RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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A lot - enough to make me question the diagnosis. We are going to have him diagnosed again once we return to the US.

He has the language and social delay but really nothing else. The doctor used his number obsession as a "repetitive behavior" in the diagnosis.

My son used to stim (mainly spinning stuff and staring at bodies of water) but this resolved quite some time ago.

He is not rigid, does not have panic attacks, does not have any major sensory issues that I are obvious.

He is picky with food but at least will taste something new.

No walking on tiptoes, rocking, lining up toys, etc either.

Thanks, interesting, I kind of thought I might see these responses. I sometimes think looking through the other threads in this forum and encountering other kids in our ASD group that the more verbal kids, maybe ones DX Aspergers seem to be the ones that have to wear their socks inside out, or eat their chips lined up, and have epic melt downs.
I guess there all different..

I personally think that these behaviors may lead to an AS diagnosis in a high functioner. Someone with AS without difficult and annoying behaviors may not be diagnosed.

My mom, by the way, has the sock thing going on. She insists that the stitching on the insides of the socks bothers her unless the socks are inside out. However, she is a well-educated, successful CPA (accountant). She has never been diagnosed with anything, but she clearly has a lot of anxiety and some other AS traits.

I can't wear socks that have the stitching right at the end of the toes. It has to be on top.

Or get super-violent and start throwing chairs! I can't imagine my son doing something like that.

My daughter has a few
- she was highly verbal in the first couple of years (She was reading and writing words by 18 months) but then tapered off to the extent that she is virtually non-verbal at pre-school.
- She is extremely physically active with excellent motor (fine and gross) skills.
- She likes doing new things, not routine bound
- She likes crowds, although she won't talk to people she won't go into a cinema or playground unless others are there...
- She has above average intelligence and is a couple of years ahead of her peers in reading, writing and math.

Her major autistic characteristics
- inhibition to speak to others other an parents, then when using language tends to speak in a robotic fashion.
- noise sensitivity
- hyperactivity (moderated now with medication)

Thanks, I am looking for something for her on the apple ipad as that's become her third appendage

What are the best apps you've found so far? Have you tried anything from Toca Boca?

I'll be honest, they are all i-pad games like "Angry Bird" etc...

We installed some computer based programs on the PC like Mathletics (which we purchased a licence) so she could compete against kids in other countries in maths quizzes online.

She is easily bored of word games (like a couple installed by the Speech therapist) unless of one us is sitting with her egging her on.

A good educational game for kids starting to speak is Grammar and Punctuation produced by an Australian company called Eureka multimedia
http://www.aussiekidssoftware.com.au/b/ ... alian.html

http://www.superduperinc.com/apps/freeApp.aspx

Above is a link to a free app from superduperinc.com. I got an ad for this app in a box of speech materials that I ordered from them--PC computer programs, flashcards, and a couple of workbooks. I assume that the app is for iPad.

The software is good and only requires use of a mouse, but it is not like Angry Birds. Unfortunately, most speech and behavior modeling software is not going to be as fun for kids as a popular computer game. I'm always having to get the kids to do it by using rewards or telling them that they can either do the software, complete worksheets, or clean up the playroom.

I will also say that I initially had trouble believing that my older son with classic autism was autistic because he didn't seem to meet all of the stereotypes. He could look at me. His gross motor skills were okay. He could recognize the alphabet and a whole lot of words from an early age. He could learn preschool academics when I worked with him at home.

However, when he started school, a whole bunch of problems cropped up. Teachers and therapists complained about poor eye contact. Severe reading comprehension problems surfaced. Learning academics at school without individual attention, control of distractions, and heavy use of visual aids turned out to be very, very hard. He could not tell me what went on at school and didn't seem to be learning. Inability to socialize with the other kids became an issue.

I now worry about my younger son. He is doing well, but he gets a whole lot of individual attention, and our house is filled with educational aids. When he gets to school, will there be a lot of unexpected problems with him, too? I don't have the answer, but it has occurred to me that I assumed that my older son would take to school better than he has.

I just saw that my son (age 3 3/4 now) can hold a pencil properly...we never taught him how to do this, I wonder how he figured it out?

I remember back in kindergarten the day we had to learn how to hold a pencil my mom got a call...

My younger son never had issues with holding a pencil properly, but my older son required extensive help with this. He finally ended up needing several months of intensive occupational therapy--one weekl;y appointment with an OT and 2-3 weekly outside practice sessions with the private ABA (who is much cheaper than the OT). He had to do the practice sessions with the ABA with his hand in a grip device. It was not fun.

I had tried working with him myself, then paying a nanny to help me, then having special ed at school do place him on a handwriting improvement program. These attempts were unsuccessful.

Now, his handwriting is pretty good and his grip is okay, though, unlike that of my husband and brother. (To my knowledge, I never had grip issues.)

When I was in kindergarden I insisted on holding the pencil in my fist and the teacher ended up calling my parents about it. I think I had a tough time at first but I never needed any therapy or anything like that.

Is it normal for a three-year-old to hold a pencil correctly?

One teacher let my daughter hold a pencil wrong early on and AFAIK didn't seem to think it was important, and now its set wrong, other teachers have said its too late to change now (shes 10).
Its annoying because it could have been sorted out at the time and we would have helped work on it at home, and now of course her weird grip is tiring and her writing is not the best.
[/rant]

My younger son has never had any pencil grip issues or required any help with this, so I guess that it is normal for a kid to just learn how to do it correctly on his own. He sometimes holds his spoon incorrectly, but he has probably had more practice drawing than using a spoon, to be honest.

My older son did the fist grip, and it was very hard to shake him of this.

My husband and brother both have poor handwriting, and my mom has some fine motor skills issues (always using her teeth to open things). However, none of these three people were ever as severe as my older son, to my knowledge.

I think that there is a lot of variation in children's fine motor skills. From what I've read, if you have dysgraphia (basically poor handwriting in spite of proper instruction, opportunity to practice, and desire to form letters correctly), this indicates a neurological issue of some kind (autism, ADHD, brain damage, etc.) However, autistic kids do not always have these fine motor issues--only sometimes.

My grandmother also had grip issues and dysgraphia after a stroke and never regained the beautiful penmanship that she had had before the stroke. The letters were shaky, the writing was slow and not pretty, she started using a fist grip, and she had to print in order to make it legible.

You might have her start keyboarding and get school accomodations so that she can type everything.

You might (or might not) be able to change her grip, particularly if she doesn't write a whole lot anyway. However, you would probably have to do it over summer break/long holiday period from school. You would probably also have to work with her yourself several days a week or hire someone to help.

My older son had an established fist grip and would draw all of him time. He did not want to change his grip and working with him on it caused a great deal of anxiety. It was even painful for him to try to change his grip, and I just couldn't force myself to work with him on it as often or as long as was necessary. That's why I decided to hire help.

Incidentally, his OT predicted early on that he would have to go to keyboarding, but, fortunately, we were able to avoid this.