my sons diagnosis???

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hi everyone,

my name is kevin and i am brand new here, i need some help with my son. they are not sure how to correctly diagnose my son. i will list the asd symptoms he does, then the ones he doesn't. they are not sure if they should classify him as pdd-nos or atypical asp. or high functioning "classic" autism. can anyone help me?? my son is 25.5 months

does...
hand flapping
headbanging(only when frustrated)
lines things up(his trucks and cars mostly)
talked and babbled, then regressed
little talking now(under 10 words)
little eye contact
toe walking
reads books alone(he will literally relocate if we sit next to him while he is looking at a book)
doesn't respond to his name(recently he has gotten a little better with it)
very picky eater(doesn't like most textured foods, we still feed him baby food)
eye poking
dangles strings
mouthing

why they are confused about diagnosis...
he smiles
he smiles when smiled at(sometimes)
doesn't stack blocks
brings certain toys to us to play with him
when i get home from work he runs to me smiling, and hugs me
loves peek a boo
he is okay with changes in our routine
loves to cuddle when he wakes up and before he goes to sleep
when there are no distractions he mostly looks at us when we call his name
and is okay when the room is messy


any suggestions are welcome??? please???

Welcome to Wrong Planet-----

My son was diagnosed at 2.5 years old as PDD-NOS. He had many of the same symptoms, but he did not toe walk. He too smiled at us and was real lovable and cuddly. He had words, although over time, we started to realize that he was not really using his words to communicate with us so much as he was just labeling things or just repeating what he heard others say. The biggest factor for my son was that he did not engage with or play with other children.

My son is now 6 yrs old and is progressing fairly well, although he still flaps his hands and struggles with peer interactions. I came to the realization that it does not really matter whether the diagnosis is PDD-NOS or Aspergers or Autism. My son is on the spectrum, and from what you described your son is as well. The autism spectrum is so wide and varied, it is just difficult to put some children in a distinct category. Since your son is still so young, the best thing you can do is just accept the diagnosis that he is on the autism spectrum, and begin to get help and therapy for the symptoms that are presenting. My son has been in therapy for 4 yrs now, and he is speaking in full sentences although he still has some struggles with the social aspects of speech.

As time goes on, I think my son is definitely seeming more Asperger like to me, and normally some issues will go away and others will present themselves. It is an ongoing thing. My son never seemed to be upset by schedule changes when he was a toddler, but now that he can verbally express himself, he does get bothered when things don't go a certain way in certain situations. The good thing is that we were aware of his diagnosis early on, and we knew that flexibility is an issue with spectrum children, so we have always tried to not always give in to him and to give him changes and to try and talk him through it.

I hope some of this helps. Please feel free to ask any questions that you might have. This is a very supportive forum with a wealth of information. I am glad that you found it.

Autistic kids can smile, be happy, and show affection. Your kiddo seems to have lots of ASD traits. Every person is different, and therefore every autistic person is different. Your kiddo is unique.

I was wondering who "they" is in your post. A psychologist? pediatrician? early childhood intervention specialist? family? friends?

What are you hoping to get from the diagnosis? If it is treatment options, then any of those diagnoses would help you get services. Many parents find that the labels placed on their children change as the child develops, changes, and moves into new stages of development and as interventions work or don't work.

Welcome to wrongplanet.

Right - at issue is not the diagnosis itself, but what you hope to get out of it. Sounds like your son has some behaviors you want to support and increase, and some behaviors you want to address. Each kid on the spectrum is an individual, and none of them fit neatly into a little box; what you need to talk to the doctors about is what interventions they recommend with each diagnosis and kind of work backwards from there (I think this is true with pretty much anything.)

I think (and I'm no doctor) that you need to choose your battles carefully. Communication is really, really important, and most early-childhood interventions focus on this: it's also a gateway to addressing many of the behaviors that you don't want: sometimes meltdowns are caused by an inability to express needs, it's a key part of social isolation, etc. Smiling and responding is good - you want to support and encourage that!

It also strikes me that you've got a bunch of behaviors that could indicate (again, not a doctor) sensory sensitivity: the eating, the moving away when reading, the mouthing - even the cuddling can be a sign of sensory needs (not that I think it isn't ALSO cuddling.) Has your child been assessed by an OT?

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that the diagnosis should work for you, not the other way around. See if the interventions they suggest make sense, and if they don't, ask what specific behavior they see that the intervention will address (it's also true that sometimes professionals do see things you don't.) Keep asking questions until you are satisified. Keep trying stuff until something sticks.

PS. The stimming behaviors (hand flapping, etc.) are something many parents have found to be important self-calming mechanisms. It's important to support acceptable behaviors (meaning, not actually self-harming or violent) that help your child deal with the world around him, even if they are "weird." If there's a behaviors that needs to be reduced (like, say, headbanging -depending on how violent it is) you should offer a replacement behavior that is an acceptable substitute (many parents have found fidgets or chewelry to be helpful for this.)

My son also lost language so I consider him "regressed autism" and just tell people he's autistic (autism is his official diagnosis, he had a lot of traits in common your yours at that age, the baby food stage was a tough one to get through) ... really he falls somewhere between classic autism and PDD-NOS, but a lot of people don't know what PDD-NOS is so I'm most comfortable with the autism diagnosis. With Asperger's there's usually no significant language delay though and I think it can be harder to get help with with an Asperger's diagnosis too. Whomever is confused regarding diagnosis because your son smiles and is affectionate is feeding into a stereotype, a lot of autistic people smile and are affectionate sometimes overly so. As others have said, the specifics of the diagnosis aren't important. It's all autism.

Welcome to the forum. It's a great place to find a lot of support and answers.

The spectrum is wide and not everyone on it fits into a neat little box. Not everyone exhibits all the exact traits of Aspergers, PDD-NOS, or Autism. Also, your son is very young and can change a lot as he grows, moving through different symptoms at different times in his life. In some ways, Autism is a sliding floor, changing from day to day. I wouldn't worry so much about a specific diagnosis/label as I would address the symptoms he currently exhibits.

Your son sounds a lot like my son. My son also greets me when I come home but he doesn't interact with other children at all.

Personally I think these ASD diagnoses are very subjective since they are based solely on behaviors. So in a nutshell that's:

1. Language delay
2. Repetitive behaviors
3. Social delay

Who is doing your diagnosis? What diagnosis are they considering besides ASD?