a couple questions.

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Any other kids out there bounce themselves off furniture or walls? My son is eight-years old and he does this even at school. What is it all about? Is it sensory?

He mutters to himself, too. Is this part of the autism spectrum disorder? Will he continue to do this even as he ages?

He is pdd-nos and very high functioning--with mostly AS traits. NOt sure why he wasn't dx'd with AS. I think he was too appropriate according to psych.

Also--has anyone gotten a second opinion to confirm the original dx to be true?

What happened second time around?

thanks.

My son spins, bounces and bumps into things on purpose. If we had more space, I'd get a trampoline as I've heard wonderful things about them (for stress relief mostly). Unfortunately, we have a futon bed and couch and they can't handle the stress of a jumping boy. But it's better than when he was a toddler and jumped ON US in bed.

Even as an adult I occasionally have the desire to throw myself against the wall . . . but mostly that happens when I'm too stressed out. Too much nervous energy.

How old is your son? My son was dx'd with pdd-nos at 2. The dr said that at a later age, the dx would change because pdd-nos is a childhood (developmental) dx. She said that after he was in grade school a few years, it would become more obvious if he simply has sensory issues and is not on the spectrum at all, if he is AS, or if he will be HFA.

My son also throws himself around, especially against me! We got him a trampoline awhile ago, but he rarely uses it. Is your son in OT? That seemed to help him the most, and the therapist will teach you ways of giving his brain the input he needs when he needs it. Make sure it's someone with actual training in sensory processing disorder.

Basically what they told us is that his brain is seeking input from his muscles and joints because he can't feel them as much as other people can. Pushing, pulling, and carrying or laying under heavy objects (like weighted blankets) will help. Doing as much physical exercise as possible can help. When the brain gets overloaded from too much other input (visual, auditory, tactile, etc...), this kind of physical work can be very organizing for the brain. Deep pressure massages, not light, skin rubbing, but actually pressing with a flat hand into the muscle, can also help.

My son also whispers under his breath to himself. If you listen carefully, do you ever hear what he is saying? Mine goes through lists of dinosaur names, re-enacts scenes from movies or books verbatim, or reads stuff around the house. I think it's a kind of stim, just like the physical input seeking. Not sure if or when it ever goes away. My husband zones out a lot when he's overstimulated, and I think he is doing a lot of this kind of repetition to himself, but he's learned to do it silently. I also replay things in my head and get stuck on them, but I have learned to ask myself if it's purposeful or a waste of time, and then I just force myself to move on to something else.

I think it's totally sensory. Our son is a sensory seeker, especially proprioceptive and vestibular. He loves to run into things. He'll run from the bathroom into his bedroom and take a huge leap onto his bed. He'll jump from the furniture. He always has to shuffle his feet through gravel, sand, whatever, and right now he has this thing about stepping on things that crunch. But he also had this inappropriate way of playing where he had to tackle everyone and then pin them down -- again, seeking that sensory input. We're going to make a space in our basement with pads on the walls and on the floor so he can just throw himself around without fear of harm.

My son is eight-years old and he was given this dx last March. I do believe it is more than just sensory. We had to get him services for his issues with inflexibility--mainly transitions, fixations on things (preseverating) a bit of OCD. He gets things stuck in his head (tells me).

Pdd-nos is given when a child is definitely on the spectrum but doesn't fit neatly into another category. My ds, accoring to specialist, was too appropriate (could switch topics easier than a child presenting with AS). Otherwise, I think he would have been given the AS diagnosis. From what I've read, it seems to fit him. I also have come to realize it is subjective and depends on the doctor.

His issues have not gone away but seem more pronounced the bigger he gets. His fixations, lack of flexibility, preseverating etc. It's all there. If it were just sensory, he wouldn't have these additional issues. He's been this way since he was small.

IMO, A doctor should not give a young child a dx of pdd-nos unless they are on the autistic spectrum which means they won't outgrow their symptoms. They can improve, but the fundamental wiriing will remain for life. I've heard the pdd-nos becomes AS or HFA. I've not heard it disappearing. I'm sure it happens. Maybe doctors are overdiagnosing.

equinn

thanks for all the responses.

Hi Equinn,
I have been thinking a lot lately about some of the things you wrote in your last post about sensory issues.
As far as the obsessions, fixations, inflexibility, could it be that as they get older, their sensory problems and just more life experiences make the world seem more and more out of control so they have to exert more and more of a feeling of control?

One mom said that her now 12 yr old son said, "Do you know when you are a baby and you always feel like you are floating?" His muscles and joints gave him very little input about where they were and what they were doing. The only place he could sit or lay down without crying when he was a baby was the hard wooden floor in her living room. That's where he slept and spent his time. My son is too young to express this, plus he might not remember it when he is 12, but he gets very little proprioceptive input to his brain too. He also has trouble with vestibular.

When my son was little, he would shirk whenever anyone got near him for fear that they would topple him over. I am wondering if his inflexibilty is due to this fact, that he is literally constantly in fear of his own position in the world. Plus his imagination is so active that he can imagine all kinds of things happening. We were driving by a soccer field, and he asked if the soccer ball they were kicking was going to fly over and hit him. His lack of understanding about space, gravity, body positioning, etc, make him so insecure that his fears just run amok sometimes.

When there is a big change in his routine, he gets super, super anxious and all the tantrums start. Then we start to see the inflexibility, the wanting to tell others what to do, the obsessing over repetition. It's like he wants everything to go like a fairytale with a happy ending, just because predictability is comforting, unlike the very busy and unpredictable world we live in.

All the OCD stuff I see as a way of controlling what little they can control. It's hard enough being a regular little kid when everyone is bigger, stronger, more coordinated, and in control. Add to that all the overstimulation from lights, noises, clothes rubbing you the wrong way, not being sure where your body is and what effect gravity will have on you, and it's so much worse, kwim? Plus as they get older, the gap between themselves and their peers not only can widen but they become more aware of their differences as time goes on as well.

I don't know, that's just my person theory about it so far as I can see. We know typical toddlers who have obsessions/ocd like behaviors as well. That's why I don't look at that part of him as being such a problem .