autism becoming less

[alibaba24]

My daughter is under assessment for autism. She's had 1 Griffith report where she was very behind her peers in certain things. She started speech therapy in the spring and has gone from echolia to answering questions and putting sentences together.

Shes still funny about sharing toys but loves to play with other kids if its running around / play tig or hide and seek.

The nursery felt she was fixed on routine but I have always disagreed . she took part in her Xmas nativity and party brilliantly. She visited Santa. She loved the clown at nursery.

Her imagination is really taking off now and has started doing small bits of roll play with me. She will also play appropriately with toys and use language while she's playing.
She's always been affectionate with good eye contact that wasn't an issue. She's still behind her peers in a lot of ways but she's really progressed so much in the past 6 months and I think alot of it is to do with her language understanding growing.

Occasionally she still lines certain toys and also likes baby sisters loud and annoying toys.

Maybe iv just gotten used to her or to me she doesn't seem that autistic anymore ?

We still have ear covering with public toilets though.

Sorry for rambling here ! Last to note at the Xmas party she done all the activities and was trying to involve another little girl to join in with her

Thoughts ?

 

[Reid]

She sounds like she's doing amazing. I think this is why they don't tend to give diagnosis of autism early and alot of autism seems to be shown in development delays (then again I'm no expert I don't want to offend any1)
My son has speech delay and this impacts on his understanding to but like you're daughter he's making steps in the right direction may seem small but to me there huge like making train noises when he's playing with them and last night he really surprised me i got his toothpaste which had Thomas the tank on it I said Thomas and pointed to the pic and them i asked him who's this he said ats Thomas I didn't accept Thomas but to say its Thomas it's like he's starting to come Into the next stage 😆 xx

 

[AP]

Lynne I know what you mean, dont worry - early diagnosis is often avoided because its easy to make a false diagnosis.

Alibaba (i feel crazy calling you that ) I would let them just continue with the assessments and just tell them exactly what you've told us here.

I know you have had your doubts for a while too, and it sounds like she really is making huge progress and it may well be shes not on the spectrum. Do you have a paeditrician? I'd tell them too you have less concerns. You are in charge however, you can tell them to back off if you wish

Ear covering is common with all children, especially in public toilets. They are just horrible, lets face it Its a massive issue with both my kids. I detest them.

 

[lusterleaf]

That is amazing news!! It's great to hear there has been so much progress.

 

[alibaba24]

I'll definitely still complete the assessment process . I just find it amazing the progress in this past 6 months. It makes me hopeful she can catch up to her peers. X

 

[Thurinius]

That's so great and so great to,hear. Though my son still has limited speech in that he doesn't talk in sentences yet I keep remembering that 6 months ago he was entirely mute. There was a time when he rarely smiled and he's now a big ball,of giggly fun. There was a time when I returned home from work and he was far more interested in cbeebies. Now he comes running up to me saying 'mummy, mummy'
And his imaginative play is improving, he's building Lego zoos and the animals,are all having adventures.

 

[alibaba24]

sounds great ! it always grest to look back 6 months and see the progress for reassurance x

 

[likklelis86]

i had this with my son. He improved significantly. so much so, he was signed off speech therapy, and signed of all help really for almost a year and felt he would always be behind academically but he might get a normal shot of life, but then i had a call from school last week saying they've been struggling with him and he attempted to throw a chair at the teacher after a melt down... :/ he still rotates his hands and goes on tiptoes but felt we were making progress...

 

[nicki01]

Autistic children make lots of progress too

Not saying that to offend anyone, just saying....
My 4 yr old is autistic and with lots of work put in has progressed hugely in the past year/18 months! I never ever thought she would be where she is now!
She can now talk, is learning to build sentences using pecs, its early days but its massive. Her behaviour has improved as her understanding has developed, her meltdowns can be huge but are no where near as often as we can reason with her now.
She has also been out of nappies for 2 weeks today during the day

I too would still go ahead with the assessments but its brilliant news of the huge progress! Hopefully she is on the way to catching up!

 

[alibaba24]

Of course all children can progress autism or not. Fortunately she's never been one for huge meltdowns very very rarely will she get hysterical and I do believe its to do with language understanding. I'm just feeling blessed for the progress and hopeful all our kids get to where they can reach their potential x

 

[alibaba24]

i had this with my son. He improved significantly. so much so, he was signed off speech therapy, and signed of all help really for almost a year and felt he would always be behind academically but he might get a normal shot of life, but then i had a call from school last week saying they've been struggling with him and he attempted to throw a chair at the teacher after a melt down... :/ he still rotates his hands and goes on tiptoes but felt we were making progress...

Is he in mainstream? I hope things improve for you both x

 

[alibaba24]

Autistic children make lots of progress too

Not saying that to offend anyone, just saying....
My 4 yr old is autistic and with lots of work put in has progressed hugely in the past year/18 months! I never ever thought she would be where she is now!
She can now talk, is learning to build sentences using pecs, its early days but its massive. Her behaviour has improved as her understanding has developed, her meltdowns can be huge but are no where near as often as we can reason with her now.
She has also been out of nappies for 2 weeks today during the day

I too would still go ahead with the assessments but its brilliant news of the huge progress! Hopefully she is on the way to catching up!

Brilliant news about the potty training x

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

The stuff which M used to do,he no longer does. He no longer has echolalia and HAS eye contact too! But new stuff presents now and again, I find it changes with age x

 

[Misstrouble19]

reading things like this makes me think is my son a bit autistic as he is working a year behind himself well between 18 months to 2 years.. but sometimes he's in and out of the gaps

 

[Starry Night]

I'm still waiting for my son's official assessment but ever since I was told it was "likely autism" I've been on such a roller coaster. My son has days where he seems definitely autistic and then, at others, he seems so engaged. I'm utterly confused.

The past few days he has been especially engaged. He even will start a copying game and expect me to do what he does or he started a game of "telephone" and we had a bit of a conversation going back and forth. I mean, there was some repeating going on (I said "I like cake, what do you like?" and he said "I like cake"). His speech has been improving too and he's always inviting his baby sister to come play with him in his room. He still mostly parallel plays with her but he is always talking or babbling to her and today he said "I love you, [sister]" all on his own without any prompting.

I'm trying to look stuff up or find a place to ask questions but it's actually really hard to find stuff online. It's going to be a long 2 weeks. ](*,

Edited to add: I have accepted it will likely be autism and don't think I'm in denial. I just don't understand the disorder enough and want my son to get the correct label/diagnosis so he can get the help he needs.

 

[nicki01]

It is very tricky, like you say different days mean different things. My daughter was diagnosed a year and a half ago. Since then has progressed massively and even potty trained at Xmas which I never thought would happen. Some days I doubt whether she is autistic and others everything she does reminds me just how bad some of our days can be.
As of the last week she has become hugely echolalic again and her behaviour has gotten worse. She seemed to come away from the echolalia for a good 6 months and her behaviour improved massively but she has regressed in this area again. She has periods during the day where she is lost in ger own world and i cant break through, and a good 80% of the day she is babbling stuff i don't understand, relaying conversations back to herself or talking to someone who isnt there. Also her eating has gotten hideous, it never improved hugely but she got to a level and stayed there but now I can barely get her to eat again. I have to hand feed her and she is 4. Its toast, plain boiled pasta or garlic bread.
Hope the next 2 weeks goes quickly!

 

[alibaba24]

Thanks everyone for replying. On a more positive note too my girl has starting eating chicken I mean this is a big deal for us she would never try it before. Nicki did your daughter go through an ados for diagnosis or just gathering all the information . I feel like i have been in limbo for the past year is she autistic is she not. Im sure all your parents have been the exact same

I just read my original post shes even come on since then because she wants me to play with her allll the time. it truly is lovely but im getting nothing done around the house she also tried to eat a bit of pitta bread and drunk milk. so hoping this food thing continues all shes wanted to eat the past few years is different forms of pasta/chips and tons of different snacks x

 

[nicki01]

Seems alot of other mums say there autistic children mainly eat pasta and chips, how bizarre! Charlie diet is pasta, toast, garlic bread, chips (very occasionally), McDonald's happy meal, chocolate cookies, crisps & chocolate, I cannot at all get veg in there, or a meal, its out of the question, I would love her to eat a Sunday roast or sheppards pie or something!

With her diagnosis, I raised my concerns in December, then again in march and she was diagnosed in the November, so it took 11 months. We first went to see the community paediatrician but she said Charlie was to complex for her to assess so we got referred to the child development centre, we then went every Wednesday for 2 hours for 4 weeks and they done some assessments and watched her etc I have them a list of my concerns and at the end of that 4 weeks we had a meeting where she got the diagnosis. I'm not sure if it was ADOS as I've not heard of that but just googled it now and I guess it was, she was observed for 4 weeks on her play skills, social skills etc
Hope that helps, sorry for the waffle!

 

[alibaba24]

Seems alot of other mums say there autistic children mainly eat pasta and chips, how bizarre! Charlie diet is pasta, toast, garlic bread, chips (very occasionally), McDonald's happy meal, chocolate cookies, crisps & chocolate, I cannot at all get veg in there, or a meal, its out of the question, I would love her to eat a Sunday roast or sheppards pie or something!

With her diagnosis, I raised my concerns in December, then again in march and she was diagnosed in the November, so it took 11 months. We first went to see the community paediatrician but she said Charlie was to complex for her to assess so we got referred to the child development centre, we then went every Wednesday for 2 hours for 4 weeks and they done some assessments and watched her etc I have them a list of my concerns and at the end of that 4 weeks we had a meeting where she got the diagnosis. I'm not sure if it was ADOS as I've not heard of that but just googled it now and I guess it was, she was observed for 4 weeks on her play skills, social skills etc
Hope that helps, sorry for the waffle!

thank you for the info

I would soooo love her to eat a sunday roast I mean she just doesnt know what shes missing! she will eat banana and that is probably the healthiest thing she will have. the rest is things like waffles. biscuits/shortbread etc toast LOTS of toast. she will drink just about anything though lol

 

[Starry Night]

My son was referred for testing back in July, had a speech assessment in November, had a failed assessment a few weeks back and needs to have a hearing test yet. Still haven't heard back on that though. Grrr.... I see the paediatrician this week for my daughter's 9 month check so I'll ask him then. Maybe get his receptionist to pester them for me.

I've been scouring the net and the autism descriptions and videos never seem to COMPLETELY match my son but the descriptions for PPD-NOS sound very similar and my DH agrees. I think as of 2 years ago it is now considered to be officially part of the spectrum so it's still autism. Where it fits is he is good with strangers (we've left him with sitters for a weekend and he was fine), is generally friendly and just doesn't meet all the official criteria for classic autism.

I will say that even the potential label of autism has helped me change my approach to my DS. The speech therapist had told us he had "comprehension issues" which made me think he's mentally delayed. So I dumbed down my language with him. But the word "autism" made me think there could be a very clever boy who struggles with communication. So I stopped dumbing things down and tried to meet him on his level and encouraging him to use his words more and saying that I knew he was smart. Things have really improved since then.