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Help me understand autism
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I have a few questions (sorry so long!).
1. My son goes to a preschool readiness group through EI for kids aged 2.5-3. It's run by a speech therapist/former preschool teacher so a big component of it is speech. The kiddos separate from mom or dad to do games that involve turn taking/circle time/crafts/snack time/etc to help kids with delays transition into a preschool settings after EI. It's really awesome. The kids are a fairly large range of abilities--one little girl seems to be pretty delayed with language and seems to have some motor delays. The bulk of the kids are mildly speech delayed (or like my son who has an artic delay). There's one little boy who to me seems textbook autistic. He doesn't seem to interact with the other kids at all and does terribly with transitions--he tantrums most of the time. He stims a lot and walks on his toes. He spends the majority of the class tantruming in the corner which his mom is told to just ignore so she does. After a month he isnt getting better at all. It kind of makes me sad. On one hand, I know you're supposed to push kids out of their comfort zone to get them to change behaviors though this seems kind of extreme to me. Is that what you're supposed to do to help a child with that kind of issue (autistic or otherwise?)
2. My DD is almost 2 and is displaying some markers for autism (seems to be in her own world/has a receptive language delay/has stimming behaviors). On the other hand she has some behaviors that aren't characteristics of autism (has pretend play skills/interacts well with both adults and kids her age/no behavioral issues or issues with transitions). I know a lot of kids with autism have language skills that develop then are lost. Does that happen with play/social skills as well? Is that what makes diagnosing at a young age difficult?
3. We do have an eval for her scheduled at our children's hospital neurodevelopmental center with a team including a neuro/SLP/OT/developmental pedi. Does anyone have any good sites on autism that they could recommend? Her OT said she doesn't seem to be textbook autistic but could be on the spectrum (though I know that doesnt mean a lot since she's not qualified to dx). Google is totally overwhelming at this point but I want to make sure I keep a log of her behaviors prior to the appointment (especially ones that could be indicative of being on the spectrum) since I'm sure during a 4 hour eval I'm going to be totally overwhelmed and don't want to forget to mention anything that will help the doctors get a better understanding of what could be going on with her.
TIA!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Help me understand autism
When she said she doesn't appear "textbook autism" that is a weird statement. There is a reason it is called a spectrum. My DD is social (yes, there is a difference in her social interaction than a typical child but she is social, ie loves people, plays, actually does pretty good at pretend play), has outgrown some of her stims, makes eye contact, etc. Guess what? She is still autistic.
My DH is also autistic. He has aspergers but considers himself autistic (and would probably be re-diagnosed as such with the new criteria since aspergers is gone). He married, has a child, supports me as a SAHM with his job. Most people sense something is off with him but I doubt most people (unless exposed to autism) would be able to define what it is.
So yeah, it's a big spectrum. Good luck with your assessment. I went through a period of thinking it would be better if DD was diagnosed as ADD, ADHD, SPD and every other co-morbid that fit lol! Anything but the ASD label. Now I am at peace (mostly) with it. Good luck to you.
Olivia Kate is almost 4!
Diagnosed with autism this year and doing great!
Thank you auntie! I will definitely check out the book/website for videos to see if any resemble DD's behaviors. I know to get the stimming (and quite honestly she does it so often I'd be surprised if they didn't see it during their eval) but it will be good to see if I'm overlooking something that autistic kids do that I may not realize is manifesting itself in DD's behaviors.
brandi--If my DD gets to the point of tantrums I'd probably respond as you--I can't imagine just completely ignoring it altogether. It made me kind of sad and it would be tough to do I think. I'd be interested to hear if you've gotten an official ASD dx yet and from who. Also, what kind of therapies are you doing and for how long? Have you noticed any differences?
pastalady--I think when she said "textbook" I think she meant that if she had all the signs instead of just a few it would be easier to diagnose. That is definitely helpful to know your LO is still social and that your DH is doing so well in life despite his diagnosis.
Thanks everyone!
That makes a ton of sense. As a parent it's difficult for me to think of having to do that in the future when that is the polar opposite of what I do with my non-autistic child to deal with tantrums currently. It's comforting to know that she may never get the difficulties with transitions/tantrums that to me are associated with autism even if she is found to be on the spectrum down the road.
It's probably a totally odd fear to have. I also worry that her play/social skills will go away and she'll never engage me to have a tea party with her or play with dolls. I'm sure there are worse challenges the future will bring but for some odd reason stuff like that worries me.