Girls on the spectrum | Autism PDD
At my son's school there is one girl who is diagnosed PDD-NOS. Oddly enough, her name also starts with an "S".
I am surprised at how many of us are parents to girls on the spectrum! My daughter is the only kindergarten student with autism in our district. We have 4 elementary schools in-district too! I visited the autistic class for 1st and 2nd grade and it is all boys. It is good to see other girls with similarities to my Sara here.
Sara...... I think it is the name or something?!
Oh she is being evaluated for ADHD in October and also having the ADOS evaluation done to see if her PDD-NOS is more likely to be Asperger's. Her verbal skills are great, and she loves doing math. Her autism comes out in communication skills (pragmatics), social, and behavioral.
Edited to tell you that I live in Mercer County
Over here!
Here is her photo:
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/7348/editwhichshouldnotbe delgj2.png
edited to tell you your little girl is precious!
Most of the children in my girl's class are boys, too. There are 4 girls total but I don't think any of them are autistic.
Edited again to ask where you live in NJ? I grew up in Monmouth County.
Cammi is considered to have mild Autism. Her verbal communication is finally coming along a little in the past couple of years. She's 7 yrs. old. She's a great reader and up to level in both Reading and Math. She has some sensory issues but has came such a long way with everything since she started school. Sometimes it seems like she doesn' t have autism at all and the a huge reminder comes along - a melt-down, etc. She will always have autism but these days are so much easier than the first few years after diagnosis :) . I would love to be able to tell that to newly diagnosed with autism parents - I think it would make them feel much better. They need to know that there's definitely light thru and at the end of the tunnel :) .
Here she is on the first day of school in August. (Last name starts with "S" - does that count? haha!!
Hmm...the new ASD girl in J's class this year is named Samantha. S,
again....
Bon Bon, I couldn't pull-up your photo
Teresa, was Cammi always diagnosed mild autism? Or has she improved over time? Could you please tell me what she was like when she was 4. Did she have motor delays? What were her behaviors at 4? What was her speech like then? What age was she out of nappies? So sorry to drill you but I can't help but want to know about other ASD girls development. You can PM me if you would rather.again sorry to ask so many questions, take care.
P.S Cammi is a beautiful girl
I have boys, but I too was suprised at the number of mom's of girls here.
When my son was in SpEd preschool for 2 years, each year the class was 7-8 boys and 1 girl. This year he is in SpEd for 1st grade and the class is 6 boys and 1 girl. I've never seen a SpEd class with more than 1 girl in it in 3 years!
Thank you for the compliments!
Now I know I saw another Sarah on this board.
Do you think girls have different symptoms of autism than boys? Just wondering
I have just-turned-five year old twin girls with autism - they are considered mild/moderate. They're in a regular kindergarten class, and Evie is having no problems thus far while Abigail is having some behavioral problems (yelling when she's frustrated).
Their autism affects their communication (they're language is delayed and atypical in that they tend to focus on the details of things and miss the 'big picture' and have poor non-verbal communication skills). They are not withdrawn or anti-social, and enjoy active play with other children, but have trouble with social communication.
They love stuffed animals and Abigail is totally obsessed with bugs - especially butterflies, and would be happy to spend an entire afternoon searching for insects for her bug house.
They also love drawing and are pretty good at it.
They both have gross motor delays and are fairly clumsy, though their fine motor skills are better (they can draw well and write at an age appropriate level, but do have problems with buttons and opening wrappers and such).
Well, T's name begins with ... T!
She is a girl, all right
I see SUCH beautiful girls everyone has too
She has a friend from school who is also a girl with classic autism. They were in preschool together where the class was 10 kids (7 boys, 3 girls) and the autism ration was 2 boys to 2 girls. She is in regular class where there are 15 girls to 8 boys and she is overjoyed. She loves being a girl!
Hi -
I also have a dd who is four and has HFA. Her name is Summer. Another S.
ttfn
My daughter's name starts with a T and she was diagnosed PDD-NOS. She is 7 and has speech delays with poor functional use of language but she loves memorizing songs and rhymes and dialogue from books and movies and uses that to communicate. (Nowadays, she's been really into the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals.) Lately, though, she's occasionally been creating her own sentences, which is really great. She is a "sensory seeker" and climbs on all the furniture! She's a very good reader and started reading at 2 1/2. Abby has speech delay but can form sentences mixed with Jargon. She can sing certain songs from beginning to end but probably not use those sentences again in a conversation. She is ver hyper and up at night until at least 10:00p.m. She has some hand flapping and some ritual routines that we are in the process of breaking.Mommy To Abby Grace 3yrs old PDD/NOS
J is 2 yrs old - NO words, no communication and is in EI..
Wow what a bunch of beautiful girls we have here!!!
I didn't even know it was more common with boys until reading on here.Leah is 4, was diagnosed mild. When I was doing one of the questionnaires from a link on the newbies thread she was severe on everyone but one moderate on the language part. She has tantrums, sensory processing issues, constantly trying to run away and go to the woods near our house. Some routine issue stuff and trouble adjusting quickly.
However she has a great imagination and lives in an imaginary world much of the time. She loves to cuddle and she interacts with other people especially us. Overall a pretty happy, go lucky girl.
Another girl here. Paige is 9 and in 3rd grade. She is in a reg. classroom 80% of the time -pulled out for math and all testing.
All of our girls are really beautiful. when i figure out how, I'll post a picture of our sweet Paige.
A is for Abigail and another one here for the girls!!!Mommy to Abby Grace 3yrs old PDD/NOS
Another girl hear...starting with A. Mine's 3-1/2 and I'm also curious to hear how girls do over time. We're still in diapers, language is 1-2 words usually and she's really active! She's learning through ABA - I can relate to Shelly's journey! This is a good thread. I always used to search for more info about autism in girls. (Many believe it is more severe...I don't believe that to be the case)
When have people seen the social piece with peers develop a little? We're waiting for that.
Ann
My dd is 3y4m. I too was surprised at all the girls here, based on thestats & everything else. My dd is dx w/ mild to mod autism, and she also
has a diagnosis of static encephalopathy & seizures. So, she has some
additional health & neuro issues because of this--sometimes it's hard to
determine what is the autism or the SE. Her biggest struggles lately are
meltdowns and sensory issues. In her class, which is general spec ed (not
an autism class) there are 2 other girls & 3 boys. I don't know for sure,
but I think one of the other girls is on the spectrum. I'm glad there are so
many other girls here, as I have heard their needs and all can be different
than boys--and of course, the majority of research & therefore
information is based on boys. I'm also interested in experiences of girls
during adolescence & puberty.
Welcome too btw!! Your dd is beautiful! I grew up in NJ (Hunterdon
County). Glad you found us.Another girl here. Mine is Abby.
She is 5 and just got dx with PDDNOS. I could possibly see that had she been evaluated a year ago she might have fallen in the HFA range. She has really improved in the areas of sensory and the delayed echolalia. Those two areas have changed greatly in the past 6 months.
I'm not sure how she compares with boys. I can say that most people who aren't knowledgable with autism think she is just shy. She has never had any stims or behavior issues in class. I think with her the biggest issue is that she just doesn't get passed off as the shy, quiet girl. In reality, she actually isn't shy.
My dd just has seemed like she has been on this constant lag with her development, but she always improves so it gives me hope that she is going to be okay.
She is a really happy girl. I love her to pieces.
J has AS and she is a 6 yr. old girl. I have not met any kids at her school with forms of autism. Lots of kids with ADHD. My female adult cousin has AS too. Got 2 girls here. One is severe (in my signature) she makes no eye contact or verbal. She does no interactions at all with us. She was looking at the wall making that face and I jumped in front of her to snap that picture. She hand flaps, doesnt understand any privacy or personal space. She seems like a 5 month old stuck in a 2 yr olds body. She will be 3 in a couple weeks. Physically, she is perfectly normal with no delays.
The other one is verbal but delayed. She echos alot. She seems very obsessed and fearful. Winnie the Pooh makes her run across the room screaming "no bears please".
These children have been in foster care for the last year. We are adopting them.
Copyright Autism-PDD.net