ow-tism: my early childhood observations
Page 1 of 1 [ 11 posts ]
08 Feb 2014, 10:09 pm
(Note, my name changed to beneficii and other names and locations to protect the guilty and all male pronouns regarding me changed to female pronouns.)
First, there is this letter addressed to a child psychiatrist from my school district's director of the program for exceptional students dated 11/15/1989 (I was in Kindergarten):
Quote:
Dear psychiatrist,
This is in reference to a five year old student at a school, beneficii.
School psychologist, school psychologist for the school district, has completed a psychological evaluation of beneficii based on an official request from the staff at the school and consent from the parents. We are concerned that the psychological evaluation must be complemented with a psychiatric evaluation. This is necessary due to observed and documented atypical behavior manifested by beneficii in the home and school environment. These severe behaviors require further investigation in order to assist the school district with important eligibility questions relative to special education services.
This is in reference to a five year old student at a school, beneficii.
School psychologist, school psychologist for the school district, has completed a psychological evaluation of beneficii based on an official request from the staff at the school and consent from the parents. We are concerned that the psychological evaluation must be complemented with a psychiatric evaluation. This is necessary due to observed and documented atypical behavior manifested by beneficii in the home and school environment. These severe behaviors require further investigation in order to assist the school district with important eligibility questions relative to special education services.
and so on and so forth
Here are some medical notes as written on Standard Form 600 (military) from around that time:
Quote:
17 Oct 1989: Discussed behavior problems at home + school. Homework assignment given. If no improvement in 30 days, will refer.
8 Nov 1989: Hu on above problems. Being seen by school psychologist. Will await results of that eval
15 Nov 89: Processing info, language diff., problem wi/ thought processes, nl intelligence, nl writing, occas. appears as if doesn't understand. Will be special eds. at special school. Plan-neurology eval
8 Nov 1989: Hu on above problems. Being seen by school psychologist. Will await results of that eval
15 Nov 89: Processing info, language diff., problem wi/ thought processes, nl intelligence, nl writing, occas. appears as if doesn't understand. Will be special eds. at special school. Plan-neurology eval
My computer's gotten slow, so I'll post more in another post.
_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
08 Feb 2014, 10:46 pm
This was a sheet that described me as having PDD-NOS dated 24 Dec 90, when we were relocating to D.C. area due to the Gulf War and the clinic from which I was transferring wrote to the new clinic describing my symptomatology:
Quote:
...symptomatology of impaired social interactions (oppositional, little notice of other's feelings, poor play but can occ. play parallely without difficulty), perseveration + obsessive thoughts, poor tolerance of change, hyperactivity, and difficulty separating fantasy from reality. Language is very good. Maintained in psychoed. classroom.
One night in like October 1989, I was watching this video over and over again (I've always been obsessed with tornadoes) and eating sweets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj9mOPMd3dU
I was then, like, Why don't I drive to the Weather Channel in Atlanta? I was also very interested in driving and had observed my parents doing it so I thought I could pull it off. I got my parents' car keys and took the family car. Well, first I put it in Forward instead of Reverse and crashed into the fence and destroyed our barbecue. I'm like, I need to put this in Reverse, and I did. I had trouble reaching the pedals, though, so I kinda scooched down to press the gas (I knew which one that was already), and I quickly went up our steep driveway across the street and into the tree of the neighbor across from us (with that nice Korean lady who made kimchi). I realize my mistake, but then decided to turn onto the street and get going. I put the car back into Forward and tried to coordinate the turning of the wheel and the pressing of the gas pedal (difficult to do when you're still so small).
Needless to say, that didn't work out too well and I ended up jumping the curb and crashing into the front door of our next door neighbor's house.
_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
08 Feb 2014, 11:19 pm
wozeree wrote:
That's amazing! Were you able to explain to your parents that you were trying to get to The Weather Channel? What did they do?
I don't remember. After crashing into the house, I don't remember much after that. My dad says that firefighters knocked on the door, after he had seen that the car was gone, and asked him if he knew where I was and he was led to me. According to my mum, after I crashed into the house, the people that lived there (none of whom were hurt thankfully), saw me move the car forwards and backwards and they were afraid and called 911. They then discovered me.
The next day, I did not attend school and my parents took me to show the damage I had caused to the car. At maybe the same or another time, I was taken back to the house where they were rebuilding the part I had destroyed. I remember seeing the stuff inside the walls, the sheet paper like stuff and a whole bunch of people working. They chewed me out pretty good for all this stuff, which I don't find surprising at all.
The incident was mentioned in some of the psychological reports and I was said to have caused at least $3000 in damage.
_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
09 Feb 2014, 1:14 am
More on the subject of tornadoes, this was from behavioral observations from my school psychologist not long after starting the 3rd grade, the evaluation dated 10/01/92:
Quote:
Beneficii was observed in her classroom on two occasions. She was initially observed during a recreational activity. Beneficii had isolated herself from all other students in the room. She peered out the window for nearly an hour watching the sky intently. When I approached her, she informed me that she was watching for a tornado. Her intense focus never waned, and the teacher was unable to redirect her to any activities with other children. As she scanned the skies, she seemed intense and excited about the possibility of a tornado appearing on the horizon. During a subsequent observation, beneficii was working on a written assignment. She worked independently and did not interact with other students. When she needed assistance, she sought help from the teacher. Her behaviors were generally appropriate during this observation.
Here is an evaluation from my autism resource teacher when I was in the 6th grade (which in my state was still elementary school), dated 01/26/96:
Quote:
Beneficii is an 11 year, 9 month old girl who currently attends the Non-Categorical Program at school. Recent testing found beneficii eligible to continue to receive special education services as a student with multiple disabilities. An additional area of disability is a speech and language impariment. Beneficii has a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder NOS and Attention Deficit Disorder and currently takes Cylert for her ADD. Documented problems indicate difficulty with reciprocal social interactions, pragmatic language skills and interests with a narrow almost perseverative focus on one or two topics. She was found eligible for Autism Resource Services in June, 1993 and is currently being seen once a week by the Autism resource teacher.
Beneficii is a highly verbal young woman who has difficulty with her pragmatic language skills. She is able to express her needs and wants and to share information about a topic, however, what is shared is often inappropriate and/or disjointed and difficult to follow. Areas of difficulty for beneficii relate to her inability to maintain appropriate conversation for more than 2-3 interchanges on a topic that she has not chosen or that is of interest to her, as well as, the social conventions of language. She rarely greets or says good-bye to either adults or peers, she has difficulty maintaining appropriate personal space when talking with someone, and she has difficulty recognizing and responding to the feelings of those around her.
Beneficii appears to recognize the need for and wants to develop appropriate friendships with the other children in her class. However, she does not always know how to approach them to develop a friendship, i.e., she often makes comments to them that are inappropriate and that shut down conversation. She will snap at them when they try to talk with her if she is not interested in talking with them at the time or wants to be left alone. She is not able to recognize the emotional needs of others. Playing games and turn taking activities are difficult for her.
Beneficii works best in a structured environment. She often requires reminders to stay on topic, to complete her work or to even get started. Beneficii has a hard time "shifting gears," or transitioning, especially when she is involved in a topic of her choosing. She continues to exhibit a narrow range of interests. Wait time is difficult for beneficii. When upset she will share her feelings in an inappropriate manner without considering what else is going on around her and the appropriateness of the setting.
Beneficii is a highly verbal young woman who has difficulty with her pragmatic language skills. She is able to express her needs and wants and to share information about a topic, however, what is shared is often inappropriate and/or disjointed and difficult to follow. Areas of difficulty for beneficii relate to her inability to maintain appropriate conversation for more than 2-3 interchanges on a topic that she has not chosen or that is of interest to her, as well as, the social conventions of language. She rarely greets or says good-bye to either adults or peers, she has difficulty maintaining appropriate personal space when talking with someone, and she has difficulty recognizing and responding to the feelings of those around her.
Beneficii appears to recognize the need for and wants to develop appropriate friendships with the other children in her class. However, she does not always know how to approach them to develop a friendship, i.e., she often makes comments to them that are inappropriate and that shut down conversation. She will snap at them when they try to talk with her if she is not interested in talking with them at the time or wants to be left alone. She is not able to recognize the emotional needs of others. Playing games and turn taking activities are difficult for her.
Beneficii works best in a structured environment. She often requires reminders to stay on topic, to complete her work or to even get started. Beneficii has a hard time "shifting gears," or transitioning, especially when she is involved in a topic of her choosing. She continues to exhibit a narrow range of interests. Wait time is difficult for beneficii. When upset she will share her feelings in an inappropriate manner without considering what else is going on around her and the appropriateness of the setting.
_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
09 Feb 2014, 2:47 am
Those are really interesting, you sound a lot like me when I was a kid. Boy did I get in trouble for staring out the windows (usually at squirrels because they would walk across the electrical wires and I couldn't ever figure out how they didn't fall, and sometimes they even seemed to be dancing).
I'm kind of impressed with the Weather Channel thing though. I mean, you had a mission.
Do your parents see any humor or cool factor in now?
09 Feb 2014, 3:20 am
wozeree wrote:
Those are really interesting, you sound a lot like me when I was a kid. Boy did I get in trouble for staring out the windows (usually at squirrels because they would walk across the electrical wires and I couldn't ever figure out how they didn't fall, and sometimes they even seemed to be dancing).
I'm kind of impressed with the Weather Channel thing though. I mean, you had a mission.
Do your parents see any humor or cool factor in now?
I'm kind of impressed with the Weather Channel thing though. I mean, you had a mission.
Do your parents see any humor or cool factor in now?
Yes, they now do. My Great Uncle Man on my mother's side would always joke, I heard, Is beneficii in NASCAR yet?
_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,417
Location: Long Island, New York
09 Feb 2014, 6:20 am
beneficii wrote:
wozeree wrote:
That's amazing! Were you able to explain to your parents that you were trying to get to The Weather Channel? What did they do?
I don't remember. After crashing into the house, I don't remember much after that. My dad says that firefighters knocked on the door, after he had seen that the car was gone, and asked him if he knew where I was and he was led to me. According to my mum, after I crashed into the house, the people that lived there (none of whom were hurt thankfully), saw me move the car forwards and backwards and they were afraid and called 911. They then discovered me.
The next day, I did not attend school and my parents took me to show the damage I had caused to the car. At maybe the same or another time, I was taken back to the house where they were rebuilding the part I had destroyed. I remember seeing the stuff inside the walls, the sheet paper like stuff and a whole bunch of people working. They chewed me out pretty good for all this stuff, which I don't find surprising at all.
The incident was mentioned in some of the psychological reports and I was said to have caused at least $3000 in damage.
I'm weather obsessed. I have bored countless people discussing the weather. When I was young I would redraw the weather maps I saw on TV so my dad could see them when he got home from work. I have been enjoying the hell out of all the snowstorms we have been having up here this winter. Weather Channel was good in 1989. Now with the exception of a few people it stinks. I do look and post on weather discussion boards pretty much every day. And if a thunderstorm is underway I got to stop and watch it.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
09 Feb 2014, 1:29 pm
It looks like from just the information in that last report, I met the full criteria for DSM-5 ASD, as presented here:
http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism ... c-criteria
Criterion A1: "difficulty with reciprocal social interactions," "inability to maintain appropriate conversation for more than 2-3 interchanges on a topic that she has not chosen or that is of interest to her," "She rarely greets or says good-bye to either adults or peers,"
Criterion A2: "difficulty maintaining appropriate personal space when talking with someone"
Criterion A3: "Beneficii appears to recognize the need for and wants to develop appropriate friendships with the other children in her class. However, she does not always know how to approach them to develop a friendship, i.e., she often makes comments to them that are inappropriate and that shut down conversation. She will snap at them when they try to talk with her if she is not interested in talking with them at the time or wants to be left alone. She is not able to recognize the emotional needs of others. Playing games and turn taking activities are difficult for her." "When upset she will share her feelings in an inappropriate manner without considering what else is going on around her and the appropriateness of the setting."
Criterion B2: "Beneficii has a hard time "shifting gears," or transitioning, especially when she is involved in a topic of her choosing."
Criterion B3: "She continues to exhibit a narrow range of interests."
I know I had other issues, such as talking flat (A2) and sensory issues (B4), as well as later talking like a little professor (B1).
_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
11 Feb 2014, 7:27 pm
From an IEP Social/Cultural Assessment dated 11/17/92:
Quote:
Developmental milestones were reached within normal limits with the exception of dysfluent and delayed speech. Poor social adjustment and tantrums were noted in early childhood.
In kindergarten, beneficii was evaluated for Special Education Services. Highlights of that evaluation include: "she fixates on things relates better to things than to people, impulsive, stubborn, extremely poor socialization." Beneficii tested in the average range of intellect with weaknesses in short-term memory and verbal reasoning. Visual reasoning was a strength. Academic skills were on or above or about on grade level.
In kindergarten, beneficii was evaluated for Special Education Services. Highlights of that evaluation include: "she fixates on things relates better to things than to people, impulsive, stubborn, extremely poor socialization." Beneficii tested in the average range of intellect with weaknesses in short-term memory and verbal reasoning. Visual reasoning was a strength. Academic skills were on or above or about on grade level.
Quote:
A great deal of beneficii's maladaptive behavior appears driven by cognitive processing that is uniquely focused and disordered and thus causes beneficii to misinterpret environmental cues. Beneficii has demonstrated an ability to plan, is industrious and very desirous of succeeding academically. She often appears self-content and cooperative. She receives support and acceptance at home and has been involved in on-going family individual therapy during most of this tri-ennial period.
From that psychological evaluation dated 10/01/92:
Quote:
Beneficii is an eight-year-old girl who is currently enrolled in the third grade at special ed in school. According to social histories, neonatal development was unremarkable. She attained most developmental milestones within normal range, although acquisition of language was somewhat delayed. Difficulties with social adjustment were also reported. Her difficulties with socialization became even more apparent when she entered kindergarten where her relationships with peers were significantly impaired. She tended to relate to objects rather than people, and her use of language was characterized as concrete and impersonal. Beneficii's ability to focus on tasks was inadequate. Attention deficit disorder was diagnosed, and medication was prescribed. Althought physicians have consistently identified unusual patterns in beneficii's development, the specific diagnoses have been inconsistent. Because of continuing difficulties in school, the child was evaluated and found eligible for special services as an emotionally handicapped student in 1990. She entered this school in January 1991. Beneficii has been successfully mainstreamed for part of each day. Her academic performance has been strong, but social skills remain weak.
About that being mainstreamed, I would actually be mainstreamed for the whole day at one point, but my difficulties in getting along with peers (and perhaps mounting stress) caused me to be completely de-mainstreamed within months.
_________________
"You have a responsibility to consider all sides of a problem and a responsibility to make a judgment and a responsibility to care for all involved." --Ian Danskin
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