autism becoming less

[Starry Night]

Also, my son is a HORRIBLY picky eater. It's pretty much Cheerios, jam sandwiches (but you have to call them "bun and jam" or else, yucky!), peanut butter sandwiches (as long as you call them "bun and jam"), burgers with cheese and ketchup, and pizza. Sometimes he will eat mac n' cheese but not always. I make my own pizza and pizza sauce so I sneak in veggies by mixing it into the sauce and/or dough. He is pretty good with fruit though. I also sneak in veggies by buying the fruit&veggie drinks that taste like fruit. I also buy the fruit&veggie unsweetened applesauces. It's not as good as the real thing, but it's better than nothing (I hope).

He does also have some sensory issues (though mild) and echolia and has this sing-song pitch to his voice that sounds like he's constantly speaking baby-talk. At home it's not noticeable to me, but when he is with his peers I definitely can tell the difference. They speak like little kids and he, well, sounds like a baby.

 

[alibaba24]

Also, my son is a HORRIBLY picky eater. It's pretty much Cheerios, jam sandwiches (but you have to call them "bun and jam" or else, yucky!), peanut butter sandwiches (as long as you call them "bun and jam"), burgers with cheese and ketchup, and pizza. Sometimes he will eat mac n' cheese but not always. I make my own pizza and pizza sauce so I sneak in veggies by mixing it into the sauce and/or dough. He is pretty good with fruit though. I also sneak in veggies by buying the fruit&veggie drinks that taste like fruit. I also buy the fruit&veggie unsweetened applesauces. It's not as good as the real thing, but it's better than nothing (I hope).

He does also have some sensory issues (though mild) and echolia and has this sing-song pitch to his voice that sounds like he's constantly speaking baby-talk. At home it's not noticeable to me, but when he is with his peers I definitely can tell the difference. They speak like little kids and he, well, sounds like a baby.

how old is he? arent they funny my daughter has recently started eating chicken nuggets. I asked her last night if she wanted some chicken dippers and she said NO!...just chicken nuggets

sometimes when its certain works my daughter gets rather squeaky. If I say can I have something she will say "of course!!!!" so today I decided to say why do you always say of course? you can just say yeah if you want . to which she replied "of course means yeah" so that will be me told and I am going to have to keep suffering the of course!

I looked up pdd nos too its funny how its not enough to meet the autism diagnosis but its still autism lol! My daughter doesn't always comprehend things either. I wonder if she just doesnt get the concept or all the language attached to it. she is starting to get a better grasp on time for instances days/tommorrow/yesterday etc but still gets confused at times . at the moment her nana is up north of scotland . she has not asked to go to her house once because she knows shes on holiday whether as when her nan is home she asks daily to visit

 

[Starry Night]

My son is 3 1/2. He will be 4 in July.

My son always answers questions with "OK!" as if he is granting us some huge favour even though we're giving him what he has already asked for. He also likes to say "OK fine!" when we tell him to do something.

And he's starting to get frustrated that we don't understand his babbles. When I ask him what he means he will say "I'm saying....bla bla bla" and then continues to babble but the frustration in his "I'm saying" is palpable. Because of the babble I can't tell if his communication is simply to tell a need or if he is trying to have a conversation. We still can't have much back and forth with him and he generally can't tell us if something is bothering him other than "I want a drink" etc He also communicates via movie quotes and he does use me as a prop in his reenactments of movie scenes. He also like it when I then jump in and play the scene with him.

He will come up to me and say "Mommy, look at what I found!" and show me whatever toy he is playing with. He doesn't hand it to me, but he makes sure I can see it and acknowledge it. He can point at what he wants and where he wants it, etc. That's where I get confused. At church, he will seek out his friends and play with them. They seem to like him. I don't know if that is just because they're still young to really notice differences or if my son actually is "normal" just delayed in speech. But then, if he is bored with them or they do someething he doesn't want to, he will just wander off without a word. It sometimes seems random when he takes off. He was the same with his cousin when she was over. He would be calling our her name, and asking to play and she got him to play "spy" with her (he's never seen a spy movie so he had nothing to go off of other than her instructions) but then he'd suddenly grab a favourite toy and play on his own, ignoring all of her attempts to get his attention.


My son still doesn't understand time or distance. My inlaws were over recently and they had brought our niece along (she is 2 1/2 years older than DS) and now he's asking after her everday and we have to explain she lives far away and we can't go to her house. Every time someone is at the door he thinks it is her. I'm working on teaching him "first" and "after" right now.

Even now, we are watching "Wreck it Ralph" (for the gazillionth time) and he pointed out, "Look, Ralph fall down!" and he kept repeating it over and over until finally looking at me and I had to say "Yeah, he fell down" before he moved on. He does have an obsession with falling though. He thinks falling is hilarious and makes his toys fall over and over and he will hang off the couch and say "I'm falling!"

I'm starting to think he's NOT autistic. Just some minor delays that can be dealt with As his vocab improves, the other issues seem to improve too. I don't know.

 

[alibaba24]

he sounds like a rather typical 3 year old. His intentions are there about wanting to play with others which is brilliant clearly he just thinks his own toys are better. I mean iv watched kids loads and they all start off playing together then they wander off....get back together. do their own things. I remember doing that myself as a kid. your son sounds he is doing alot better than my daughter was age 3 language wise and socially too. I really wonder whether my girl is asd or not. not because I want to avoid the label but because its blindingly obvious that all her traits have dissapeared as her language has developed. i thnik if she does get it it wont be the "classic" type of asd iv researched . as she has always been so great at eye contact/affection/routine change/ facial expression etc. not sure if she will meet the full criteria or not. we have a review this month I Hope i can get more answers

 

[Starry Night]

Thanks. I'm not trying to avoid the label either. When they first said "autism" after the first assessent I pretty much believed it and could see what they were talking about. But he was also going through a really tough phase and was ill that day (he came down with a fever that evening). They didn't see him at his best.

I just wonder where the line lies between true ASD and a quirky, introverted kid. My son definitely has language delays and I can see that affecting his social skills. He also has some sensory sensitivities but they seem so mild to me. He has been such an easy child to raise. I don't get it. I mean, what kid doesn't like to jump around, spin things around and ignore their parents from time to time?

9 more days till the next assessment.

Good luck with your review.

 

[alibaba24]

Thanks. I'm not trying to avoid the label either. When they first said "autism" after the first assessent I pretty much believed it and could see what they were talking about. But he was also going through a really tough phase and was ill that day (he came down with a fever that evening). They didn't see him at his best.

I just wonder where the line lies between true ASD and a quirky, introverted kid. My son definitely has language delays and I can see that affecting his social skills. He also has some sensory sensitivities but they seem so mild to me. He has been such an easy child to raise. I don't get it. I mean, what kid doesn't like to jump around, spin things around and ignore their parents from time to time?

9 more days till the next assessment.


Good luck with your review.

Thank you

well this is what I wonder. my poor daughter could not have a more introverted mother so I am such a poor example to her aswell as far as socialising with the outside world goes. I was looking back over my daughters toddler videos and shes running in circles making herself dizzy. I used to LOVE doing that when I was little. she could always be distracted out of it. when she was 2 iv got videos of her ignoring me and videos of her completely engaged with me. I genuinely believed she only ignored me when something else was more interesting. Is this not a typical kid thing? I wonder where the line is too because the spectrum is truly huge! a few years ago my sister was being told they had concerns that my nephew has aspergers. Im not sure why they wanted to give him the label because hes a perfectly functioning little boy. hes smart hes got plenty of common sense and hes only 7. he plays he interacts . I don't get it. all they had to go on was he gets upset if he doesnt win at something. I mean. really?

 

[Starry Night]

That sounds like typical child behaviour to me.

And I'm a big introvert too and have some social anxieties but I'm not autistic. And my DH is a comic geek who can quote almost any Simpsons episode or stand-up comedy bit he's heard. He just had a great memory.

What made the doctor suspect DS of autism was "atypical play" and lack of sharing while playing. He wasn't making much eye contact with us at the time but he was still upset with us for dragging him there in the first place. He was examining the cars and then placing them back on the table and then knocking them off the table. He was also repeating stuff back and using a high-pitched voice (again, he was upset and barely containing it). Also, he couldn't be distracted from his demands for his teddy bear. I found that so odd because we NEVER bring his teddy bear with us on outings for fear of it getting lost. I was shocked he was so upset that we weren't giving it to him.

I'm really hoping they get happy DS next time out. I'm also taking a lot of videos of him at home and will pick a few out to show them.

 

[alibaba24]

this is what im planning to do people think Im silly but I am going to show the doctor the videos I have of her toddler years.

my daughter was flagged up by her pre school because of her poor social interaction and language skills. I really do believe that the social skills obviously are going to be delayed when there is a huge language barrier between her and peers. My daughter is very good at looking to other people to know what to do which makes up for her language issues some of the time. its horrible when the doctors see your child and you know they arent themselves. the thing with the teddy bear I mean could it be this was something familiar to him from his safe environment and suddenly he is in a strange place having his comfort taken away? that doesnt really sound odd to me to be honest

 

[Starry Night]

The doctor was the one who encouraged me to take videos. I have taken tons so I will have to go through them and pick two or three to put on my tablet to take along. Of course, my son loves to perform for the camera so not many are of him in his natural state.

I was talking to my sister and she said she's met several people who were autistic and she had no clue until they told her so I guess the higher functioning kids are more subtle than we expect?

His assessment was watched over by 3 specialists and they had been in agreement. So we'll see.

 

[Thurinius]

The doctor was the one who encouraged me to take videos. I have taken tons so I will have to go through them and pick two or three to put on my tablet to take along. Of course, my son loves to perform for the camera so not many are of him in his natural state.

I was talking to my sister and she said she's met several people who were autistic and she had no clue until they told her so I guess the higher functioning kids are more subtle than we expect?

His assessment was watched over by 3 specialists and they had been in agreement. So we'll see.

Good luck with your assessment. My son too has made huge leaps recently. At playbarn he was cooperating then playing with another boy - he just wandered off after a bit but the boy followed him and they continued to play some weird game that involved rolling on top of each other and laughing.
When he was a toddler he was generally indifferent to me but now I come back from work and he's all ''mummy, mummy, me,me"
He wants me to join in his games.

I think he's still asd. But he's definitely developing and some of the traits are less obvious. His speech therapist has been working on his eye contact.
But I love his little excited dance, I'm not sure I'd want him to be taught not to do that.

 

[alibaba24]

good luck for your next appointment guys . such a good idea about the videos too. your son performing for the camera? also sounds like a very typical little child Thurinius it sounds like your son is making huge progress which is brilliant. the fact hes playing with other kids is awesome x

 

[alibaba24]

i just recieved a copy of the letter than the education psycologist sent her doctor. It said she is a bright and able girl with good knowledge and understanding. she has developed play skills and feels that her receptive language difficulties are what is causing poor social interaction but only time will tell after intensive language input if there is an underlying social disorder. I guess I have alot more waiting to do as im pretty sure her doctor is going to suggest the wait and see aproach

 

[Starry Night]

I'm glad to hear the professionals are seeing the progress but how frustrating that a final diagnosis is still up in the air! I can see how it's good to be patient but I'm no good at the patience thing.

Thurinius - I agree about the excited dance. My son bounces around whenever he gets really happy or excited. I don't want that to go. He is especially bouncey around other kids. If he's playing soccer he is constantly jumping up and down and only stops when the ball comes to him. It's so cute.

Today a blog showed up in my FB about a mother no longer being in denial about her son's ASD. Felt like a sign. I've been noticing things again (flicking his fingers by the corner of his eyes, not coming to me when upset, tantruming when he can't get his toys to do what he wants, playing with his toys in strange ways, my infant daughter makes more eye contact than he does)

 

[alibaba24]

I was having a right old moan to my sister about the lack of offical diagnosis at this point but she rightly pointed out that its better to take the time than wrongly diagnose her.

starry night have you had to fill out the garrs2 questionaire? I have done two of them in the past year some of the things you mention above come up in the questions.

my first result from the gars questionaire was that asd was low risk. the second one i think will be even less if possible because she doesnt do any of the things she done on the first one and even then it was few. she has no stereotypical behaviours but her language and social obviously she had some points in that section

 

[Starry Night]

I did fill out a form when sending in my referral to the Child Development department at the Children's Hospital. It was rather detailed. I don't know if that is a GAR or not. (I'm in Canada so it might be a bit different here). I did take an online assessment from the Autism Society of Canada website and the points were lower than what they said a typical ASD kid would get but the score was JUST below. Like by a point or two and that's not an official test or anything.

I am still sort of at the beginning of everything. He has had one speech assessment back in November and has been put on the waiting list for speech therapy but my friends warned me it will be YEARS before he gets in. I heard 2 to 3 (!!!). We had one assessment that did not go well so we still need a formal assessment and we need a hearing test. I then have an appointment to meet with the doctor without my son present. I'm guessing we're going to get a "where to go from here" sort of appointment. I have no clue whether to expect a diagnosis or not by that point or if there will be more testing.

 

[alibaba24]

thats so frustrating about the speech therapy Im fortunate in the fact we only had to wait 3/4 months but i have read others waiting so much longer seems to depend on area. It looks like we may be in the same boat with not knowing what comes next. it gets tiring I am such a worry wort and constantly analyse everything. It's getting better though I am enjoying my daughter alot more now than I was when she just turned 4

 

[Starry Night]

My son has always been easy and a lot of fun to raise. About twice a year he goes through a phase that lasts about two weeks where he is miserable and it seems everything makes him meltdown but once the phase passes he is so happy and a real monkey. We haven't laughed so much as since he was born.

He does like routine but isn't fanatical about it. Because I live in a rural area with nowhere to go our lives just so happen to be very routine. But the few times we have to break that routine he's usually pretty agreeable. When he was a baby I noticed that I could break routine a maximum of two times a week otherwise it would take him over a week to settle back down into his routine and be happy. So I was pretty firm with DH about that one at the time. But nothing that seems out of the ordinary. I mean, if we want to go eat out, we have always just gone without giving it much thought or worrying how he will be.

He's a little OCD about some things but we don't have to get his rituals exactly right. He likes to sit in a particular chair (though they all look the same) but we haven't had any meltdowns over it.

 

[alibaba24]

I feel the same way about my daughter I just loved her as a baby she was just so much fun I adored her so much and of course still do I never thought for a minute there was anything up with her that wasnt right. I am quite the introvert and I just didn't realise she had any social interaction issues. I knew her language wasn't where it should be but being premature I didnt hold her to every milestone.

same here without routine but the thing is kids need and thrive with routine. I think when they become really upset when it changes then obviously its a cause for concern if it is causing major meltdowns. I duno I hate change myself so maybe I can't relate to the concerns as well as some people lol

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

My son went to his new secondary school today on a team work day and didn't need any help at all woth the group activities and made new friends 😀😀😀

 

[alibaba24]

My son went to his new secondary school today on a team work day and didn't need any help at all woth the group activities and made new friends 😀😀😀

that is so awesome bet you feel brilliant