# please read possible autism?



## alibaba24

evening all

I'm desperate for some help 

DD1 is 4 she was 6 weeks premature and only grown to around 30 weeks in the womb when she was born

she is really struggling to fit in at pre school some days shes fine some days im being told shes hitting the other kids scratching and throwing things. 

her speech is very delayed and only just been referred for speech therapy and now pre school want to have someone come in to watch her in nursery . I know they cant say it but i feel they are getting at she may have autism they said she does not cope well with change in routine and doesnt interact with other kids so from what iv read she does show some of the autistic behaviours which i will list below

lining things up - she lines up cars but not always sometimes splits them into groups (still lined up)

she went through a phase of lining up teddies but has forgotten them now mainly she groups her toys together . ie cars together moshi monsters together

hand flapping - i might see her do this once a day if im lucky 

jumping and climbing - all the time

speech delay- not talking in sentences yet or understanding which context to use words

head shaking - veeeery subtly she will shake her head for maybe a second or two again only maybe once or twice a day i see this

she has completely irrational fears and dealing with them by clamping her hands over her ears. these fears change all the time. at once point she covered her ears all the way round tesco but now she goes round quite happily? 

HATES Singing i cannot sing to her and in nursery she will flip with the singing. however she herself will sing :wacko:

she cant sit still longer than a few mins ie to eat dinner she wont watch a film without wandering off. very short attention span

iv seen her hold up a toy and spin round in circles with it watching from the corner of her eye

she is very cuddly and affectionate but repetative with her behaviours she will come to me several times throughout the day to give me a kiss

i dont know can anyone help

also when im trying to teach her to talk she copies me

when shes wanting juice she will say do you want some juice

she will also tell me things over and over for example she says the same things every night at bed time she will tell me about the fairies on her wall 

she has called little puzzle characters mummy nana etc so now she will say to me over and over thats mummy thats nana etc

she is my oldest and just dont know what your average kid is doing at this age they are all so different and unique


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## Midnight_Fairy

Have u spoken to a Hv about your concerns?


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## alibaba24

Midnight_Fairy said:


> Have u spoken to a Hv about your concerns?

No but Iv made a doctors appointment for her on tues. she never got her 2 year check either just a check list through the post of what she should be doing and she ticked most of them


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## mummy2o

Its a hard one. Girls tend to mimic other girls so hard to diagnose. My son hand flaps, my sister does from time to time, but I don't. My sister could sit still for long periods of times where me and my son both have short attention spans unless its to do with computers. So its not clear cut. Hopefully once you get the ball rolling and get diagnosed you'll have the answers you want.


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## AngelofTroy

The 'do you want some juice' sounds like it could be echolalia which is often seen in ASD. Google it and see what you think. :hugs: 
Most importantly remember that whether or not she has autism or any other condition won't change who she is, it just gives you all access to vital support if she needs it. Xx


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## Blizzard

Hello!

I work specifically with kids with ASD. 

There are certainly some things you have said that raise concerns. The thing is, all children are different, that includes those with ASD. What one child displays very clearly, another may not.

The juice thing does sound like Echolalia. Does she do it with other things? Repeat you verbatim? 

Honestly it sounds like you're on the right track getting checked. Hopefully there's nothing more than a little delayed speech, but well done for looking into it.

Very best wishes, please do keep us up to date!

Xxxxx


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## _jellybean_

I agree that it's good that you're going to get her checked.


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## Midnight_Fairy

My son has echolailia too, it does sound familiar x


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## AP

Hey hunny! :wave:

Alex is 4 and she was diagnosed last year. As you know we are in Edinburgh - let me warn you its a long wait for diagnosis.

You might find people on the way being dismissive because she is a girl. Do not let this stop you and just outright say you want her referred to neurology at the sick kids for an assessment , and you won't stop until someone sees her. You may be referred to community care where you will have a paeditrician

From what you've said I'm unsure. Some of those behaviours I could apply to Alex yet others I could apply to my (so far not asd) daughter Tori. Alex isnt one for mimicing other girls - she cannot sit still. For anything. But don't let anyone else opinion make you think otherwise. At least, after an assessment, you will know where you stand. 

Should it be that they think it is autism, she will receive some help from the Spectrum team in Edinburgh. They will help with occupational therapy, and speech, and ways to combat behaviours. Again, these are people you will find yourself chasing for support now and again but they will be around until the end of primary 1 age.

If you ever want some help give me a shout xxx


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## alibaba24

thank you all for your replies. the past few days have been awful iv just been consumed with thoughts and now find myself analysing absolutely everything she does right down to the look in her eyes im driving myself insane because although she displays autistic behaviours she is also

very affectionate
has good eye contact
doesnt echo everything only some things
she has imaginative play 

i feel so confused and helpless at the moment 

her speech has really only started well in the past few months before it was only one or two worded responses i wonder if shes just getting confused with suddenly having all these words but unsure how to use them. 

sorry for ranting guys x


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## Blizzard

Good god don't worry about it! It's what we're here for :).

Have you heard of the triad of impairments?
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&docid=cbwRJus7ZzLtkM&tbnid=6rg9glTjicMLGM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.brookdalecare.co.uk%2Fwhat-is-autism&ei=iKIUU-TRGpPY7AaZiYGoBw&psig=AFQjCNEUpjCW9QChQKKk71PBpkKUi5MKlw&ust=1393947651520832

While it's true some people with ASD lack imagination for imaginative play, that is definitely not the case for all. It's social imagination that is required to fit for a diagnosis, rather than imagination in general. Common misconception that :). 

Xxx


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## Blizzard

Darn, no image.

It's here:
https://www.brookdalecare.co.uk/what-is-autism


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## Blizzard

I meant to add, it CAN also be linked to a general lack of imagination, but doesn't have to be :). Sorry, I worded that badly. X


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## alibaba24

Thanks Blizzard! the more i observe her the more i feel like there definately is something gone undiagnosed. I feel so stupid shes 4 now I should have been getting her help ages ago but i genuinley didnt know the things she was doing wasnt not "normal" for lack of a better word x


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## AP

Since I spoke to you the other night alibaba24 my youngest is now being referred too for pre assessment. She wasn't prem either but I was quite shocked at how easy it was. We simpily spoke to the speech therapist (sighthill) who said she could understand our concerns and said she will make a referral to community child health, who will do a pre assessment. I have been told you can also ask the health visitor to make this referral too, so it doesnt seem toooooo hard. :)


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## Eternal

I agree, it's not too difficult, the medical side have been really helpful and supportive, his symptoms are fairly obvious which helps, the biggest issue is the waiting times here, he was originally referred over a year ago, still going trough the system. It's annoying, one of the twins is non verbal and his speech and language appt came through quite quickly but as Sam needs in depth assessment then waiting lost is way longer and been on it thus far since oct and nothing yet. 

The education side has been a fight though, hoping that will get easier now we have lots of outside agencies involved, but it's been one hell of a fight to get there and it's not a unique situation. 

But ... Half the issue is getting into the system and that not all that difficult, just speak to your health visitor about your concerns, if she doesn't listen, continue to tell her any issues, my son was very advanced at his 2 year check and then really regressed, took her awhile to take note but once she did the issues were obvious and she is a real support now, calls me up most weeks, emails the pead most weeks with any concerns, updates etc. Chases up all his appts. 

Don't be afraid to nag and keep calling, if there is something like ASD then the earlier the intervention the better, of there is not, then there is no harm done.


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## Midnight_Fairy

My son has eye contact and imaginative play xx


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## alibaba24

Thank you for your responses guys its good to have support. well I have a meeting with the educational physcologist on the 25th . but me being impatient I took her to the gp this morning who has referred her to the child development clinic. the more I think about DD'S Behaviour's the more im convinced she has it. her reactions to what seem to me random things are really extreme. like me trying to read a book with her she totally hates it. thats only one example the doc did half heartedly try and fob me off with "some toddlers are solitary" but she then did happily refer her once i explained some more. iv been sooo upset over it all just dont know how i should be feeling right now i almost dont want her in pre school nursery knowing shes struggling


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## AP

Oh Hun :hugs: pre school was the best thing that happened here. Having one to one time really helped there too. It's so scary considering pre school for those teeney ones but so beneficial too.our head teacher recently said "when I met Alex, I admit it, I was scared, she was tiny and still practically a baby and I thought, oh no. How far she has come!"

Once you get the ball rolling people like speech and the Spectrum team will visit the nursery and spend time with the staff and your LO to make sure things are workin out too. :)


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## alibaba24

AtomicPink said:


> Oh Hun :hugs: pre school was the best thing that happened here. Having one to one time really helped there too. It's so scary considering pre school for those teeney ones but so beneficial too.our head teacher recently said "when I met Alex, I admit it, I was scared, she was tiny and still practically a baby and I thought, oh no. How far she has come!"
> 
> Once you get the ball rolling people like speech and the Spectrum team will visit the nursery and spend time with the staff and your LO to make sure things are workin out too. :)

Thank you :flower: Is your LO in a mainstream nursery? x


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## AP

Yep, she is indeed. She has a 1 to 1 for full allocation of hours. It was hard to let go but they have been amazing and i trust the 1:1 one hundred percent


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## alibaba24

thats brilliant. I have been thinking dd might need to go to special needs nursery but theres a chance she could have a key worker in mainstream ?x


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## AP

That sounds about right. My friends LO has a key worker in Early Years nursery and them when he moves to pre school he will get the same. 
In most cases mainstream is the first port of call here. They prefer the child to try mainstream. We have to choose mainstream primary this year , special schools are difficult to get into too. We'll re-evaluate it come early next year if it goes wrong, but at least we can say we tried.

We choose our nursery, stated her needs and the head came to the house to meet her. She applied to the council for a key worker full hours and it was granted, really easy, we didn't do anything. The nursery will decide whether they have the right teacher to child ratio for your child's needs and if not they will get support in


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## Midnight_Fairy

My son had 1:1 at preschool and he now has a fulltime statement. He is still mainstream but will 100% be special needs school for secondary next year &#128521;&#128522;


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## alibaba24

thanks so much for the information guys. I Didn't realise it was difficult to get them into special needs schools. DD has an extremely short attention span i cant imagine her every coping in primary school :(


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## mummy3

Just been reading through:hugs: Alot of what you wrote would describe my little girl. You're doing the right thing by persuing more testing and a preschool place. If she's able then mainstream is the way to go, my son was in a integrated ASD preschool and thrived :thumbup: My dd is going to a none integrated smaller preschool because she has more needs than him but she doesnt start until next wedneday so not sure how that will go. Its hard letting them go but just have to keep reminding ourselves that its best for them:hugs:

Did your lo have a regression? My can also be affectionate and can give eye contact, it just has to be on her terms lol. She has some imaginative play also! Good luck hun, update us on how it goes:hugs:


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## alibaba24

mummy3 said:


> Just been reading through:hugs: Alot of what you wrote would describe my little girl. You're doing the right thing by persuing more testing and a preschool place. If she's able then mainstream is the way to go, my son was in a integrated ASD preschool and thrived :thumbup: My dd is going to a none integrated smaller preschool because she has more needs than him but she doesnt start until next wedneday so not sure how that will go. Its hard letting them go but just have to keep reminding ourselves that its best for them:hugs:
> 
> Did your lo have a regression? My can also be affectionate and can give eye contact, it just has to be on her terms lol. She has some imaginative play also! Good luck hun, update us on how it goes:hugs:

shes in mainstream just now and has been the past year . she has been deffered from p1 for a year because shes a jan baby but also she is nowhere near ready.

the preschool raised concerns about her lack of interaction with other children and her reactions to change in routine. she also hits the other kids yet also loves them? :dohh:

she has always gave lovely eye contact and will always give you a kiss and cuddle whenever you ask including when you dont :haha:

Im still feeling very confused because i want the help for her asap in her own preschool if possible i hope your little girl gets on as well as possible :hugs: 

and no she doesnt seem to have regressed as far as i have noticed xx


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## WW1

I could have written this exact post! You've described my girl as well. I spoke to the sp and lang therapist today and she has suggested an autism assessment. Apparently though the waiting list for initial assessment is two years!! So much for early intervention! OP I hope you get some support soon x


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## alibaba24

WW1 said:


> I could have written this exact post! You've described my girl as well. I spoke to the sp and lang therapist today and she has suggested an autism assessment. Apparently though the waiting list for initial assessment is two years!! So much for early intervention! OP I hope you get some support soon x

oh my goodness Thats insane?! how are we supposed to help them waiting that long :nope:

xx


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## WW1

alibaba24 said:


> WW1 said:
> 
> 
> I could have written this exact post! You've described my girl as well. I spoke to the sp and lang therapist today and she has suggested an autism assessment. Apparently though the waiting list for initial assessment is two years!! So much for early intervention! OP I hope you get some support soon x
> 
> oh my goodness Thats insane?! how are we supposed to help them waiting that long :nope:
> 
> xxClick to expand...

I know. It's disgusting isn't it! I have no intention of waiting that long - I will harass whoever I need to - shouldn't have to though! I hope the waiting list in your area is more reasonable.


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## Midnight_Fairy

We waited 4yrs for diagnosis!


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## WW1

Midnight_Fairy said:


> We waited 4yrs for diagnosis!

Was that until the initial appointment or for the diagnosis? I don't know how it works but 4 years sounds totally unacceptable to me. It must have driven you mad with all the waiting! Did they say why it takes so long?


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## AP

alibaba24 you wont be waiting that long hunny in this city :hugs: yep it can be long but not counting the pre assessment before referral, its about 6-8 months. We actually were phoned with a cancellation too!


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## alibaba24

AtomicPink said:


> alibaba24 you wont be waiting that long hunny in this city :hugs: yep it can be long but not counting the pre assessment before referral, its about 6-8 months. We actually were phoned with a cancellation too!

Thank you i was started to freak out there :nope:

unbelievable how long some of you guys have had to wait ! maybe its different for every child too as well as location 

xx


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## alibaba24

WW1 said:


> alibaba24 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> WW1 said:
> 
> 
> I could have written this exact post! You've described my girl as well. I spoke to the sp and lang therapist today and she has suggested an autism assessment. Apparently though the waiting list for initial assessment is two years!! So much for early intervention! OP I hope you get some support soon x
> 
> oh my goodness Thats insane?! how are we supposed to help them waiting that long :nope:
> 
> xxClick to expand...
> 
> I know. It's disgusting isn't it! I have no intention of waiting that long - I will harass whoever I need to - shouldn't have to though! I hope the waiting list in your area is more reasonable.Click to expand...


Thankfully it seem to be :thumbup:

good for you keep on at who you need to until you get your child what they need xx


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## WW1

alibaba24 said:


> AtomicPink said:
> 
> 
> alibaba24 you wont be waiting that long hunny in this city :hugs: yep it can be long but not counting the pre assessment before referral, its about 6-8 months. We actually were phoned with a cancellation too!
> 
> Thank you i was started to freak out there :nope:
> 
> unbelievable how long some of you guys have had to wait ! maybe its different for every child too as well as location
> 
> xxClick to expand...

Sorry Hun. Didn't mean to freak you out! Atomic will know much better for your area.


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## alibaba24

no dont apologise :hugs:


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## alibaba24

well iv had my meeting with the educational physcologist. I tried to say to him i felt she had autism but he didnt seem to really agree with me. although maybe thats because its not her place? he said she didnt seem typical of an autistic child when he was watching her. discussed the nurseries concerns which are her lack of interaction with other kids ( i believe though this is due to language delay she cant understand what they are saying) they said her attention span is short again i think this is the language delay. also her change in routine. she hates it. the educational physc said that most children do though. basically i think until the cdc see her im not going to get anyone to even acknowledge she may be autistic which is very frustrating. the nursery are going to try some strategies to encourage her interacting with other children. when i picked her up yesterday i was told she was actually playing with another little girl and they hadnt really seen that before

feeling confused and frustrated


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## AP

First of all - :hugs:

Secondly, one person's opinion is nothing and you can always ask, or simpily put your foot down. 

Whats important just now is that your little girl gets the support for her needs now, and not just because of a diagnosis. 

Our educational psychologist couldn't tell, in fact, no-one was sure, our speech therapist was totally against. I just had to shout and shout and say I wanted her referred, end of story. 

There is another issue. Girls with autism can tend to differ from boys - and it is harder to diagnose girls. 
https://www.autism.org.uk/about-aut...m/women-and-girls-on-the-autism-spectrum.aspx

Our Alex is a complex mix of everything though. Her autism became and still becomes more apparant with age.


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## alibaba24

that just complicates it furthmore doesnt it? Im waiting on the child development clinic app to come through. i agree that the important thing is helping her. at least in a way the nursery have aknlowledged the issues and are now going to try things with her so thats something. all i want is to help her x


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## AP

I've sent you my Facebook address, I know some really really good people who can help you in the right direction xxx


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## Eternal

we are 1.5 years in, so a slow process. Sam is on the ASD pathway now though which is good, but full diagnosis is ages away! His consultant has stated he has high functioning autism in her opioion but needs further assessment to confirm. 

As for contradicting opioions, ive had a few people suggest ADHD instead, whereas if you sit down and go through what causes his hyperness and metldowns its clearly pointing more towards ASD, although i think we will end up with dual diagnosis. In a way how he is older the ASD shows far more, where as he just seems severely ADHD a year ago. 

Everyone who has had extended contact with Sam or spent significant time discussing with me and grouping things together states ASD.


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## alibaba24

oh my goodness my daughter has come n so much since i posted this lol!!

dont get me wrong shes no angel but i think alot of it was developmental. 

shes about to start her 3rd block of speech therapy she can now answer questions and is also starting to ask them. such as can i have chips (ooops)

ill say do you want juice she will say yes :)

her fears come and go once she knows what something is shes fine very rarely covers her ears now. 

one of the big things was fear off hoover so i thought one day sod it lets see if she still hates it. so i put it on she shouted a bit and then i laughed at her for being silly and after then she was playing with the hoover letting me pretend i was going to hoover her feet up!

her interaction with peers is coming along nicely although she still does her own thing too.

she will still hit but i believe this is frustration out of lack of speech 



her lining toys doesnt happen much now last time she done it she told me her teddies where on a train lol

has also displayed alot of imagination recently too


shes still under assesment of course with no diagnonsis yet

last report i had from salt was significent delay however the part about her social play etc was spot on and very positive

shes not quite as busy anymore. shes still fairly hyper and loves to climb. (what 4 year old deosnt) but shes not constantly jumping around and sat through her 25 min assesment with speech very well and paid attention the entire time (good to know she can do it just chooses not to all the time lol)

just an update to my thread x


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## AP

Great news so far Hun! We have had similar progress with Tori and I think we're out the woods with her. hugs:


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## alibaba24

great news about tori its amazing how quickly they can just come on. ill be interested to see what her next appointment brings x


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