Is it some form of autism?? | Autism PDD

I know it is madding not to know if your child is showing signs of Autism or not. It can drive a parent to pull their hair out watching and waiting. It sounds like your son might have some sensory issues (flapping and toe walking) I personally dont see any red flags for Autism, but I am not a doctor nor have I played one in real life LOL All the other things you described sound very age appropriate and he sounds like a VERY bright little boy. The low muscle tone does seem to go with sensory intregration disfunction though. If your son is diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum disorder, I bet it would be PDD/NOS, a mild form of Autism. Hope this helps you :)((HUGS))) I know exactly what you are feeling...I felt the same way when Jesse was 2-3 yrs old and even now at the age of 11 I worry about his future. He asks us all the time do you think I will go to College too? I always tell him he can do whatever he truly wants to do in life and if he wants to go to College we will do whatever we can to help him. He says things to us like "When I grow up and have my own kids I will do this or that..." and in the back of my mind I can't help to think that its something he might not ever be able to experience.

My advice...don't borrow the worries down the road. Just take it one day at a time and hold on and rejoice at his progress now. Tomorrow will come soon enough without you trying to get it all figure out. For me its a control issue and what I have really learned with Jesse is that its beyond my control.

Thanks for all the responses. It is very frustrating. Everyone who has been around him ie..teachers, therapists...all say in time we will know more. So I keep taking him to school and speech and OT. The good thing, I can already see progress and he has only been in school and therapy for about a month. Hopefully I will keep seeing more and more progress. I know things could be so much worse. I have read other posts about kids with more issues than mine has. It's just hard as a parent because you never stop worrying. I worry if he'll make friends. I know right now he does fine socially, but I worry if he doesnt start to have more of a back and forth conversation then that will hinder his relasonships. I just want so much for him to have a carefee, happy go lucky childhood and everyday I pray for him and his brother that they will turn into fine, responsible young men who are not looked at differently or treated unfairly. Someday I hope they are able to have a family of their own. I worry because I dont know what the future holds and I wont be around forever for them.

Anyways I will just keep doing what I am doing for him and keep looking for more and more information or advice from others in my situation.

If he is on spectrum he is mild to me~very few red flags.

I would follow your gut and take him to be evaluated by a developemental pediatrician that know autism...sometimes they have long waiting list so you may have to seek out a private one to save time. We found one when our dd was 2.8 years old and saved about 8 months or more waiting period.

Our dd was a toe walker, no repetitve behaviors or stims but not even close to your son's language..she could read and spell out sentences with her ABC blocks, knew all her colors/shapes and could count over 200 before she was 3 but lacked any conversation skills....very passive/quiet and not very active at all..she didnt have great eye contact at the time but she does now...she was diagnosed mild~mod autism and 3 years later she is HFA/pdd and doing very well in first grade. Her obsessions are starting now and she is 7 years old but not too bad..she is into making books and singing karaoke at the moment..and gymnastis:)

Write down all your concerns when getting him checked out..dont worry too much as he is very young and so much is available now to help him and it sounds like he is progressing very good!

Best of luck and keep us posted:)

Deanna,

Welcome, and just know that I am sending hugs your way. I so agree with Melissa...I was on the fence with Korban for a good year before I pursued a developmental pediatrician. Now we know that he is on the spectrum, but I found a blessing I never expected...The unbelievable newfound ability and joy in celebrating the smallest successes and accomplishments! So as you watch and wait, let us celebrate with you the little accomplishments and view them as giant successes!

Let me also give you a little piece of information to calm your fear of the future...My husband is autistic. I am NT, or at least I like to think so

. My husband doesn't have many friends, but the friends that take the time to wait to be let into his life are very dear to us, and would do anything for him. In true autistic fashion, once dh is committed to something, he is COMMITTED!!! Which blesses us with a husband and father who is ultra devoted and takes on anything he is interested in with 200 times the gusto I wish I had. There is no reason that (autistic or nt) our children can't become functioning pieces of society. It's our job to prepare them for it, so let's not worry about the bumps and potholes, let's just work as shock absorbers to help the road be a little less bumpy

Hugs,
Kristi

Hello, I am new to this board. I have 2 sons, one is almost 3 1/2 and the other is almost 1 yrs old. So far I only have concerns with the oldest. I was hoping that someone would have some advice/opinions for me.

Hopefully this isnt too long. I appreciate anyone's opinions.

First my son is very loving and always has been. He has good eye contact. He also has good imaginary play and doesnt line up toys or anything. He has an amazing memory. He knows most letters and numbers (1-20), he can recognize them.

As far as my concerns, he has some repetitive speech or echoing. It is hard to describe, he does have spontaneous and original speech. He is constantly engaging us in conversation. I guess he has trouble keeping the conversation going because he doesnt answer open-ended questions very well. He just now started asking "where" questions but no "why" questions yet. He seems to be a statement talker or like I said he does have some questions. He is very verbal and does convey needs and wants.

Also his temperment seems pretty typical for his age. I have people tell me how well behaved he is. He does like to interact with his little brother and with other children but because of the communication problems, Im worried that that may hold him back from fitting in w/ his peers. He also seems to have low muscle tone. He doesnt ride a tricycle yet. I should say that when he was first born I made alot of mistakes. I did too much for him. I always wanted to hold his bottle for him and I never made "tummy time" a big deal because I hated my carpet so I never put him down much. He never was a full crawler, started walking around 14-15 mos. of age.

I really dont have any sleep issues. He has always been a pretty good sleeper and as far as eating, he is alittle picky but so am I so I wonder if that stems from me not giving him enough variety. He will try something that he sees me eating but doesnt always like what it is. He also does some toe walking and some hand flapping. The flapping has decreased alot.

I currently have in a co-treat of speech and OT weekly. They said he improves everytime they seem him and he has only been going for a month. He just got into pre-school where he goes a couple of days a week. It has been an adjustment for him but they also said he does better and better every time. The school is half special ed and half reg. ed in his class. I also work there part time as a special needs aide. I have worked with kids who have autism and aspergers but they have been alittle older than my son, when I started working with them. However, I cant say that my son from what I have experienced falls into either of those. As far as asperger's, he doesnt have obsessions about anything, he isnt professor-like about anything. Although sometimes he will bring something up out of the blue and talk about it. Like the other day I knew they read him the story of Humpty Dumpty at school because he started to say part of the story to me out of the blue, that kind of thing. He used to recite alot of phrases from movies when he was younger but that has decreased so much since I cut way down on the amount of tv he watches.

Well that is all I can think of right now. Any advice or opinions would be great.

Can't comment on your story, but welcome to the board. Welcome and I am new too.

The co teaching you mentioned is what we call here in Michigan Inclusion. Its where Spec. Ed teachers and Reg. Ed work side by side to teach the class and then the kids who need the extra help have that resource in the class and the "normal" kids have no idea who is a Spec. Ed teacher and who isn't and they can also help the kids who are at risk but not necessarily in the system.

With that said you were wondering about Aspergers?

My son Jesse was classic Autism, but when he began school at age 3 1/2 yrs he did develop and evolve with language and skills and the school assumed he was wrongly dx. The little professor in Jesse came out in bits and pieces...not enough that the school knew enough about this disorder to piece it together. It wasn't until age 10 that the right professionals could put it all together to give him the correct label again of Autism/Aspergers.

I think its so hard to get the right dx at such a young age and its frustrating playing the game...Well is he or isn't he? You might not know for certain for a couple of more years. Jesse's obsessions were the Sit n Spin and his blankie and his movies. I would ask him if he wanted to watch Cinderella and he would go grab the correct VHS tape (we never kept them in the cases lol)...the kid didn't start reading until the end of 2nd grade yet at an early age he could identify labels of things.

Its such a huge spectrum that I think you will have to give him time. You mentioned some pretty earmark things for Autism and although that behavior might decrease over time it might be because he has adapted and substituted that type of stim. Jesse used to lay on his back and thud his feet against the wall or the floor over and over and over...as he got older he got into the Sit n Spin or rocking chair...now at the age of 11 he has his blanket STILL and he has his Lego's that really help him to refocus and relax.

So you might not see a clear cut YES he is or NO he isn't all you can do is work with him to hopefully reduce the behaviors and you may end up coming back to the Aspergers later on when he is older.

Welcome to the forum. Since your son is getting OT and speech, I assume that he has been assessed, but not for autism per se. The most important thing is that your child is getting help for the delays he has. Has he been evaluated by a physical therapist for the low muscle tone? Low tone can affect the ability to sit still and concentrate, which is going to be more and more of an issue as kindergarten approaches.

It is not always easy to identify a child on the mild end autism spectrum, until they get bigger -- with increasing social demands and a widening gap between the child with autism and his/her peers. However, knowing what to look for helps alot. This checklist should help you make relevant observations and communicate your concerns clearly to a professional, if you decide to seek out an evaluation.

http://www.childbrain.com/pddq6.shtml

Since your son is a somewhat picky eater, there's a good chance that he has oral defensiveness and other sensory issues. Here's another checklist for uncovering those:

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-processin g-disorder-checklist.html

Good luck with everything.