Does this look like a PDD NOS / AS child? (21 months old)

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angelbear
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06 Mar 2011, 9:23 pm

Good luck with the appointment. Yes, my son is very cute, but he can be a handful at times, but I love, love, love him! Even though we still have a lot of work to do, he is coming along. Sometimes I look back at how far he has come, and I am just so grateful! Hope your little guy does okay tomorrow.



Shemesh
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07 Mar 2011, 1:10 am

Good luck with the appointment

As far as other peoples opinions - it can sometimes be frustrating when they don't see what you see and tend to smooth everything over, as if your worries are nothing. They usually mean well - just always stick to your gut instinct. I was told by 3 specialists that my son was not on the spectrum before he was finally diagnosed. And that's not counting family who thought I was mad, or a hysterical mother.

As far as development delays - with my son, I tend to not look at the situation as one where he has to "catch up". Simply that there are things that don't come as naturally to him as other kids, so he has to work much harder on them. And there are other things which are super easy for him, which other kids his age have a hard time with (or can't yet do at his age). Personally I find this attitude helps me reflect a really positive attitude towards my son - and anyone who has an annoying "sympathetic" look when they hear he's on the spectrum. Yes, my son may be different in certain ways to other kids, but he's really smart, funny, has a good heart, is really cute, a pleasure and I'm proud to be his mum. As for being more of a handful than neurotypical kids - he has a twin sister so I have a permanent example of a "regular" kid his age - and I have to say - he's no more a handful than she is. The only difference is he is far more predictable because I know which situations are harder for him and when he's likely to be "more of a handful"

Yes, it can be overwhelming at the beginning, and we have a tendency to focus on therapy and treating our child - but don't forget to enjoy your child the same as any child and keep things fun:)



ediself
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07 Mar 2011, 7:29 am

MsNattyable wrote:
Is that really a sensory issue?I thought maybe spinning just meant he was really happy?X( Though I notice when he is like really stressed he may spin. But for example when the blender or hair dryer comes on (not all time) he'll do one spin. (...)Is it normal for him to not be afraid of strangers at all?? That part really bugs me, he didn't know them yet he didn't care at all, he even let them hold him, but he sorta got mad because he wanted to go run not be picked up,by anyone.. or he'd walk up to people he didn't know, like this old men. It's almost like he has no fear!


I have a daughter who is exactly 21 months old! But all i can do is compare your child to my children, and that isn't very scientific is it...every child is different. All i can say is I watched the video in which you try to get your son to pretend he's feeding you or the bear, and my daughter (who shows all signs of being NT albeit gifted and stubborn as hell) started pretend play a few months ago, she might have been 18 months old, without any prompting from me as I thought she was way too young and kids didn't start those things until they were 3 or 4 years old (my only reference being my AS 9 y old son). She started feeding me imaginary food from imaginary spoons in a decorative tray i had on the coffee table, and I looked at her like..."seriously??"
So the lack of pretend play could be a sign. I don't remember my son ever doing that. These days she plays dress up a lot with my silk jammies, and dresses her teddy bears in her brother's socks or whatever.
My son was never afraid of strangers and would "talk" to anyone in sight. Last week he opened the door to a perfect stranger while I was under the shower (he's 9).
I am AS myself and the spin you mentionned could be him getting startled by the sound of hair dryers and blender. You will see him do the same thing if you flush in front of him, just try it! (that is a super mean thing to do though :D)
Hope I helped!
edit: The flush thing was a joke, as in by jove DON'T do it , if he's on the spectrum (even if he isn't probably lol) and you do that, you'll never be able to potty train him....



Stubbydog
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07 Mar 2011, 12:10 pm

My son is not diagnosed, no. We haven't had him evaluated at this point, because he's not clear cut and if he is on the spectrum, would be on the PDD-NOS (some symptoms but not all) or very mild side IMO. We're taking the approach right now of just getting him help in areas he may need it (speech was an obvious one) and not worrying so much about "diagnosis". If he needs additional help in the future or needs accommodations at school in order to succeed, we'll cross that bridge then.

I don't remember 21 months exactly, but I know that by 24 months he still only had 10-20 words, and not many more by around 28 months. I wish I could remember more specific things about his behavior from when he was younger, but we were mostly focused on the speech and it becomes hard to remember what things happened when. It wasn't until a doc appointment at 28 months that it was suggested we consider having him evaluated. We decided not to based on talking extensively with his speech therapist (who works with autistic children) and his montessori preschool teachers (also experienced with autistic kids).

Good luck!



MsNattyable
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10 Mar 2011, 10:31 pm

Thank you all so much! Sorry for not replying sooner! Even though you all did for me , I just never got a chance! Soo The appointment went great!

It was more like a consultation really, but she was great really happy and kind! She made me feel really happy and good because she said I was basically doing everything I needed to do. She told me to do more things like"inside car, outside car" and to simplify things more. Because I always thought I was making shorter sentence and that was enough, but it probably isn't right now. I also said was worried about him only saying the words for the flash cards. So she taught me some things, and I never really thought of things like, Apple red, apple eat, apple yummy. Blah I feel so silly..I was so focused on teaching him words I forgot about other simple things!

It was really funny when we were there he of course didn't look at her, just played with thomas the train, when she talked to him once he actually looked up at her, but then went back to his stuff! There was this toy she gave him that had coloured doors and coloured keys with different key structures. She was like even my 4 year olds can't do this, but we can just let him play with this. As we are talking " I was like wow that was his 5th one!" She was like "5th what?" I told her that was the 5th door he unlocked properly with the key, i never even knew he understood colour cordinations properly. haha he always loves my keys and tries to go to the door to open it. I probably should get him a toy similar, she was really shocked!

And I never really had those bubbles so she brought out some bubbles, and she gave it to him and was like he probably won't be able to do it,most kids don't know how to blow at that age,
but that's okay. First thing he does takes it out and goes WHOOO(blowing)

She was stunned , it was adorable! He actually got a bubble :P He was blowing right, I felt bad he couldn't get it, it's just he wasn't holding it up right for the soap to stay on it haha.

Linus has been doing so amazing! I seriously am in shock like he is someone different, he's eye contact has been getting better and better. This week alone it has been amazing and he has been responding to me more and more. He even NODS HIS HEAD! OH MY GOD. And Shakes it so yes and no! When I ask a question! I mean it's not right answer really..but It's so adorable, and he's still trying it seems to answer me. He even started saying more again ( goes into kitchen and tries to open fridge)I was worried he wasn't saying it for a week or so.

I have probably been showing him these cards for the past 3 weeks?everyday? He finally says "iger" "apple" "cak" "ne" for nest, "og for dog. And he doesnt say these all the time but he has said"inec" for insect and "wach" for watch, "moo-n" for moon, hou for house. And when I pointed to a car and said car he actually tried to look and even said car!

He , this is really weird just last week before I went to therapist he was constantly spinning and tippy toeing and flapping his hands. He hasn't gone in circles or tippy toed since last sunday, it's really weird he always does these little strange things...BUT here I was all amazed and shocked how he has been, thinking he seems perfectly normal! Then (yesterday and today) he goes back to ignoring me, not responding, he started doing his jadged arm thing, and been flapping his hands like crazy today ( I noticed it was when I said no he couldn't do something) It's weird it's like when he is really stressed out he gets these strange quirks that he does. I guess all kids have there thing..

He always does this thing where he looks to one side his head and walks its so strange..I guess he's exploring himself but I just don't know any more..

But he has become more "open" it seems, since learning to say a few words it's almost like he has become less disconnected. I'm so very scared he's going to stop..because he's going 2 steps forward one back..I am just going to keep doing what I am doing and hoping for the best for his improvements!

I know this may seem like an Odd question, but if a child did or was on the autism spectrum would they do they stims everyday? I hear people say their kid did look when they called their name, and did have good eye contact. So ..I am really confused ..! I still can't really get him to play with me yet..And stop using my hands completely.


Wow Shemesh 3 specialist actually said he was not? What got that final person to realise and understand? I understand what you mean it's not a thing to be like oh that's so sad, it's just he's different , learns differently and sees the world differently! And I bet he is adorable! And your daughter also! That must be strange to have a 'normal' developing child , liek a twin and notice all small differences, they must've thought you were comparing them to much..but there comes a point when they are too different! You know what's best! You seem like a great parent. I don't even know what I'm doing any more, but I'm just taking everyones here advice and just focusing on his speech delay, and other problems he may have.

She suggested that I take him into a day care , because kids tend to find they have to speak to get what they want, or they like the routine. I said to her say if my child did have ASD would it matter? And she said that day care is great for any kid. But I am a stay at home mum, and to me I just don't want to put my child in day care atm..I am not really making the extra money to do this either..Wouldn't you think any time of TOT program be good enough to see how he interacts, and give him chance to interact with other kids his age?



Oh wow ediself your daughter pretend played all on her own?! I hear girls are amazingly smart that way, they learn to speak fast and even seem more mature. I wonder why girls are usually ahead more so? haha. Oh that's so scary he opened the door !Does he do that often? I'm scared my son will be way more naive than most kids! He is just so open adn friendly to anyone, I was always told kids are suppose to be a little scared of strangers until they realise their parents aren't!

Well with him he is kinda opposite! he LOVES the blender and the toilet flush he always wants to flush once he's done sitting on the toliet ! haha, but the blow dryer he does back away a bit too, he hasnt been spinning when I turn it at all this past week! So it's really weird.Thank you very much for replying to me! May I ask are you a mother or father?


Stubbydog I'm sure you know what is exactly right for your son. I feel some days like oh linus is so different ! I can feel they will give him that diagnosis then with these past weeks he seems completely different then today he goes back to his usual self! I think he may always have quirks but they will always see him as "Normal" why do i sense differences in him though? I feel uneasy with all this, and I feel like a terrible mother..like I see nothing wrong with him if he had ASD..But I feel almost ..I can't explain my emotions right now.. I feel almost guilty like I'm trying to label him different..(?)..yet they would say he's not..ah..confusing.


I also am going to take that same route as you! Just work on his speech and other problems he may have at the moment and anything else I notice for the future. When you say your son had 10-20 words Did he actually use these words in everyday use? I can't get my son to say his words on his own he'll only ever repeat it if I say it first. I mean I guess why would he use the word apple unless he sees one..or tiger..

What grade/how old is your son at them moment?


Thanks very much again for everyone taking time out to tell me about your opinions/family and give me advice :) <3



nostromo
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11 Mar 2011, 3:37 am

Hi MsNattyable, I looked at the videos, your son behaves just like my son at that age. So much about your posts resonates for me, the childs behaviour, the early hearing tests, the well meaning people saying theres nothing to worry about. My wife and I are even computer geeks!

Maybe try the M-CHAT test, its very informative and the right age to use on your son. http://www2.gsu.edu/~psydlr/Diana_L._Ro ... AT_new.pdf
My son got 21/23 IIRC and that was when my wife and I looked at each other in silence for quite a bit, I guess one of those moments when the bull s**t and faux positive thinking is taken away and what you are left with are cold hard facts. I'd be really interested to see your sons results (if you don't mind of course), sounds like he's more advanced than my son.

But keep an eye on him, my son regressed majorly between 2.5 and 3, look at my post further up the forum called 'Regressive Autism'.He had words, pointing and imitation then, but no longer speaks or does any of that. Not to say he doesn't have skills just not those ones.
Autism that follows that pattern only happens in about 25% of cases, and I don't want to cause you worry unnecessarily but I believe forewarned is forearmed.

I do think some daycare is well worth a try to get interaction with other kids. My son is doing well at Kindy starting to engage with other children and follow what is going on. Before we knew he had Autism we used to take him to day care a couple of days a week which wasn't good in hindsite. He mostly lay on the ground looking at wheels on cars and things like that. He never spoke, except once when he sang happy birthday at the top of his lungs while 'acting weird' before collapsing in maniacal laughter, the teachers were a bit disturbed I think, wish I had been there :P

Sounds like you are doing great work with your son, keep that up, my son has awesome eye contact now, and likes doing things with me even if he can't talk :)

Matt



ediself
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11 Mar 2011, 4:27 am

MsNattyable wrote:
Oh wow ediself your daughter pretend played all on her own?! I hear girls are amazingly smart that way, they learn to speak fast and even seem more mature. I wonder why girls are usually ahead more so? haha. Oh that's so scary he opened the door !Does he do that often? I'm scared my son will be way more naive than most kids! He is just so open adn friendly to anyone, I was always told kids are suppose to be a little scared of strangers until they realise their parents aren't!

Well with him he is kinda opposite! he LOVES the blender and the toilet flush he always wants to flush once he's done sitting on the toliet ! haha, but the blow dryer he does back away a bit too, he hasnt been spinning when I turn it at all this past week! So it's really weird.Thank you very much for replying to me! May I ask are you a mother or father?


I am a mother :) and autistic, did I tell you before? can't remember.
Yeah, she did, and she also starts a lot of new things without warning , but like I said, she is probably NT, i don't know for sure actually, (she tip toes when really in a good mood, she spins a lot ,and she's trying to read and write, getting a bit obsessed with the letters "S" and "A", she just likes them, and that's not very NT...) but it's true that it may just be a girl/boy thing.
My son opens the door to people, all the time. I'm a bit of a troglodyte myself, if i don't know who it is or if it's past 7pm, i just leave people at the door. But my son? some of the things he did that were really worrying in the past, if you want to be forewarned of what could happpen and keep an eye out:
Started escaping crib at 12 months old and i thought he was going to kill himself one night
Once he could walk,round age 2, he would sneak out before i was awake, open the front door with the key, and run away naked.I found him at our elderly neighbour's house, having breakfast, naked. It happened twice and i never left the key on the door after that (seems like I should start keeping it in my pocket again...)
Run away while at the store, and hide under stuff or in changing rooms. Happened like a billion times from age 3 to age 6.
Pull his hand away from mine as we were about to cross the street, and start running randomly. I learnt to hold his wrist instead.
There are billions of examples of things he did that made me prematurely grey and possibly shortened my life by a few years :lol:
And yes, he is very naive. I explained to him countless times that some strangers were not nice people, and that you never know if they are nice or not, so don't talk to strangers. Well, just the other day i went to buy cigarettes as he was on the computer, it's 50 meters away, I thought meh, he's 9. I still repeated the "strangers" line before i went. Lo and behold, as i walk back to the house, what do I see? my son had opened the window, explained to the delivery guy that I wasn't home and he wasn't allowed to open the door, and was chatting away happily with him.
So I said "what did I say about opening to strangers!
_ but it was only the window!!
_ he could still grab you and run away!
he laughed:
_of couuuurse not mummy!! ! he's nice by the way.
_ but you did not know that when you opened the window.
_ but I do now.
WHATEVER!! !!
it's a bit exhausting. But well, he survived 9 years, I 'm sure yours will too :lol:



Stubbydog
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11 Mar 2011, 11:33 am

I'm glad that his appointment went so well and gave you some things to work on. It can be a long process, so I would suggest not to get too overly pushy on it with your son...he's still young and won't have the focus to be able to do things like flashcards and working on speech for very long. It should be very play-based and just integrated into your everyday life at this point, IMO.

My son just turned 3.5. His speech is considered age-appropriate at this point, but as I mentioned before he has some lingering intelligibility issues still that we're working on. But starting probably around 2.5 years old, he started gaining language much more quickly, both spoken words and comprehension. That was nearly a year after he started weekly speech therapy. If I had it to do over again, I might have tried to get him into more intensive therapy starting maybe about age 2, 2-3 times per week, but we would have had to pay out of pocket for that.

My son has a few other things that could be indicators of AS but as I said, nothing that (to me) screams that I need to get him help. He does well at school, his teachers love him, and he has friends. He has always been very interested in other kids and adults, and does a lot of attention-sharing behaviors. He wants to share pretty much everything with me or anyone around him ("Mommy, look!). He doesn't flap or toe-walk, and he does pretend play...just last night as my daughter was getting ready for bed, he picked up her baby doll (which she does not play with, by the way, having a few AS traits herself :) ), fed it a pretend bottle, and put it to bed gently while singing lol. However, he's also somewhat rigid and wants to do everything himself...has trouble falling asleep...has some mild sensory issues...occasionally shakes his head back and forth or spins (not for excessive periods though)...likes to look at things out of the side of his eyes...etc. So who knows. :D

I strongly believe that daycare or even just Mother's Morning Out type programs can be a big catalyst for speech in at least some cases. They are much different when their primary caregiver is not around. I know that around here there are several churches that run very inexpensive Mother's Morning Out programs, maybe something like that would be fun for him? I think it will also help you know what he may need further help with, honestly, by seeing him around other children and getting opinions from caregivers.



tskin1
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11 Mar 2011, 9:32 pm

Quote:
I don't know where you got NOS.


PDD-NOS stands for Pervasive developmental disorder/ non specific.

This is the diagnosis they will give to children who have enough deviation from the norm that they cannot ignore but not enough to specifically narrow a diagnosis to any one place on the spectrum

As the child gets older they can narrow it down easier because a lot of different factors come into play.

When you got the lists of speech therapists was this hospital based therapists/ school therapists/ independant??? each one I mentioned generally will have them.. the school therapist will be free and provided through the district if you request an assessment.... the others obviously through insurance



almost forgot http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/speechandlanguage.html#milestones you asked about knowing where his speech should be right now this link is to a speech milestones checklist according to age.

http://www.speech-therapy-on-video.com/oralmotor.html this page gives oral speech exercises you can do at home (some might not be possible due to age)

http://dotolearn.com/ different activies ect social among many other much of it is geared to kids a lil older but there are fun songs and things as well and activity ideas

i'm sure i could think of others will have to dig into my old computer :) good luck



cloudy
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12 Mar 2011, 3:25 pm

Hi Natasha, its good that you are so keen to help your child. From reading your post, you are looking for a focus as you await for him to develop, either autistic traits or speech delays. I think, what I would do is to study language and speech development so that you can make sense of where he is in his development. A development delay is exactly what is stated and the best thing you can do for your son at any point in the future regardless of autism is to understand his communication and what works.

For example, I notice you say that he seems to understand gesture cues, thats excellent and its a tool you can use. Every form of communcation matters and by using pictures, and even basic signing will help him to communicate. Maybe he could have pictures to communcate what he wants such as a drink. Use photographs that he can access and encourage him to bring a picture to make his request. This then gives you opportunity to say the word and answer him as quickly as possible. If hes struggling to express needs, by doing this you will prevent him from frustration. This will not affect his speech in the long term, it will be a tool. You could also have pictures of family mummy daddy and teach him when he is interested. Then he can fetch the picture of daddy when daddy comes in, this is positive and will promote his confidence and then you have opportunity to praise him and give him the language consistently. Yes, Daddy, Good boy! You can extend this in anyway you want. If he is on the autistic spectrum, it may be that too much verbal coming at him is just too comlicated. When you want him to sit down for example instead of saying. 'Will you sit on your chair please theres a good boy' Say ' sit on chair' and then use gesture or sign by pointing to the chair. This is much more straight forward and less complicated for him to learn. Dont repeat yourself too much and use gesture only to encourage the instruction.

The idea is not to overload him, the world is very complicated if you are struggling to organise verbal language. Simplify to help him be successful and encourage his gesture and sign as you are already.

I hope this helps a little, what you need to do is to help him now in the best possible way regardless of his delay and if it is due to autism. Hes a lucky little boy to have you



angelbear
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13 Mar 2011, 8:50 am

Glad the appointment went well. I don't have a whole lot new to add, but one thing my son started doing speech wise around 2.5 was echolalia. Echolalia means repeating what was just said to him. For example, if I would say "Do you want to go outside?" Instead of him answering yes or no, he would repeat "Do you want to go outside?" He did this a lot for about 2 yrs. From what I have read, it is good for language development even though it can seem like a cause for concern. Just wanted to let you know that this may be something to be on the lookout for.

Also, I was a stay at home mom too that had no plans for really putting my child in school so young. But the therapists really pushed this, and at 3 yrs of age, I finally started him in school. I would have done it earlier, but my son was such a late walker, (21 mos) I did not feel comfortable doing it any earlier. I agree that maybe 2 mornings a week might help your son. You will only know if you try. If you can't afford school, then I would recommend taking him to as many places as you can that have children playing. The park, the library, a playgroup or whatever you can do.

As far as stimming, my son flapped his hands some from about age 1 to 2. When he started walking, he quit flapping, but when he started school at 3, he started flapping again and shaking his head back and forth. He is almost 6 now and has not stopped. He does it when he is excited or stressed. He also started making strange noises when he was about 4. He never really did that up until about age 4. So what I am saying is that there is really no way that anyone can tell you what will or will not happen. With my son, things seem to start up, and just when it starts to go away, something new starts up.

Does your son have any thing that he seems obsessed with? We call these "special interests" At around 2.5, my son became obessessed with car makes and models. He started memorizing the names of every car we saw, and he would want to run up to cars everywhere we went. He really loved Volkswagons and would draw the VW logo over and over. LOL!

Anyway, it sounds like you are on the right track. Just hang in there and keep working on the speech. If your son is on the spectrum, other things will start to come out, and you can address them as they happen.



matrixluver
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13 Mar 2011, 6:35 pm

It's nearly impossible to diagnose children younger than 18 months, and the odds of a correct diagnosis increase at 24 months. Many very young toddlers may show some signs but are usually far more social then than they become after 18 months. It is quite common for children with language delays to show frustration that may appear to be due to Autism but their other social skills, such as eye contact and gestures, increase whereas in children with an ASD their use of gaze and gestures may get worse. Kids with ADHD, sensory integration disorder, and global developmental delays may become very rigid and sensory-seeking, but again, their nonverbal communication skills tend to be there. Your child is old enough now for an evaluation, but sometimes evaluators are uncomfortable at this point.



MsNattyable
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11 Sep 2011, 10:43 am

It's been a while since I have been by the forums. I havent had a desktop in months! ( Super deprived as a computer geek, at least I have a console for recreation). I am using an ipod which makes my want for wall of texts hard to do.

I want to thank you all for your help, I feel rude for not replying but I did read them! All of your information you have gaven me has been really useful!

I really wanted to update you all on my sons progress as youve been great help to me and him. He is 27-28 months now!

My son linus got into speech therapy few months now. The therapist says he has a Language disorder. He can name a-z or 1-10 but he can't make choices, or answer questions

All i can say is speech therapy has been so wonderful, he actually looks more at us, every peice of cereal i would make him say more then more cereal then more juice, now he can use more with other words! he has few other 2 word phrases. He shares now! he'll point to the sky for a plane, no idea how he sees them! When i call him he will sometimes look, but still almost never if occupied. He went from doing none of these things to doing them sometimes! so it seems a lot but the developmentalist says he still doesnt do it a lot
He can't get choices fown at all but one step directions are comming along!He knows garbage and put in or clap/stand/sit/lay /give me( sometimes with cues) Hes been doing so well with his therapy! Sometimes I worried if my constant teaching was bad but now I feel it was really worth it. Now he doesnt hit himself when I talk/ ask questions



As you mentioned angelbear my son is echoing, if you say do you want milk? he'll say milk . or ill say stand up, he'll say it back or shoes on he says it back, In those cases i think its good because it helps him

but when its bad isvhe'll hurt himself and say Are you ok? or he'll do something dangerous and will say Be careful. so he does have echolalia .

He also has always done repeating situations like run/ pace run into and say sorry over and over or hold/put down a toy. But with language its become more obvious, one example is he threw a card off the table and i said " No thats not nice" and from my son who cant speak comes!! ( puts card back on the table throws it off goes " no thats not nice) then repeated that 7 times in a row.. so things like that.

he almost stopped tippy toeing for week then now he does it again most day. he can walk normal though. he use to put his fingers in his ears now he flicks them, which worries me?He puts his head to his shoulder and will walk/ play like that. or walk with his arm bent funny

he coukdnt say hu/bye but now he can! usually running to stranger bumping into them saying hiiiii. but when introduced to people wont, but will sorta to family :)


So he did an AdOS test and got a 12, The developmentalist says he is on the autism spectrum, but that his traits are mild. but that it is " autism" which confuses me, classic autism , he i guess has everything, language behaviour sensory odd movements repeats but they are all so mild. so thats what confuses me I see some kuds with pdd nos who are more debilitated by their issues

but I guess it is a spectrum? Its just strange how much his changed with his language, but when it came down to it he never looked at these people, even in park he plays alone

they said they think hes very adaptable he will say/ do( look you in eye) if it benefits him, but he went around grabbing them pulling their hands etc, never looking at them , more to use them to open the door lol. He will go to a complete stranger grab their hand to take him down hall knowing he needs adult etc.

I do think hes quirky, Iv always thought it might be autism but when it came down to it , it confused me because Of his changes, but I think speech therapy is to thank. I do see all his quirks in other kuds but I guess when combined all together is what makes it autism..

I feel bad I'd nag the speech therapist, if kids with language disorders can seem to be autistic, she said no they have same language issues nut they want to interact with you more naturally or look you in the eye or share more

Linus does . well is starting these things but his eye contact is " variable" and he still lacks sharing. Linus will come up and hug you or kiss you especially if he sees you cry

The best thing about this is at least he is eligable for therapies like ABA, anyone have opinions on that? Would it help linus even though hes mild?



MsNattyable
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11 Sep 2011, 11:07 am

Also I'm not sure if your all active on the forums but Now that I habe time i want to reply to you all!

@matrixluver Would you say my son is still too young for a proper diagnoses? His eye contact has improved so much but they say its varoable and lacks still. An asd child could improve as much as my son? another thing is he had words 15-18 months but lost them .ball dadda bye ( while waving) and maybe 2 others but .he lost them. then at 21 months he started saying "d" for dad and that was the start up of words again

@ angelbear yup my son does have echolalia which I hear happens a lot in kids but should usually stop.thats weird that you say your son flapped1-2 my son started flappig and toe walking then at 25 months stopped for week so then started, his flappin though is so rare like in new situations or something and lasts second he clences his fists though. This past week hes flapped only 4 times he also spins less, He also use to space out so much now thats less and his eeg was normal

He also does chin to chest. Also He has been drooling for past 3 months , licking things biting arms, is this from teething? My father was nice enough to pay for a tint tot program twice week two hours a day, i think itll help him so much! Obessed , well they asked me if he was, bc they asked why he was lining them cars i told them he loves thomas train, dont a lot toddlers love that? lol but he loves cranky he'll spend hours just pretend thomas is being lifted by cranky. he also only really wants 3 of his fave thomas movies, should i let him watch them? ( only one) bc he knows EVEry word >.< and obesses over cranky. But his CrankyCranky? is too cute

@cloudy Thank you! Iv incorperated this so much everything i say to him is face to face 2-3 word phrases with lonnng pauses, i realised i was repeating with little pause, hardest part is his attention. were trying our hardest to not use hand cues now so he umderstands the words! The picture idea is such a good one! I think ill do this, though a picture of his dad will be impossible lol

@stubbydog it does seem like sensory issues but like you said speech therapy was most important and helped him with his speech , thats like linus he improved so much. his stimming and sensory is really not an issue , though i dislike toe walking! his poor feet! And his language disorder and social interactions are an issue i feel he needs help with that. though so many tell me hes completely normal lol i just want to get him any help he needs



MsNattyable
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11 Sep 2011, 12:02 pm

@ediself i thought for sure i replied to this! I get so fustrated, think thats why I stopped replying id message and my computer would fail lol. I remeber ot because it made me laugh, okay tgat sounds terrible because the situation your son couldve been hurt, but it was soo funny, you said door! But that is scary to think he went to neighbours but at tge same time boy is he inteligent and independent, your daughter just as smart i bet. How is your daughter doing , our little ones are about same age she mustve grown so much!
And no I didnt know you were autistic, may I ask how you found put/ lay on the spectrum, if you dont mind me asking


@nostromo the regression worries me every day with my son, is there any signs of regression? did your son improve and start speaking like my son? does he have a language disorder? How is he doing, you and your family? i read mchat from your link before and it was useful. Aw your son sounds really hapoy and fully of fun, its great you found ways tobinteract with him. cant remeber the results before from that link if i did it now i think it would change a lot lol, cos his changes. my son they made comment about wheels cos he always looks/lays sideways or has it on a table at eye level, when they flew plane in ados and gave to him he put it on the table and slowly moved it watching wheels lol but to anyone else he just sitting theor playing with cars, i always thought it had to do with spinning wheels not starring that one shocked me!

@tskin1 Actually it was private speech therapist but we only went to one assesment for help, but then he got into gov funded speech therapy (canada) she said his disorder was severe so it was once a week ( most with gov) now its twice a week :) thnk you for the links



zette
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11 Sep 2011, 2:44 pm

I haven't had time to read all the replies but thought I'd share our experience. My son had what appeared to be a minor speech delay, they even did the ADOS at 31 months and said he was not autistic. He did not show any of the usual flags (poor eye contact, lining up toys, flapping, etc), but he would do unusual things like repeat the same 21-step sequence with his garbage truck many times in a row. At age 4 he started having major problems in preschool, and at age 5 was dx with AS.

So it may be too soon to tell. I'd suggest you read It Takes Two to Talk, enroll in a Hanen Project class if you can find one, and do whatever speech therapy you can manage to get. You might also read up on DIR/Floortime, and figure out if there is a way you can pursue that type if therapy for him.