Teacher says she sees no signs of ASD | Autism PDD

Peyton started kindergarten last week. He is terrified, can't tell me a single thing about his day except that he "played". Can't remember his teacher's names, or a single child in his class. Yesterday he had wondered away from the group of kids waiting outside with the car riders and wasn't paying attention at all when I pulled up causing some alarm because he didn't respond to his name being told to come up to the curb.

I talked to his teacher this morning and got things worked out where he can sit with big brother outside in the afternoon so he doesn't wonder off or have major delays getting in the car to go home. Anyway, teacher says something to the effect of "I know you know him better then me, but I haven't seen a single sign of anything to be alarmed about". Is it possible that he is just honeymooning or something? Because what she is describing sounds like a very well adjusted kid, and he is a different story at home.

i had that to for a year,when push come to shove they did not know the differance between autism and aspergers anyway

instead of looking for aspergers traits they were looking for autisistic traits

ask her how many autistic children she has teached and been involved with

when i applied for a parental statement of education the school sent 3 lists of behaviours he had yet always denyed they saw any traits at all

if you believe he is autistic ignore them go above there head and go to your education authoroty

shout loud and be proud

shell

She says she doesn't see anything to be alarmed about -- isn't it enough that he wanders away from a group and doesn't respond to his name being called? If he has had elopement/wandering tendencies in the past, I'd definitely make sure the school has a crisis plan and takes steps to prevent him taking off again.

That said, kids with autism often "hold it together" at school and then we get the brunt of it at home.

Good luck with everything.

[QUOTE=NorwayMom]That said, kids with autism often "hold it together" at school and then we get the brunt of it at home.

Good luck with everything.

[/QUOTE]

I can definitely second that one NorwayMom. Skylar gets off of the bus a bit after 2 pm, and always in the most awesome mood. But it doesn't take long for that to change. By 4pm I sometimes sit and watch him, just waiting for little horns to pop out.

mandyanthony39331.1253935185In my experience, so far, unless they are special education teachers AND have experience with autism and aspergers they have no more knowledge of the disorder than anyone else! They are not trained in it, and as parents who have children on the spectrum we all know that there are traits that our children have that can be overlooked or brushed off as bad behavior or not really noticable unless you are extremely invested in the child. Unfortunatley, I look back at a time before I had children and knew about the disorder, when typical traits of autism I would have thought was bad behavior. And the education system has not come far enough yet to have their teachers be able to identify these things either.My nephew who is 16 now had a special ed teacher around the time we suspected autism in my boys who told my sister after she asked that she didn't believe my boys could be autistic because my sister told her that they didn't bang their heads, and according to this special ed teacher of many years who had worked with autistic kids, all ausistic kids bang their heads. So I now can not convince my sister that they are autistic. Obviously that woman has an outdated view of autism because the odds are likely my nephew is on the spectrum too and she told my sister there is no way. That he wandered away and didn't respond to his name is a huge red flag, that she didn't know that kind of shows she probably has no experience with autism and expects the old stereotyped behaviors. Unless she is talking about behaviors only. Andrew does much better at school than at home too. He never melts down at school. Glad you have the appt with the dev pedi.

Your child could be doing great ... but...

Unless, a child shows behaviour problems many teachers think everythings's ok. They aren't the best at identifying ASD traits and some have little knowledge.

They often can't pay attention to how a child socializes unless it's overtly agressive. They'd be more liely to identify the ASD child who grabs toys than the child who doesn't resist objects being taken. Also my experience has been that they aren't very aware of a child's skill expressing more complex semantics and using age appropriate pragmatic language which go overlooked.

It's really subjective, things like stims many teachers don't recognize and will say they don't see anything unusual but if ask for example, if the child spins they'll say" oh that, he does it all the time".

Keep on top of school work and check that he's doing what he should be; in relation to his peers. ASD kids can be good at avoiding demands in non-agressive ways. Making it easy for teachers to feel the child is lazy or has attention problems.

thanks for the replies so far...

He is going to see a developmental pediatrician next Friday to begin some evaluations...that day cannot get here soon enough!!

I agree with Alice. My dd's K teacher said she was really surprised after meeting dd. I think she expected there to be behavior issues and stims. I asked her if she didn't know of dd's dx if she would have been concerned about her and she said she would have just thought she wasn't as engaged as most the kids but would not have thought it was an ASD.

They can definitely go through a honeymoon period! But I also know a lot of kids on the spectrum who do a fairly good job of "holding it together" when they're at school and then let it all come pouring out at home. They do it because they know that it's safe at home and no matter what kind of meltdown they have, you love them through it.

Also, like previously mentioned, sometimes people's assumptions of what to look for in Autism is a pretty basic commercial opinion and they lack indepth knowledge on the topic.

Good luck at the eval!!

thanks everyone....

I'll be sure to let everyone kow how the eval goes next week!

luvmyroadracer teacher either 1 has no clue or 2 is lying her but off.
My daughter school were lying. Something like last year, ya she has signs but no she does not have it. Then last week during a conservation with my hubby, the school admits she has a form of autism. I'm thinking what took them so long to be honest? Maybe it's her Dr. apt?

I just got back from dev. Ped ANyways my daughter was diagnosed was Aspergers.
amberwaves39331.7694328704At least most here have a correct dx, we still don't and Daniel is 11. We started this route at 4 months old. I hear kids usually are better at school.

My son had a great day today,It said so in his book!!,then, I get "There was a girl crying in class,WHATS WRONG WITH HER CANT SHE JUST SHUTUP

It wont take to much longer for this anziety to show up in his behavor at school.

God bless,Linda

i am really worried about your son. if the teacher is in denial that your son has any problems, then the teacher isn't going to treat him any differently and he probably isn't going to be getting what he needs out of his education. i can't believe that no one is watching him to make sure he gets home okay and isn't wandering off... what's wrong with these schools?
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