This is actually about my Dh. I am reading "Evidence of Harm" (and boy, do some of the things in that book make me furious...some of the things the families went through, and the things the gov't has done made me want to scream) and I came to this part...
"But many ASD symptoms described him well, such as severe social impairment, verbal and nonverbal communication problems, repetitive behaviors, movement disorder, sensory dysfunction, and cognitive impairments."
This really struck me, as some of my Dh's problems may fit into those categories. The verbal and nonverbal communication problems and sensory dysfunction reminded me of how a specialist in California that my Dh saw for a month in 2004 said that he definitely has auditory processing issues. He's hearing what someone is saying, but his brain is not processing it correctly. He also has some problems when he speaks...he will misuse words that someone his age should know how to use properly (he's 25). His writing and spelling is...well, atrocious, and again, not nearly what it should be for an adult. Dh has been diagnosed with pretty bad ADD, dyslexia, and the auditory processing problems. He has had some minor social interaction problems, but I think that is due to a huge lack of self-confidence. Dh has had a hard time keeping jobs due to things like what my FIL described to me yesterday... He told me about how when Dh was around 14 and would want spending money, my FIL would give him a chore to do, but he wouldn't complete the chore. Somehow he wouldn't realize he didn't complete it, though...and it wasn't laziness or just not WANTING to do it right. On the other hand, Dh can also get so focused on one task that the house could fall down around him and he wouldn't notice. He did graduate college and has two associates degrees, but it was a HUGE struggle for him and while he knows a lot on what he studied, his grades were not good. School over-all was not a positive experience. Sometimes when he gets upset, he acts out almost like a child would, and sometimes something very tiny can set him off. I chalked this up to being depressed and stressed, but it isn't far off from similar things described in "Evidence of Harm" and other autism-related things I've read.
Could my Dh be on the autism spectrum? As far as I know, it hasn't come up while dealing with doctors in the past, but I haven't specifically asked the in-laws if it has. He has been fully vaccinated and was in the Marines for about 3 years (honorably discharged), and I'm not sure if he was given any vaxes in the Marines (I'm assuming he did). He's adopted, so I'm not sure how much, if any, medical history from his biological parents had been given to his adoptive parents. He went to the aforementioned specialist, and has seen learning specialists for nearly his whole life, and spent a year in a boarding school for kids with severe learning disabilities. I've never asked if there was a "turning point" when he was very young where he stopped or slowed down in developmental milestones (like I've read and seems to be common in children diagnosed with autism).
Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated... Dh is really having some bad depression due to fear of getting a job and failing at it again. He doesn't want to get any sort of help because it makes him feel like he's incapable or stupid. He's definitely not stupid...he worked in the audio/music field before college, and studied audio engineering. While his grades weren't good (he's a terrible test-taker), he blew teachers away with what he knows on the subject and was by far more advanced in what he knew then other students. But it seems like the problems I mentioned above get in the way with other job tasks...he can do the actual audio-related technical parts of the jobs really well, but the communication is where where he's not performing.
"But many ASD symptoms described him well, such as severe social impairment, verbal and nonverbal communication problems, repetitive behaviors, movement disorder, sensory dysfunction, and cognitive impairments."
This really struck me, as some of my Dh's problems may fit into those categories. The verbal and nonverbal communication problems and sensory dysfunction reminded me of how a specialist in California that my Dh saw for a month in 2004 said that he definitely has auditory processing issues. He's hearing what someone is saying, but his brain is not processing it correctly. He also has some problems when he speaks...he will misuse words that someone his age should know how to use properly (he's 25). His writing and spelling is...well, atrocious, and again, not nearly what it should be for an adult. Dh has been diagnosed with pretty bad ADD, dyslexia, and the auditory processing problems. He has had some minor social interaction problems, but I think that is due to a huge lack of self-confidence. Dh has had a hard time keeping jobs due to things like what my FIL described to me yesterday... He told me about how when Dh was around 14 and would want spending money, my FIL would give him a chore to do, but he wouldn't complete the chore. Somehow he wouldn't realize he didn't complete it, though...and it wasn't laziness or just not WANTING to do it right. On the other hand, Dh can also get so focused on one task that the house could fall down around him and he wouldn't notice. He did graduate college and has two associates degrees, but it was a HUGE struggle for him and while he knows a lot on what he studied, his grades were not good. School over-all was not a positive experience. Sometimes when he gets upset, he acts out almost like a child would, and sometimes something very tiny can set him off. I chalked this up to being depressed and stressed, but it isn't far off from similar things described in "Evidence of Harm" and other autism-related things I've read.
Could my Dh be on the autism spectrum? As far as I know, it hasn't come up while dealing with doctors in the past, but I haven't specifically asked the in-laws if it has. He has been fully vaccinated and was in the Marines for about 3 years (honorably discharged), and I'm not sure if he was given any vaxes in the Marines (I'm assuming he did). He's adopted, so I'm not sure how much, if any, medical history from his biological parents had been given to his adoptive parents. He went to the aforementioned specialist, and has seen learning specialists for nearly his whole life, and spent a year in a boarding school for kids with severe learning disabilities. I've never asked if there was a "turning point" when he was very young where he stopped or slowed down in developmental milestones (like I've read and seems to be common in children diagnosed with autism).
Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated... Dh is really having some bad depression due to fear of getting a job and failing at it again. He doesn't want to get any sort of help because it makes him feel like he's incapable or stupid. He's definitely not stupid...he worked in the audio/music field before college, and studied audio engineering. While his grades weren't good (he's a terrible test-taker), he blew teachers away with what he knows on the subject and was by far more advanced in what he knew then other students. But it seems like the problems I mentioned above get in the way with other job tasks...he can do the actual audio-related technical parts of the jobs really well, but the communication is where where he's not performing.
