Special Needs

intro, active bumpie, new to board

Hi Ladies, I'm currently a member of the Oct13 board and used to be on June11 board before they took it down. I have a 3 year old son and almost 11 month old daughter. My son has had some issues for quite some time. He had EI for cognitive delay from 18-24 months and tested out. He seemed to be doing well until this spring. I have always thought he had sensory issues. He's into all things that spin, propellers, windmills, fans, electricity meters, you name it and started spinning his arms when excited. He doesn't listen, poor eye contact, very clumsy, but we hoped maybe it was his age or acting out because he has a little sister now. We enrolled him in a "getting ready" for preschool program this summer because other than parks or library he doesn't get much social interaction. We spoke to pediatrician about our concerns. The thing is DS is very smart. He can read words, signs and talk about all kinds of concepts that interest him. The doctor thought maybe he's just got a mechanical mind. He said see how he does at the school socially and we will go from there. Well at school he has been very disruptive, doesn't listen, knocks over other kids toys, rips up projects, tries to interact with the other kids but he is either in the kids faces loving on them or hitting them. I contacted school district about getting him evaluated and they are in the process of setting up dates. Lately, I feel like he is losing the "spark" in his eyes and it is so upsetting. I tried to take pictures of the kids the other day and all he would do was look at the flash and not me. I feel like I am losing him. Every day a little more and I don't want to upset my husband or my family. My husband is finally coming to terms something is wrong. I just needed to vent somewhere to other people who have been through this. Thanks for reading.
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Re: intro, active bumpie, new to board

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  • Thanks ladies. I'm thinking it's Aspergers personally. He is actually pretty good language wise, uses pronouns pretty good sometimes messes up he and she. He had a teacher come to the house 3 days a week. Toy wise he plays basically like the cartoons or movies he watches mostly cars, planes, octonauts, paw patrol. He does have the toys talk to each other. When he plays with other kids he pretends they are characters. Pedi didn't do M chat but he did get it through EI if I remember correctly. He was really good that day. The evaluator was the same one who gave him the cognitive delay and she was surprised at the difference. I have to get pedi to sign script for evals so I will ask for referral then. Our immediate family knows his issues and know what is going on. The "spark" going out in his eyes I haven't said anything about yet.
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  • Thanks about the cute kids comment too :)
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  • blondegirl74blondegirl74 member
    edited August 2014
    Welcome! My son is 5 and has an autism diagnosis, but presents more Aspergers. Just, FYI, Aspergers is no longer a diagnosis. It got scooped up under the ASD umbrella. Anyway, my son too, at 3 loved anything mechanical or that would spin. He did have some stereotypical behaviors that his pedi thought were interesting, but wanted us to wait and see how he did socially in preschool before we persued seeing a developmental pedi and evaluations. Well, his lack of social skills with his peers is what completed the puzzle and we moved forward with everything. My son passed the M chat and is also very smart, although he wasn't reading at three, but definately had "advanced" interests. All this to say, he's in mainstream kindy this year and I'm so glad we persued evaluations earlier rather than later. Good luck to you!
  • Welcome! My son is 5 and has an autism diagnosis, but presents more Aspergers. Just, FYI, Aspergers is no longer a diagnosis. It got scooped up under the ASD umbrella. Anyway, my son too, at 3 loved anything mechanical or that would spin. He did have some stereotypical behaviors that his pedi thought were interesting, but wanted us to wait and see how he did socially in preschool before we persued seeing a developmental pedi and evaluations. Well, his lack of social skills with his peers is what completed the puzzle and we moved forward with everything. My son passed the M chat and is also very smart, although he wasn't reading at three, but definately had "advanced" interests. All this to say, he's in mainstream kindy this year and I'm so glad we persued evaluations earlier rather than later. Good luck to you!

    That is great and sounds very similar. I know the switched up the system last year for diagnosis right?
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  • If I have PPO insurance do I even need a referral ?
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  • For us, our Dev. Pedi would not see us without a referral from our pediatrician. Our pedi was very agreeable with the referral, so no issues there. We also have a PPO. It took us 3 or 4 months to get an appointment, so I would go ahead and ask for the referral.
  • For us, our Dev. Pedi would not see us without a referral from our pediatrician. Our pedi was very agreeable with the referral, so no issues there. We also have a PPO. It took us 3 or 4 months to get an appointment, so I would go ahead and ask for the referral.

    I will ty
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  • Welcome to the board! I think it's a good idea to keep your pedi in the loop on things anyway, so even if you don't need a referral, I'd let him know what's going on.
  • Welcome to our board!
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  • Welcome! My DS1 has autism autism and was diagnosed at 21 months. He too is beginning to read but still can not function socially with peers. It sounds like your son has a lot of strengths going for him and might just need some intervention to even him out! Good luck! 


    DS1: 4/15/2011
    Dx: ASD, SPD and receptive and expressive speech delay at 21 months
    BFP #2: CP 5/2012
    DS2: 4/24/2013
    BFP #4: Miscarriage at 5 weeks 7/2014
    BFP #5: 8/8/2014 Due 4/20/2015 
    Its a healthy girl!!!!! 
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  • bkeane619bkeane619 member
    edited August 2014
    Is hitting a big thing with kids with ASD? I had teacher fill out a questionnaire the school district gave me. She wrote that he was very aggressive when over stimulated and that he hits the kids and teachers.My pedi wasn't in today so I will call again tomorrow. The teacher also told me that usually the first 45 of the day he's usually ok, then its like a switch is flipped and he starts acting out.
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  • -auntie- said:
    bkeane619 said:
    Thanks ladies. I'm thinking it's Aspergers personally. He is actually pretty good language wise, uses pronouns pretty good sometimes messes up he and she. He had a teacher come to the house 3 days a week.

    The he/she thing one of the classics. DS used to confuse I/you as well as "hot/warm" and "ask/tell".

    Asperger's no longer exists as a dx in this country under the DSM-5. My son has a long standing dx of AS and has been grandfathered in under ASD. His psychologist and psychiatrist submit paperwork under ASD (Aspergers), he was classified in school on his IEP under Autism. He uses both interchangably.

    Toy wise he plays basically like the cartoons or movies he watches mostly cars, planes, octonauts, paw patrol.

    That's not play. That's watching TV. If he does have an ASD, his team might want you to be very careful around his screentime and what he watches. DS's psychologist did not allow DS to watch favorites over and over.

     He does have the toys talk to each other. When he plays with other kids he pretends they are characters.

    This sounds pretty good. Is he rigid about which character he is or does he try to control the other children? DS didn't so much; he did pretty well socially in preschool and kindie. He was a pretty social kid- he just didn't have great social skills.

     Pedi didn't do M chat but he did get it through EI if I remember correctly. He was really good that day.

    M-CHAT is a parent interview. You're supposed to answer based on your child's behavior over time. It's not like the "snapshot" quality some scales have which only record where he was in a moment in time.

    It's not a valid test for his age now, but it might be useful to look at M-CHAT. FWIW, DS passed it twice with a single "low stakes" wrong answer. 


    The evaluator was the same one who gave him the cognitive delay and she was surprised at the difference. I have to get pedi to sign script for evals so I will ask for referral then. Our immediate family knows his issues and know what is going on.

     The "spark" going out in his eyes I haven't said anything about yet.

    Does this feel like a regression to you? Regression is very unusual in kids with higher functioning forms of autism. I don't think I know any kids with Aspergers whose parents noted regressison, per se, except around school things over the summer which is pretty normal for any school aged kid. 

    If you're talking about "personality", some bright and more aware kids with Aspergers start to feel different around this age. DS told me he "wasn't like those other kids when he was barely 4". No kid wants to behave badly; he may be sad, confused, frustrated that he's "in trouble" at school which would make him less engaged and less happy in outlook.


    He does try to control other children in play. I am not sure if it is regression. He has said on many occasions that he is bad or wants to be bad. He gets in trouble at school pretty much daily and at home. I have to find his old paperwork from previous evals. I filed it away in a box somewhere. Do u think I should show this to evaluators or let them make their own observations?
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