11 month old just diagnosed ASD

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Hello,

My 11 month old was just diagnosed with ASD. I'm trying to navigate through all the information on different treatments ect. I'm feeling very overwhelmed. I was told today that he needs 40 hrs a week in intensive treatment. This just feels wrong to me. He is barley up that many hours - he is still just a baby. Has anyone out there had a diagnosis this early? I would really like to connect with you and learn about your experiences. PM me! Thanks!! ! I am very open to all and any comments.

I can't really offer any advice because 11 months seems awfully early to me to get such a diagnosis. The earliest I've ever heard of is 18 months and it's usually not before two years.

Are you living in America?

By what criteria did they base this diagosis?

How is that possible?

let them be a toddler, don't tag them with asd yet.

I heard some people are doing the intensive 40 hours that young now. Therapy sounds so awful....but with the right therapists it just looks like a kid playing and having fun. The therapist is just trained to help them gain skills along with their peers in a fun and reinforcing way.

I'm not sure if it is necessary, but maybe it would help in the long run? Who am I to say? You can do lots of language work with her now so he can start talking/communicating earlier than if he had not had therapy. You can play in engaging and fun ways to build his social skills. You can work on occupational therapy to help with any sensory issues or muscle weakness/coordination/etc.

I think knowing that early is great, and there are many things you will be able to do that will help your baby along and decrease the developmental gap.

You will find your balance and what is right for you and your kiddo. Look into many options and get second opinions, then figure out what the best balance is for you guys.

Last edited by SC_2010 on 08 Jul 2011, 12:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

There are more studies coming out now that help with earlier detection. There are signs of ASD before age 2.

http://home.cc.gatech.edu/autism/upload ... n_1994.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC25000/

But if toddler age is the age when they are really picking up language, vocab, and more complex social skills.....isn't that the best time to teach? So they don't fall so far behind and when their brains are more flexible to learning and change?

Thanks SC 2010 for your comments. It has been very difficult because some family and friends have had similar responses like the others above. Both me and my husband noticed that Levi was different from very early on. (around 4 months). We took him to the doctor with concerns at around 9 months and things have progressed since then. We are hopefully that with early intervention he can come a long way.

We live in Canada - we get $22,000 per year in free funding because of our public health care system. This will equal about 10 to 15 hours a week of therapy. We also have access to free physio therapists, OT's and BT but only for a couple of hours a week.

Hi, sorry, I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything, it's just that this is the first time I've seen a diagnosis in someone so young.

Hi Ryio,
your son is lucky to have been diagnosed so early. If you say 40 hrs, you are probably referring to ABA. Scientific studies that refer to 40 hrs of therapy are speaking about children that started early intervention at age 3, but I think that starting early you can do less hours and obtain good results without stressing your child. It's a great advantage!
I'm doing ABA with my son for 8 months and it's effective, but... there are many things you have to evaluate carefully. As a parent, you have to check everything is taught to your son and be sure that no adversives are used. Unfortunately, this happens, but if you find the right professionals you are OK.
If you became your son's therapist (but not the only one, you should burnout), you will understand better the whole situation and your son's learning style. Often you will have to suggest solution because professionals don't have solutions. That happened to me.
If you want other informations from me, feel free to PM me
Claudia

For diagnosing babies, they must mean autism, right? There was no way of concluding my son had Asperger's until he was 8. I definetly saw signs as a baby but there is such a wide range of normal. He was tested for stuff when he had selective mutism at age 3 but no one suggested Asperger's. The only reason he was asked to delay going to kindergarten (late birthday) was that he made noises during circle time. Socially, maturity-wise, physically - in every other way he was appropriate.

No worries. I'm just a bit sensitive. It's frustrating when I have told some family members. They take one look at him and say he is fine and that I am being overly cautious. They don't even spend much time with him and they don't even know what autism is. It is really frustrating having to explain that's all.

What does adversives mean?

Right, they gave a diagnosis of just autism. They couldn't
determine if it was pdd or aspergers at this age.

Forty hours a week does sound like a lot for a child that age. Perhaps they are including in that time you spend with him too. As claudia suggests, I would be as involved in the therapy as they will allow you to be. I don't have experience with a child that young but our son started OT when he was almost 4 and the therapist was very happy to include us on some sessions so we could learn to do many things ourselves. Most of it is really not rocket science. I can understand why to some degree it is better to have a professional involved who doesn't have the same emotional attachment as a parent does. The relationship between child and therapist just has a different dynamic.

Good luck to you. I can only imagine how overwhelmed you feel right now. Know that you are on the right road.

Yikes, 40 hours? That sounds like way too much to me. I remember my kid feeling a bit overwhelmed by 2 hours/week at age 3. It became a chore and he didn't really enjoy it. Most of his therapists were really great, it's just that most young children have a very short attention span (NT's included).

I also think 11 months is a bit young for any definitive diagnosis. I'm sorry to reiterate what you've heard from others. I completely understand the frustration with family members and outsiders assuming that you're being overly cautious (I've been there too), but the range of typical development is so wide. Lots of babies and toddlers display autistic traits and turn out to be NT. The changes in the birth-5 range are huge.

I think that if you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed (and who wouldn't after an advisement for 40hours/week in therapy?!), your baby probably is too. I'm a fan of guiding children, but letting them go at their own natural pace. I have absolutely no authority on the subject, but I think relaxed, freestyle learning at this age is important. So much can be picked up by simple observation and many times babies and toddlers are learning way more than they show off.

A lot of the tests they use seem to be performance based. Sometimes, the skill of performing itself is what hinders a child's performance on a test and can lead to an artificially low assessment score. At least I know this was the case with my own child. I don't think his earlier assessments were truly reflective of his skills. I've only realized this looking back. At the time, I didn't really know. Thank you Captain Hindsight

Anyways, I say go with your gut. You know your child best. You could always try it out and see if you think it's helping. If it is, great. If it's not, trim it down. Babyhood goes away pretty fast so just make sure you've got enough time to enjoy it. Good luck!