22 Oct 2005, 2:35 pm
Hi,
I'm a self-dx Aspie myself and I'm wondering about my young son too. At 12mths old he's showing a few signs that perhaps he too is an Autie.
He's been quite slow in most of the developmental stages so far - which hasn't really bothered us because they do all develop at their own pace. However, he's particularly behind on eating finger foods. He's just not getting it at all - he's just not showing any interest in putting anything in his mouth whatsoever. At first we just put this down to not having any teeth come through (they didn't start to appear until 11mths), but we're not so sure now.
So, I started Gogling for early signs of Autism in infants and found this:
http://www.bridges4kids.org/articles/1-03/EP12-02.html
Highlights of which are:
"1) Does the baby respond to his or her name when called by the caregiver? "
No, 9 times out of 10 he ignores us. Hearing checked, at first they thought there was an issue because he wouldn't take any interest in the hearing test but his hearing is now confirmed as fine.
"2) Does the young child engage in "joint attention"? "
No, he's rarely interested in what we're doing, never shared toys or pointed at things.
"3) Does the child imitate others? "
So infrequently that the 2 occasions we can remember stick out as being exceptions.
"4) Does the child respond emotionally to others? "
A little, there is some evidence of this - he'll look briefly concerned if I scream out in pain etc, but not be overly interested.
"5) Does the baby engage in pretend play?"
Too early to say really. We'll have to wait until he's about 2 to tell for sure.
He'll be seeing a paediatrician soon anyway (due to him having XYY Syndrome - a chromosome disorder), so we can ask them for advice too.
But I would like to hear about anybody here with HFA/AS children recalling having issues like this: poor attention span, issues related to the five points above, little interest in people etc?
BTW, I've already tried the scientifically suspect tilt test and the results were inconclusive.
22 Oct 2005, 7:45 pm
22 Oct 2005, 10:08 pm
I have one that I am pretty sure is aspie (haven't gotten a formal diagnosis yet- the one developmental pediatrician I went to wasn't sure, but said she suspected he wasn't, because he would sit on our laps- she said that autie kids are never cuddly. since then I have found this is B.S.!)
To be honest, mine felt different even before he was born. I know that sounds far fetched, but it's the truth. He felt calmer, quieter, hardly there, not much of an externalized presence. The other kids gave off vibes of some kind, this one didn't, really.
As a baby, he was extremely passive, quiet, what people would call zoned out. I mean, he cried and all, but nothing like the average child. He was on time walking, but talking was late...for a very, very long time, if he spoke at all it was only mama or dada. He must have been close to 2 when he was gettign upset one day and I couldn't figure out what he wanted. Finally he acted very exasperated and said "I want water!!" 
Then he was more or less silent again for a long time....and one day, walking through the greenhouse where we were housing some goat kids, he started saying "I like goats Ilike goats Ilike goats I like goats!! !" He still tends to repeat himself a lot.
He was much more laid back, quiet, very introverted, but I don't think it can be said that he lacked attention span... I have a picture of him, before he could walk, holding a daffodil in his hand. He must have been about 7-8 months old. Most kids this age will immediately rip a flower to pieces, Daniel sat there turning it around carefully and looking at it for a very long time. He still focuses on flowers a lot, they are one of his special interests.
His eye contact was weaker than the other kids, too. He went through a phase for a few months where he would start throwing a tantrum for no discernible reason at all. Nothing had been deprived him, noone had hurt him, nothign different seemed to have occurred, and he would just suddenly pitch himself down onto the floor and scream for a good 15 minutes. He was inconsolable- there was nothing we could do to make him stop or to comfort him, in fact, touching or bothering him at all just made it more intense. The only thing we could do was to walk away and wait for it to end. He did this more than once a day for a while, and then one day, the tantrums just stopped as suddenly as they'd begun. Now he only throws a tantrum if he is playing and soemone bothers him (i.e. tries to join in playing with him- he doesn't like that).
He is still not very imitative, whereas his younger brother is. He still talks mostly when he ants to, and very, very quietly. He used to walk really gingerly, like he was afraid of making noise or of bruising the floor, an dhardly ever ran. He tends to be extremely cautious and conservative in all his actions and movements, and to be fairly slow about doing them. Other than playing with his cars and trains, he doesn't engage in pretend play, and he spends a lot of time lining up the trains tracks or cars.
Oh! He was also the only child I've ever had that did not need to be tucked into bed. He started putting himself to bed and tucking himself in very neatly from an early age, when he got tired. He'd just vanish and then you'd go look for him and he'd be all tucked in and sleeping! He also from a very early age, would take his shoes off, tuck his socks into them, and line them up in the same place, neatly. None of the others ever did either of these things.
In closing, he also doesn't 'get into' things like other kids. He doesn't get stuff out of cupboards and make messes, and you hardly have to worry about him, because he'll play with his cars or trains for 2-3 hours happily all by himself. I like this, but I do think that some environmental curiosity is normal among kids, and he pretty much lacks it. And he still is fairly unresponsive when spoken to. He is 5 years old now.
24 Oct 2005, 1:37 am
While it is really too early to say, I would say that you need to take what you are seeing seriously. You also need to realize that your children's autistic involvement could be much deepr than your own, as is the case with my children.
I hope not, but we all love our kids where they are and work with them, of course.
Thinking about early intervention, even if you have to arrange it for yourself now, might not be the worst idea.
Peace.
Thanks Litguy. I has never considered that each generation might get progressively more autistic. That could be a concern, although it goes without saying that we love the little lad to bits and nothing will change that!
He's already been through two operations for a congential birth defect and (as mentioned) has XYY, these disasterous things just seem to make us love him more! 
Early interventions certainly couldn't hurt, I had to wait 30 years to find out my dx and I'm sure even a little more knowledge growing up would have made my life perhaps a little more easier, if only to understand why the hell I felt so different to everyone else!
24 Oct 2005, 1:54 am
I swear that if you painted a canvas matt black and presented it to these so-called experts, 1/3 of them would claim it to be grey, 1/3 white and the useful 1/3 black. How do you find the sensible 1/3, I have no idea! It made me laugh when the pediatrician had diagnosed our son with XYY Syndrome. He basically printed off a couple of sheets of information from the internet, admitting that he didn't really know that much about it. I wonder how much of that goes on but they pretend that somehow they know better than you just because they read the same info that you would, but with "qualified" eyes?
To be honest, mine felt different even before he was born. I know that sounds far fetched, but it's the truth. He felt calmer, quieter, hardly there, not much of an externalized presence. The other kids gave off vibes of some kind, this one didn't, really.
That's quite striking, we had exactly the same experience. Our son was very subdued in the womb, to the point where we were getting worried quite early on. However, succesive scans and heart rate monitoring judged him to be okay, so we never gave it a second thought once he was born and we had actual problems to deal with.
As a baby, he was extremely passive, quiet, what people would call zoned out. I mean, he cried and all, but nothing like the average child. He was on time walking, but talking was late...for a very, very long time, if he spoke at all it was only mama or dada. He must have been close to 2 when he was gettign upset one day and I couldn't figure out what he wanted. Finally he acted very exasperated and said "I want water!!"
Then he was more or less silent again for a long time....and one day, walking through the greenhouse where we were housing some goat kids, he started saying "I like goats Ilike goats Ilike goats I like goats!! !" He still tends to repeat himself a lot. LOL! He sounds like such a sweet, lovable child.
He was much more laid back, quiet, very introverted, but I don't think it can be said that he lacked attention span... I have a picture of him, before he could walk, holding a daffodil in his hand. He must have been about 7-8 months old. Most kids this age will immediately rip a flower to pieces, Daniel sat there turning it around carefully and looking at it for a very long time. He still focuses on flowers a lot, they are one of his special interests.
That sounds familar. We've likened our little lad to an antiques expert due to the way he'll hold something gently and examine it carefully from all angles, as if trying to value it!
His eye contact was weaker than the other kids, too. He went through a phase for a few months where he would start throwing a tantrum for no discernible reason at all. Nothing had been deprived him, noone had hurt him, nothign different seemed to have occurred, and he would just suddenly pitch himself down onto the floor and scream for a good 15 minutes. He was inconsolable- there was nothing we could do to make him stop or to comfort him, in fact, touching or bothering him at all just made it more intense. The only thing we could do was to walk away and wait for it to end. He did this more than once a day for a while, and then one day, the tantrums just stopped as suddenly as they'd begun. Now he only throws a tantrum if he is playing and soemone bothers him (i.e. tries to join in playing with him- he doesn't like that).
He is still not very imitative, whereas his younger brother is. He still talks mostly when he ants to, and very, very quietly. He used to walk really gingerly, like he was afraid of making noise or of bruising the floor, an dhardly ever ran. He tends to be extremely cautious and conservative in all his actions and movements, and to be fairly slow about doing them. Other than playing with his cars and trains, he doesn't engage in pretend play, and he spends a lot of time lining up the trains tracks or cars.
Oh! He was also the only child I've ever had that did not need to be tucked into bed. He started putting himself to bed and tucking himself in very neatly from an early age, when he got tired. He'd just vanish and then you'd go look for him and he'd be all tucked in and sleeping! He also from a very early age, would take his shoes off, tuck his socks into them, and line them up in the same place, neatly. None of the others ever did either of these things.
In closing, he also doesn't 'get into' things like other kids. He doesn't get stuff out of cupboards and make messes, and you hardly have to worry about him, because he'll play with his cars or trains for 2-3 hours happily all by himself. I like this, but I do think that some environmental curiosity is normal among kids, and he pretty much lacks it. And he still is fairly unresponsive when spoken to. He is 5 years old now.
Our lad is a bit young to be able to relate the other stuff, but quite interestingly, it does sound very similar to how I was when I was very little. I was always the good little lad, very quiet, rarely making a fuss and always played happily on my own for hours. It will be interesting to see if my son is the same.
Thanks for relating your experience Chamoisee, your son sounds absolutely adorable!
02 Nov 2005, 10:56 pm
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