Autism Spectrum

[Tinkerszs]

How did you realize your child was on the spectrum? What made it click for you? Who did you talk to first? Who do you go to for a diagnosis? How does a parent begin to find answers?

[sbgrace]

Well, I did a lot of wishy washy thinking/fearing he was and then deciding he wasn't for a long time. Autism scared me.

But I was worried when he wasn't pointing or consistently responding to his name at a year. Then he pointed at 14 months and other stuff and I told myself he was fine. I went back and forth a lot on that point though. I guess I knew for sure when we finally had him evaluated at 2.5 and the psychologist told us he was on the spectrum. She showed us too--things like she showed him a toy and he looked at the toy. Then she showed his twin the toy and he looked from toy to us to toy to us. She asked him "where's daddy?" and he kept playing and then "where's mommy?". She kept asking and he kept playing. I told myself he was just involved in the toy and didn't hear her. Then she said, "Where is that monkey (a toy he had loved earlier) and he smiled and hopped up, went right too it, and told her "here it is". Anyway, she showed us as well as told us and sealed it finally in my mind and then I could grieve and move on so it was a good, if hard, thing.

What to do depends a lot on the age of the child in question and where you are/what's available as well as how mild or severely affected the child might be.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Tinkerszs

How did you realize your child was on the spectrum?

That isn't the right way to phrase it for me. For me, my DD went through all gross motor milestoens a little late, but not much. I didn't worry about it because I didn't want to be one those nutty moms. But a little before her 2nd birthday, it became painfully obvious that her speech development was FAR below her peers. I started talking to her dr. about my concerns at her checkup for her 2nd birthday which started us down the path. The autism like behavoirs became more obvious as she got closer to 3.

Much depends on how a child presents -- how old they are, how profoundly they are on the spectrum, how classic their signs.

My DD's diagnosis is based on many hours of evaluations by experts. I think that parents can realize there are red flags, but I'm not a fan of parents labeling their own children. (some people disagree with me on this).

I think the best first step if you see red flags is to talk to a dr that you like and trust about who they would recommend you see. You need an expert.

[Tinkerszs]

Thank you. We see the dr on Tuesday.

[AnalogWife]

DS will be 3 next month, I clung on to "developmental delays" for a painfully long time, I kept checking the clinical charts, constantly telling myself "he may do this, but he doesn't do THIS" and "he has skills HERE obviously he's not ASD" all the way up until just a couple weeks ago while he was being evaluated by the Develomental Pedi, she plainly said that yes, he had skills, but he could be exhibiting them MORE. That was it for me, that was theeeeeeeee moment that I knew and that I acknowledged and that I accepted that he had Autism.

[Tinkerszs]

My husband and I are leaning towards Aspergers because ds is 7. Tell me about your child with Aspergers.

[sbgrace]

Originally Posted by Tinkerszs

My husband and I are leaning towards Aspergers because ds is 7. Tell me about your child with Aspergers.

Kids with the same diagnosis are going to look so different.

My spectrum child is six. Reading other people (facial expressions, tone of voice (are they kidding?), etc.) just doesn't come naturally to him. His speech issues are in the realm of nonverbals/pragmatics basically.

He's very sensitive to the emotional states of others. He's uncomfortable with kids he doesn't know. His issues show up the most when you see him side by side with a neurotypical kid. He's different in interaction with other kids especially.

He's got restricted interests (in his case trains--he knows the history, the trackage, the types of engines, companies, etc. etc. etc.) and thinks/plays/dreams/talks about them constantly.

It might be more helpful to you if you shared about your child and why you suspect Aspie stuff?

[Linda on the move]

And different causes can look similar on the outside.

What's going on with your child that you feel might be asperger's?