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

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Speaking of progress, my son (who's 3 1/2) just started climbing over gates. I'm a bit proud and mortified. I think his climbing was quite a bit delayed so I'm happy he can do it and not so happy because of course I don't want him climbing the gates and furniture. We're going to have to re-baby-proof his room. I used to climb to the tops of trees when I was small and it's a miracle I didn't kill myself....

Mine climbs over the couch. He seems very coordinated so I don't think he is going to hurt himself.

He has also suddenly developed an interest in eating fruit & vegetables. In the past week or so he has tried spinach (raw), cucumbers, and even ASKED us for apples and oranges.

He also started eating chicken wings (not hot, they don't serve them like that here.) This is the first time I've seen him eating chicken not in nugget form.

When my older son was four, he climbed over the back fence. He pushed a chair over to the back door to reach the latch. then, he used a large piece of pottery that was beside the backyard fence to climb over. I happened to look out of the window and see him on top of the six-foot-high wooden privacy fence. I then ran outiside and retrieved him from the neighbor's front yard, which is unfenced and very close to a busy street. (Our house is on the corner, so, our back yard backs up to the neighbor's front yard.

That was when we changed all of the locks and moved everything away from the fences in the yard.

I have a friend with twins with classic autism with a two story house. They like to climb on the railing to the upstairs loft, which overlooks the living room below, actually balancing themselves on the railing. She has plans to modify the structure of her house.

My older son is still a great climber--likes climbing trees and climbing the insides of halls and doorways by placing his hands on one side and feet on the other.

Today, my older son asked to play in the backyard by himself, and I refused. Even though he's now 7, I feel nervous when he's out of sight, unless he is at school. He is doing grade-level work, with a lot of tutoring. However, he is still pretty immature and lives "in the moment;" he doesn't think about the future consequences of his actions or understand how certain situations could be dangerous unless he has been specifically told several times, "Don't do ____ because _____ could happen to you."

I feel lucky, my older son (the ASD one) has never tried to run away from us. He really doesn't go out of field of sight of us...he has never tried to go outside by himself, either. I think this may be related to his separation anxiety...

My one-year-old, on the other hand...

Could be. My younger son with the history of separation anxiety (he still has it somewhat but not as bad) has never attempted to run off, either. He would prefer to be with me at all times--go with me to take out the garbage, get the mail, take his older brother to school, be with me rather than another adult at any public place, etc.

Hi Blondeambition,

My 6 yr old asks to play by herself as well. She's a budding MichealAngelo as we discovered yesterday she's managed to re-create the Sistene chapel on her bedroom ceiling after being left alone. Would appear drawing and writing in places she can now reach (with the help a table) makes for more exciting covert fun.

My oldest is a great artist, too. I can definitely recognize his drawings by sight--pick them out from the work of other students. I would say that he is more Dr. Seuss than Michael Angelo. He draws creative, unusual, and imaginitive cartoons. Every night before bed, he tells me that he needs paper and sits in his room and draws.

I plan on some more art classes for him during the summers.

If he's got an interest like that definitely run with it. My son doesn't draw or color at all. He seems interested in playing music, though. I think music might be good for him since he's so into numbers - music is so mathematical.

Actually mine's probably more Picasso than Michaelangelo

I just downloaded a FREE app onto the iphone for people with speech impairments called Sono Flex Lite (the full version is $99). It comes prepackaged with a lot of stock words but there's also a section for quick phrases that's fully customizable. I'm replacing all the single word basic things my son can say or doesn't need to say with things I want him to say, like: Can I watch a show? I need a clean diaper. My name is Ethan. etc. And replacing the stock icons with pictures he'll recognize where it says Mom and Dad I changed it to photos of us. I don't think my son will use it at a primary means of communication but I think there's a lot of learning potential in there. It will say whatever he types too, this has been his favorite bit so far ... he thinks the gibberish he types is hysterical when it's vocalized ... but I think that'll eventually be a good way to learn how to spell. He can say a lot of single words but I'm hoping that if I put those words into simple sentences in the iphone he'll start to parrot the sentences and hopefully start saying them spontaneously....

I think that this is a good idea. I know that a number of autistic children are using the iPad nowadays to help them both learn speech and facilitate it. I'm sure the iPhone would work, too.

I have also found that paring the sentences with pictures is important, keeping the sentences simple with as many familiar words as possible, having the child learn many very similar sentences (I want a cookie. I want milk. I want bread. I want an apple. I want a banana., etc.), and lots of repetition helps.

My older son learned question and answer patterns the same way. (What is this? It is a spoon. What is this? it is a fork. What is this? It is an apple.)

The "why" questions were the hardest and required the most repetition and examples, I think, because they were more abstract.

I noticed that my son is now using words that I previously thought were "lost," words he said maybe a few times and then stopped using. We found some YouTube videos made by a preschool teacher in the US and they seem to be helping him. Honestly I think we need to get this kid immersed in an English-speaking environment ASAP.

On the visa front, I contacted the office of my local congressman in the US and they are going to send an email to the embassy here on my behalf. Fingers crossed!

Update on the visa issue: our petition for expedited filing based on my son's condition was approved!

Glad to hear it!

Yes, he's been playing games and watching his favorite things on YouTube on the iphone for a while now. He figured it out with little to no help from us. My partner upgraded his phone and we decided to keep the old one for him, the phone is disconnected.

Hi everyone. Haven't been here in awhile cos we were travelling, but now back home and all settled into our regular routine again.

Glad to see your visa application got fast-tracked Wreck-gar!

I can't believe how amazing the ipad is for my son. It is perfect for him, he can learn at his own pace, make as many mistakes as he likes, take 100 tries at something his way and never mind that the game is actually intended to be played differently, and it doesn't care that his attention span is 5 seconds long. His favourite app so far though is a complete surprise - called Talking Rex, it is a dinosaur that parrots back to you in a growly voice what you just said. He talks to it like it is a friend, carries it round the house showing it his toys, even props it up next to him so they can watch YouTube together on the laptop....!

We thought we had toilet training sussed a few months ago, but now we are having 'accidents' of both kinds. Really it is just that he refuses to stop what he is doing to go to the toilet, so waits til he is absolutely desperate then can't get there in time. But if you try to make him go on your schedule rather than his he has a meltdown. Hey ho, I try not to mind all the laundry.