How were you/your child when younger?

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Hi all,

This is my first post. I have a 5 years old daughter who is thought to be in the milder end of the spectrum, still under the long diagnosis process. She has expressive language delay, low social interaction, language scripting (not delayed echolalia), walk on tiptoes when barefoot and sometimes likes to lie flat on the floor when bored and tapping surfaces. These are the typical symptoms she presents at the moment.

I am astonished at the rate she is improving her language delay and social skills just by attending preschool and with recent speech therapy. I thought that children, even in the mild spectrum, would drastically improve with more intensive interventions only.

How did you or your child outgrow some main symptoms, either with age or with interventions? I don't know how interventions look like. Are they effective on the milder cases?

There are lots of information about children on the ASD, but not much about teens and adults outcomes in the mild ASD. I always heard that some adults in the spectrum who live normal or independent lives used to be more "autistic-like" when younger or when was a child, but I have never met anyone who I could talk to. That is why I have posted this question here. Is there a more suitable area in this forum for such questions?

Thanks.

WorriedDadUK

It sounds like the speech therapy is working well for your daughter. I don't think you need to worry about her.
you'll know more when you get the results of her diagnoses process.
Just accept her for who she is. There is nothing wrong with lying flat on the floor and tapping surfaces if that is what she likes to do. She's probably thinking and using her brain a lot when she does that. You have a lovely daughter.
She'll be fine.

Your daughter sounds exactly like me when I was younger (and I've never heard of anyone else walking on tip toes before)! I'm now 25 and I had to take reading recovery classes and speech classes through 4th(?) grade. Thanks to those classes, my speech issues are gone and at my age, I am able to pass as neurotypical but things like being 'outside' or unable to connect with others remains an issue. It's like the analogy that neurotypicals are running Windows as their operating system and people on the spectrum are running Linux or Mac software... It's just different.. They can learn to work together but there will often be that... Translation or adaptation that has to take place in order for them to communicate fully. Idk if that makes any sense at all.. So I guess in summary... She sounds very very similar to me as a child and I can pass as a neurotypical adult but there is still a part of my that requires people from my own 'planet' in order to really feel understood and connected. It's nothing against you or anything.. Just imagine if you were suddenly transplanted to a completely different place- wouldn't you miss and seek those you left behind? Sorry, I just talked allot!

I work and live alone. as a child I made no friends and wasnt interested in making any. i flapped my fingers most of the time and paced, and i was selectively mute. i went on and on about cats.

i'm not selectively mute anymore and learned how to do small talk. i write a blog. i'm completely independent and live a normal life, although unmarried and childless by choice, also friendless by choice.

children outgrow some of their symptoms. Temple Grandin couldnt talk until she was four. and look at her now, a famous animal psychology and writing amazing books. she screamed when she wanted something because she couldnt talk.

I read that pets improve autistic kids' symptoms and help them to relate better to people.

I was a precocious child in terms of math and verbal. But my "baby book", written by my mother until I was 5, says that I was very shy and anxious and not physically daring in play activities. This was during the disco era when autism was some esoteric university research.

Oh, and it took me a while to develop passable coordination for printing letters. No surprise there...