and emotionally. Please excuse any ignorance I may have, as I am just now beginning to dive into the world of Autism. My nephew was diagnosed at the age of 2, but due to many moves and shifts in his life, he has never really recieved the proper treatments needed to help him function as normal as possible. Now, at the age of fifteen, my sister is finding it increasingly difficult to find care for him while she works. He is extremely uncooperative, and does not speak at all. I am afraid for him and desparte to find answers. I hope this forum can serve as both a suppotive and informational arena for both my sister and I. [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] I am Ryan's grandmother. He is 4 years old and has been diagnosed as PDD. I am sure he also has autistic traits. He is currently on risperdal which doesn't seem to do any good. I would love to talk to others with some of the same problems. Jeane HI everyone so glad to have found this. I have a 2 1/2 year old adopted son who was just diagnosed with autism and aspergers. He is a high functioning one I dont know how. He only has one word that he says himself but parrots or copies 6 other ones. IT is so hard being a single parent and dealing with this. He has a speech therapist but much isnt helping. It is like he gains things then loses them. It is so hard to see. I just dont know where to start, do I teach sign language, or how to I work with him. it is just hard . I am glad to have found this site will respond more as time comes. amy Hi there...I am also new. I have a son who will be 3 in September and they are looking Michael having PDD. We just had our evaluations and he will be starting preschool in the fall with 4x a week speech, 3x a week OT. I really hope it will help him some...he is very dealyed! We go to a developmental pediatrician next week - we'll see what he has to say. Anna Hello, everyone. I'm new here...my son Cole turned 3 in May. He was diagosed ASD on 7/11/06. My husband and I suspected it for some time but were waiting for a diagnosis. Coe is non-verbal, but extrememly affectionate once he gets to know people. Any advice and/or informantion you all can offer would be helpful. Thank you. Hello! My name is Lori and I have an 8 yr.old son, Shawn. Shawn was recently diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. I feel totally lost about all of the resources available. We have a dr. appt. in a couple of weeks. The last one was just for diagnosis. Now I guess we will get into what is going to happen. Shawn has major mood swings, has been hitting himself, throws tantrums, has OCD problems, sleep problems and lots more. Sometimes I feel like throwing in the towel. I hope to get lots of advice from this message board! Hello everyone, my name is Janis and I have a three year old boy name Kyle who is PDD-NOS. He was born weighing 2lbs 3oz. Even the nurses in the NICU said he was a fighter, and still is, refuses to give up on anything. Bless his heart. I love him dearly!!! He is my whole life and then some!!! He is the type to have rountine rountine rountine!! I am sure you all understand that one. He likes things put back in place, even if the rug is moved, he wants it back. He does see a Psycologist and she is wonderful, she was helping me to have a sense of humor with all of this. You know, she is so right, because some of the things he does and its not normal for others, you cannot help but to laugh!!! I am so happy I found a place I can come to where people understands. Even some of my family members and friends don't understand. I hear a lot of, he is just spoiled, he needs more discpline, and so on!!! I know everyone hear knows where I am coming from!!! I am so excited to be able to talk and vent to other parents of autistic children, I look forward in talking to everyone!Hi everyone, I've been meaning to get here for weeks My name is Janna, I'm 35, have three sons, ages 15, 8 and my son that has brough me here, Dylan, who is 9. I don't want to make this a novel, but let me say I've had my share of turmoil with him over the last 6 or 7 years. He is diagnosed Bipolar/PDD-NOS/ADHD. With my son, I have spent the last 7 or 8 months trying to stablize the Bipolar, because this was the worst of his disorders. The rages, the out of control emotions, the destruction, it all had to be ceased before we could deal with the other issues. Now that the Bipolar is well treated (Lithium and Abilify), Dylan is a WONDERFUL child. However, he still shows very clearly alot of the PDD-NOS issues. Social skills, or lack thereof, is the biggest red flag for us. He is in an Emotional Support classroom at school with an IEP, and will be involved in social skills classes come the school year. I am currently seeking out OT for him (as advised by the neuropsych), and a private counselor/therapist specializing in Autistic kids. He has really transformed into a great kid, but he still is pervasively developmentally delayed. He is really clueless when it comes to interacting with others. He doesn't read facial cues well at all, and when other kids are tired of him, he can't get the hint. However, he is trying very hard, and it's getting better Look forward to chatting more. Janna Hi my name is Carrie. I am the parent of an adopted boy who has been with us since he was 15 months old. We have been thru the ringer of all kinds of dx and basing alot of this on what little family history we have or have been told by the birth mother. He has been on several med |
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
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I have some new information for us newbies.There's a paper written by Lisa Lewis 'An Experimental Intervention for Autism' great source of info. including lab test to consider, diets, research, organizations.