Hello from a new member, looking for hope Hello...I would like to share the story of our son and see if any of you have had similar experiences. We have two sons, ages 9 and 2. The eldest son demonstrated a few autistic behaviors (lining up toys, some repetitive behaviors, etc.) when a toddler, but he was also extremely verbal and social so we didn't worry about it too much. He is now in third grade and thriving academically and socially. The second son, currently age 2.5, is the problem. He was born healthy, except for a hypospadias condition (the hole where the urine comes out in his penis was in the wrong place). This was corrected with surgery at 6 months and he's fine with that now. Otherwise his development was normal. His first word was "bath" at 8 months and at 10 months he was speaking complete sentences such as "I like soup" and "I like bath." About 14 months something happened. It did NOT coincide with vaccinations and he's never shown any adverse reactions to those. One day around 14 months, he stopped eating his regular foods...just got really angry at most things we would offer him. Previously he would eat anything, but within about a week period he had reduced himself to nothing but crackers and yogurt smoothies. At the same time, he started hating his baths. He used to love them, but suddenly he hated them, just screamed and yelled like he was in horrible pain. We tried varying water temperatures, everything we could think of. Nothing worked. About 15 months his language stalled. It didn't go backwards, but it just stopped developing. At 18 months we told his pediatrician at his checkup about our concerns regarding the language stalling. He said that there was no problem, nothing to worry about, it was normal for him. Between 19 and 24 months, it got worse...he stopped making eye contact. He wouldn't play. He wouldn't eat anything except crackers and smoothies. He began "hand flapping." He became obsessed with boundaries...cracks in the sidewalk, that sort of thing. His language did not regress but it did not improve either. At his 24 month appointment, the pediatrician finally agreed that there was a problem and referred us to a language specialist and local help from county services. He was diagnosed with a severe language delay and sensory integration disorder. They did not give an autism diagnosis at this time, saying that he was too young for that.  We have closely followed their recommendations to help our son with his language and sensory problems. He began to improve last November and has made significant progress in the last several months. He is making eye contact again, MUCH better...still not completely "normal", but major improvement. The pediatrician saw him in early January and said he saw a "60 percent" improvement in our son's social interaction compared to October and said this was great progress. We had his blood tested and all levels were normal. The "hand flapping" has also gotten a lot better. He still does it some, usually when excited, but it is not a constant thing now. His speech has improved somewhat. He will use 3 and 4 word sentences and in context, but it's erratic...he will go a week without saying anything intelligible, but then say a whole bunch of things over a 2-3 day period. His babbling sounds are more conversational now. He will say "I love you" and things of that nature..."good night", "I see that"..."go for ride", etc. He is playing again...will kick a ball, will play tag with his older brother, will bring us toys and books to look at. It has to be on HIS terms, but he will do it. The last two weeks, he has stopped screaming during bathtime. He still doesn't like it much, but he's stopped screaming. He is also beginning to expand his food choices again...he'll eat chicken nuggets now and is willling to put new foods in his mouth before spitting them out. We have not tried the casein or gluten-free things. Our pediatrician says they don't work in his experience. But we have supplemented with extra vitamin C and Omega-3. The county sends over a lady once a week to check on our progress. She says we aren't imagining things and that he's improved a great deal, but that more will be needed. She says he has some autistic traits but is probably more in the PDD-NOS category than straight autism. On the one hand, we are very happy with the progress he's shown. On the other hand, we still worry about him and want him to live the fullest life possible. When he turns 3 he will become eligible for a lot more services from the county and school district. My question for you guys is this: does any of this sound familiar to you? What kinds of things can we do? Is this something he will "outgrow"? thanks   Thanks. The county lady is already in touch with the school district person who will take over when he turns 3 in October. They are pretty strict about deadlines here so they won't start him this summer. At this point they are not sure about what they will recommend in terms of pre-school...the lady says that his progress has been rapid enough of late that the way things look in July may be much different than they look right now. They are bringing in a speech pathologist next week to visit with him and make another evaluation. The thing that really worries us, the thing that he's made zero progress in, is imagination play and pointing...he's never done that and has shown no interest in it. In most other ways he's improved, either in small ways or in big ones. Is he getting ABA through EI?  How much speech is he getting? PECS is an excellent way to start FUNCTIONAL speech, which is different that simply having words. It's true communication, even if its nonverbal. Ask the speech therapist about that. [quote]My question for you guys is this: does any of this sound familiar to you? [/quote] Sounds pretty autistic to me. I'd be encouraged that he's used phrases in his first two years. My oldest daughter couldn't put two sentences together at age 3, and it was all very scripted and repititive. It's possible your son could make enough progress to attain less severe form of autism like Asperger's, but it sounds to me like this is autism. But it sounds like your son has a lot of potential for progress.  If he's making progress at this point in time, that would be a big positive in my book. [QUOTE=tzoya]Is he getting ABA through EI?  How much speech is he getting? PECS is an excellent way to start FUNCTIONAL speech, which is different that simply having words. It's true communication, even if its nonverbal. Ask the speech therapist about that. [/QUOTE] OK, we will. When we got the sensory integration diagnosis back in the fall we got on a couple of waiting lists for help, but by the time an open spot shows up he will be 3 or almost 3 and the school district services will be available then. [QUOTE=Epiphany] [It's possible your son could make enough progress to attain less severe form of autism like Asperger's, but it sounds to me like this is autism. But it sounds like your son has a lot of potential for progress.  If he's making progress at this point in time, that would be a big positive in my book. [/QUOTE] The county lady is very optimistic about him, says in her opinion he will most likely be functional in the long run, but of course we are worried still and want to do eveything in our power to help him. His older brother is intellectually gifted and has some Asperger's symptoms...in retrospect both my father and myself would probably have been diagnosed with Aspergers when we were children...so there is clearly a genetic predisposition to this.   Since your son is approaching, three, contact your school district about getting him evaluated for preschool services, which can be delivered for free once he turns 3.  Early Intervention might be able to be used, but that depends on the state -- at this age, they might just start your son this summer with an IEP since he'll be so close to 3.  Getting EDUCATIONAL interventions as early as possible is what has been shown to help kids make the most progress.  The earlier, the better.  Call your school today.  ALL kids make progress by getting services. Some kids make enough progress to develop into independent adults. Some continue to need services throughout their lives, but all grow and most grow more the earlier the services are started. Rest assured, you will always love your son and be proud of him -- no matter where he lands on the spectrum.  I'm the mother of a 17yo with PDD-NOS who will need lifelong help. But he is funny and loving and has made more of HIS education than most of us have made of ours.
	Copyright Autism-PDD.net