# What exactly is autism?



## lisa35

My coming up 2 yr old son has been showing signs of autism. I took him to the doctors who said he had never seen anything like it and said he wasn't normal :growlmad:. I said their has been concerns of autism and he said he was too young to diagnose it. The doctor tried getting him to make eye contact , he even got his little light out and tried shining it in his eyes, he tried everything to avoid eye contact, the doctor then asked me if he can see ' yes perfectly fine '. I left rather upset thinking my son is blind when I know he isn't. He has been reffered too a pediatrician and I am awaiting his appointment I am worried sick :cry::cry:

Some of the symptoms my son has....

Walking on tip toes with shaky legs, sometimes looks like he is drunk.

Not much eye contact spit second glympse.

Walks around with certain toys in his hands.

Hardly talks but babbles alot.

Goes in his own little world does not respond to his name.

Lines up cushions on floor.

He's always happy/giggly and will smile back when smiled at.


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## BleedingBlack

Check out Autism Speaks.


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## lisa35

Thanks for the link. He is only showing a few signs of autism wonder if he has mild autism, it's hard too come to terms that my Lo might have something wrong with him, but I would rather it be nothing too serious rather than something really serious. The other that was mentioned was dyspraxia, will find out soon enough hopefully.


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## TwoMummies

Autism is a social / communication disorder.

This link will tell you all about it.
https://www.autism.org.uk/about-autism/autism-and-asperger-syndrome-an-introduction.aspx

My 7 year old has severe autism and was showing signs at 2 years old but they did not routinely look for it back then so took a long time until we knew what it was.

Feel free to ask any questions you want, happy to answer them.


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## TwoMummies

Re-reading your post, the main things I would be concerned about is the lack of eye contact, response to name and lining things up.

The fact that he smiles back is good though and many autistic children do not respond to facial expressions.

Don't panic but be informed and monitor how he gets on, 2 years old is so young that you can never know if they are showing signs or just being a typical toddler really.

Lining things up is a known autistic behaviour, here is my son doing the same thing. This is what he calls 'colouring in'.

https://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x392/rebecca_benson1/brandon.png


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## lisa35

Your son is so cute :flower:. Another thing I forgot to mention is he rolls his eyes to back of his head sometimes, well say about 5 times a day that I notice, I can't seem to find anything about rolling eyes in autism :nope::shrug:. I took my son to fireworks display and he loved it, wasn't at all scared of the bangs the only thing I find he doesn't like is clapping or hammering, he doesn't scream or anything he just blinks but then so do I and I'm fine. Just taken a recent picture of him lining his rings up and holding them as he does cling to certain toys and has to walk around the room holding them ALL in his hands like he's obsessed or something.

This is Finlay lining his toys up..
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v381/lolly8566606/finlay/DSC00935.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v381/lolly8566606/finlay/finlayplaying.jpg

Clinging to his rings...
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v381/lolly8566606/finlay/DSC00937.jpg


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## deafgal

just letting you know that being blind doesn't mean completely dark. There are different type of blindness as there are different type of deafness. So he can still be blind and yet can see lights.


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## lisa35

Would someone who is blind be able to pick small bits off the floor? I wouldn't of thought they would? :(


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## deafgal

depending how much vision is cut off. I would go to an eye doctor to be sure. I would rule out vision and hearing (loss can occur any age) first before any other diagnoses and see if the behavior improves. 

Did you know School for the Blind don't always use Brailles? They make them use LARGE prints sometimes. Or audio.


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## lisa35

His hearing is fine we had him tested, because he wasn't responding too his name we thought he was deaf. And he passed it with no problems.


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## Midnight_Fairy

Hi. 

There is no such thing as "Mild autism" people either have it or they dont. It just depends where on the spectrum they are :)

What I will say is do not read to much online. "Typical autism" would be no eye contact etc whereas my son has very good eye contact and appears to cope well socially too. He used to line stuff up but he no longer does this and he does not fit the stereotype very well really. I would not read into stuff online as I know many children with autism and each and every child is different as it is very complex. My son has ALWAYS smiled when smiled at. Its very confusing.

My son does walk on tip toes though and he repeats words (echolalia)


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## lisa35

I honestly thought my son was just a slow learner and not reaching his milestones as he should of been. It has only recently come to light when my daughters social worker said she thinks Finlay may have autism or dyspraxia so I took him to see the doctor. I have not really looked online or read into it as I am finding it really hard to come to terms with, my OH has also started to come to terms with it which is good because I can now talk to him about it rather than him snapping at me all the time. 

I have a 14 yr old daughter too a different father and she has learning difficulties and although been tested for almost everything they say she is fine. 

Is there anything you can do to help children with autism? I just can't wait for that letter, it can't come soon enough.


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## Midnight_Fairy

Hi, First thing I did was join a support group. This helped me alot as the parents at the group helped me with local help and support, benefits, school advice etc. 

Joining the national autistic society could also help and advice/support groups on the internet, Facebook etc.

For me the hardest struggle has been getting my child what he needs and deserves at school/statementing etc x


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## lisa35

Thankyou. I will ask my daughters social worker if there are any groups around the area. I will have a search on facebook aswell. Thats another thing he would be starting playschool at the age of 2 but can't see that happening now.


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## LoveleeB

Playschool might be very good for him. Where I live, depending on where on the spectrum a child is, they can either attend regualr playschool, attend playschool with an aid or attend a special playschool. I would try your son in regular playschool, he might do very well.

The other thing you mentioned was eye rolling. When you son does this, can you get his attention at all? I ask because it may be that he has epilepsy and you can get help for that. Perhaps you could ask your doctor if you can have him tested for epilepsy?


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## LoveleeB

lisa35 said:


> I honestly thought my son was just a slow learner and not reaching his milestones as he should of been. It has only recently come to light when my daughters social worker said she thinks Finlay may have autism or dyspraxia so I took him to see the doctor. I have not really looked online or read into it as I am finding it really hard to come to terms with, my OH has also started to come to terms with it which is good because I can now talk to him about it rather than him snapping at me all the time.
> 
> I have a 14 yr old daughter too a different father and she has learning difficulties and although been tested for almost everything they say she is fine.
> 
> *Is there anything you can do to help children with autism?* I just can't wait for that letter, it can't come soon enough.

Hi Lisa,

I just wanted to respond to this bit of your post. There is so much they can to do help children with autism. It's really amazing. A friend of mine has a son who was originally diagnosed with severe autism, now he is very high-functioning (and an awesome little boy). If your question is what can you do to help your son, I'm not sure what the therapists will tell you to do but with my son I spend lots of time playing with him on the floor and trying to engage him. I read to him a lot. I also still try to correct his behaviour (like when he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth!!!) but I try not to scold, just remind him that it's not appropriate. :hugs:


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## lisa35

We have a really good playschool who would be happy to take him but the only problem I have with this is his walking, he loses his balance and falls and he has no confidence walking outside, he takes a few steps then falls in result of him banging his head. 

When he rolls his eyes it's like a couple of seconds then he's Ok again, but with Finlay we never rarely have his full attention as most of the time he goes in his own little world and runs up/down the room. I have mentioned this to the doctor so he wrote it all down, i'm certain they will be looking into it.

Little to my knowledge but I do get down on the floor and try encourage him to play, the best I get out of this, I roll his car too him and he throws it back at me instead of rolling back, I praise him all the time with lots of cuddles and kisses and tell him what a clever boy he is. I have tried reading to him but he is not in the slightest bit interested he just climbs off sofa and does his own thing. funny enough the doctor commented on how he puts everything in his mouth and that was another reason he thought his eyesight was bad?


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## Midnight_Fairy

We use PECS cards and makaton with my son these both help alot.

Also some kind of home routine may help? I know its a pain and hard but it makes life with an ASD child easier. We use a daily planner but we also have an OPPS card, this means if something happens last min or have to change we use the OPPS card. I say Ops we are meant to be swimming etc but instead we have to go to the bank. 

xx


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## TaylorsMummyx

He's the same age as my little lad near enough, my ds hangs on to toys for dear life. He hates loud noises though and his worse nightmare are fireworks! My dd popped a balloon and he scream for ages! He lines things up to, like blocks n cars ect. Was r late reaching his milestones and can he talk? Dexter hardly talks, he's learning slowly though, were doing makaton ATM :) ds is being tested for asd ATM, he's been dignoised global development delay. Xx


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## Midnight_Fairy

we brought ear defenders from amazon. They have changed my life!


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## TaylorsMummyx

Im going to look at them, he doesn't like the loud trucks and things like that :( does ur ds wear them all the time?


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## Midnight_Fairy

Not all the time, it depends on his mood too but now he is older he understands when he needs them and either shows me the too noisy card of just gets them.

We do use them in supermarkets, roadworks, shops, london and just at home if we have music on lol. xx


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## Midnight_Fairy

we use them on school run because of loud vehicles and cars beeping etc. x


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## lisa35

Some really good advise thanks people :flower: 

He hardly talks he says, dada, daddy, mummy, will will (his brothers name) hungry, doggy and that's all, he talked more when he was much younger like 8 mths. He was toungetied at birth and one day he snapped it and after that he hardly spoke, I just put it down to his tounge feeling different but not now. He is very vocal and hardly shuts up, but it's just like babbling sounds. He does have lots of facial expressions and he is a very tickily boy and giggles alot. I wouldn't say he is the cuddliest of kids it's a big hug or a kiss from his tounge then off he goes. I will buy some cards next time I'm in town. Thanks again this thread is really helping me lots and lots.


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## lisa35

Just received my letter to make an appointment Eeekk!!


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## TaylorsMummyx

I used to say dexter hated me because he would meet cuddle or kiss and was the moodest kid ever! He still o but getting a abit better


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## lisa35

I thought my son hated me, I even thought somehow we hadn't bonded and that was why he don't look at me :(


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## Midnight_Fairy

My friend who is 22 with ASD told me it feels like his eyes burn when he made eye contact, this helped me understand my son more xx


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## lisa35

Just found out their is a special needs school 15 mins drive away, my daughters social worker is going to get all the details for me. For first time ever he climbed the stairs tonight with the encouragement from his bottle, everytime he went to grab the bottle we moved it up a step, he did get a bit cross but he did it, yay! :)


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## mummaof3

hi just something u mentioned about the eye rollingmy son mckenzie does this and alot of docts op`s have said its sensorey (how ever u spell it lol ) he might just like the feel of doing it does he have any other likes like mckenzie loves silk he will have his blanket and stroke the silky lable foe long periods of time or he get distressed with the feel of other things again like mckenzie he freaks at water just thought this might help might be worth keeping a look out mckenzie is very senceory he even spits out his food and feels every thing before and dueing he eats mckenzie also loves blinking he will blink really fast cos he likes the feeling of it hope i helped


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## lisa35

Yes he has always had a thing about stroking tags and sucking on them, the minute he sees a tag he goes straight for it. I hope his eye rolling is just a senseory (sp?) lol thing. Finlay absolutely loves water, he sits on the plug hole so the water doesn't go out out and once I get all the water out he lays at the bottom of the bath shaking his whole body making strange noises, when I pick him up he kicks off.

How much T.V does your LO's watch? I used to let him watch playhouse disney channel which he loves, we have had to wean him off it slowly because when we used to turn it over he used to throw a paddy for like an hour until we eventually gave in and put it back on. We have now got him down to watching it an hour before bed. I thought at first that it was causing his strange behaviour but when I cut him down he was still the same.


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## TaylorsMummyx

See my dexter hates touch, he hates water and hd hates anything on his hands :( he runs Around in circles alot Nf flaps his arms :)


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## Midnight_Fairy

My son watches a lot of tv but that suits us as he is very visual :) 

Is your son statemented as you need statement for a special needs school xx


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## lisa35

I really don't know to be honest, it's just his walk, speach and tumbles that makes me think he would need an assistant but hopefully once he has seen consultant and get a clearer idea to what's wrong with him then I can start thinking about nursery's, it's all still confusing to me because I don't know exactly what is wrong with my LO :( xx


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## Midnight_Fairy

Its a very confusing time time for you atm, just take each day at a time xx


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## lisa35

Just seen the comment about dexter flapping his arms, Finlay does this he also holds his hands together and shakes them too, I have a short video of him when he was having his mad half hour in his world of his own is it OK to post them on here?


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## TaylorsMummyx

Post :)
Dexter does that too and runs around And around in circles. He's started outing his arms out behind him an runnig too


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