Anyone have children with autism?

[BeNotAfraid]

I'm not sure where to start, but I have suspected for a while that my oldest daughter (4)might have aspberger's. I didn't tell her ped my suspicions, but I did start keeping notes of signs. Took the list to her doctor's appointment yesterday and he brought up the possibility. We are going back next week for a more in depth consultation. I'm not completely convinced that's what it is, but I want to cover all the bases. It was such a relief that a doctor was finally taking me seriously instead of blowing me off, like a weight off my shoulders.

On top of that, we have been watching my middle child (2) for soft markers of autism (head banging, mild stimming, slow to hit milestones and delayed speech). I am hanging onto the fact that his speech is improving dramatically and not regressing at all.

What should I expect throught his process? How long will it take to get a diagnosis either way, and then when can we start therapy? We are fortunate that our kids pediatrician has a son with autism so he's very "up" on the lastest research and very knowledgeable. We love him and he is so good with both the kids and parents :)

I feel so blessed right now because the Lord is really lifting us up in ways I never could have imagined. At the same time that we are 100% reliant on Him just to get through the day, I can actually see him building a support system around me that has been nonexistent to this point. God is so good!

[CircleSlide]

My son is autistic he is 12 and was dx'ed when he was 6. He was on many medications until this past Christmas and because of an allergic reaction he came off all of them. He has many medical conditions. But has shown outstanding improvement since taking him off the medication. His anxiety has diminished greatly as has many of his autistic tendencies. Not sure if this has to do with age, or being off medication, or things are just clicking, but we take it as answered prayer!

We had a doctor who blew us off, I had concerns at around 12 months, finally we took our son in for counseling because his Kindergarten teacher just said something is just not working right, she had taught for 20 years and had not seen a case like his, and really didn't know what to do for him.

We took him to a different doctor and imminently he said I think there is a problem. He sent us to have him evaluated and they gave us the dx of Autism, anxiety disorder, mood disorder, short term memory loss, and adhd (but adhd is just because of being over stimulated all the time , he also had many learning difficulties.

Not sure what will happen in your case but for us we were sent to childhood psychologist, a neuropsychologist, and a neurologist to all get the evaluation. The initial appointment was with my husband and I and then they took our son for a brief meeting. After that another two day meeting was scheduled each appointment took about 4 hours for my son, they also asked me many questions and I had to fill out many questionnaires. Once all that was completed we came back in a week or so later to go over the results.

But ever autistic parent has a different story. I really shortened my story. If you have any questions then please just ask!

[LARAGDOLL]

My nephew was recently diagnosed with autism "aspbergers" He is turning 4 this month. I really suspected it as early as 6 months (if you can believe that). This year he was enrolled in a pre-school program to help encourage his speech. This program has been wonderful considering his entire "behavior" (for lack of better word). I see a major change in him overall. He is not and has never been on any meds.

[BeNotAfraid]

My nephew was recently diagnosed with autism "aspbergers" He is turning 4 this month. I really suspected it as early as 6 months (if you can believe that). This year he was enrolled in a pre-school program to help encourage his speech. This program has been wonderful considering his entire "behavior" (for lack of better word). I see a major change in him overall. He is not and has never been on any meds.

Yes, I believe it! Now that I look back at my daughter she was a little different as a baby than the other two. She hated loud noises, bright lights, etc... She could be sound asleep as a newborn and if you took her into Wal Mart of a restaurant she flipped out. She doens't have any speech delays, though. She actually has above-average intelligence/speech, which is why we "missed" her issues for so long.

[tygerkittn]

My oldest son, who is 21, has aspergers. I have my suspicions about a couple of the younger ones, but I didn't get them immunized, and they're very mild, if they have it.
My oldest son was so hard to raise when he was little, he was so anxious, and he wouldn't let me out of his sight, sometimes I thought I'd go insane if I didn't have some time to myself, he wore shorts and a Tshirt all winter, which is actually a symptom, he couldn't stand noise he had no control over (IPods are wonderful!) he never went outside unless he had to, and he always wore sunglasses if he did, he didn't know how to talk to other kids, he just wanted to play video games. For school, I started out having to carry him there in my arms, and he'd throw up on the playground as we were walking, and I'd leave him in front of his class, the teacher would say she'd take it from here, and thirty minutes later they'd be calling me to come back and get him, then they threatened to have me arrested for truancy because he wasn't staying at school all day. That's when I started home schooling. Since he got to be with me all day, he liked it and did the work.
He would only use the bathroom at home, so we couldn't go anywhere more than a few minutes from home in case he had to go, so I could get him back in time. He has aspergers and OCD (he still washes his hands a million times a day, and once the water was turned off while DH worked on a leaking pipe, and I thought I was gonna have to take him to a gas station to wash his hands, he was getting upset.
Now that he grown, he's a different person, I'd say his symptoms are fairly mild now. He still likes video games, and all his friends are in cyberspace, but he has a job, he's a good worker, he has a girlfriend he's flown up to see a couple of times, the change is wonderfully amazing!
The advantages of an autistic child are, they are very logical, they seldom lie, they see things in black and white, not shades of gray, my oldest daughter is 12 now, and I'm retroactively appreciating my son's honesty when he was that age!
The only thing, since childhood he always regarded everyone as equal, and he never understood that children have one set of rules and kids have another. I read that Thomas Jefferson had aspergers, and he was a great proponent of equality. That just may be an aspect of the "not being able to see shades of gray" thing. Now that he's older, he can logically appreciate that grown ups have one set of rules of behavior, and kids have a different set, but back then it eluded him, he thought if I was still up, he shouldn't have to go to bed, etc.
I can say from experience it gets better, it get much much better.
My best friend has an autistic daughter, she didn't even speak anymore after she was immunized, my friend put her on a dairy, wheat, and gluten free diet, as long as she doesn't have any of those foods, she's fine, but even playing with play doh (which has wheat) can make her behavior change for the worse. Seeing the miraculous change that diet made for her, I'd recommend it. My oldest son won't try it, he's going through a microwave burrito phase, that's all he'll eat, but he's so much better now anyway that I don't think it would make a huge difference.

[Raptureorbust]

My Grandson was finally just diagnosed (he has lived with us since birth). He is now 3 1/2. There were symptoms very early, things that make you go :thinking and you forget it until the list gets too long to ignore any more -even before the MMR shots. So it has been a long road to this point.


We just had the Fragile X Syndrome Blood work done on Friday. Warning, they took 5 vials of blood from him. For my Grandson and anyone in the building, this was a harrowing experience, but it does finally get over. Even though they had to restart the process 3 times. It probably would have been easier if I hadn't been there....

After we get those results his Dr will set up a Neurologist appointment. I think at that point they will run scans to look for Tuberous Sclerosis. That sounds scary but at the end of the day isn't much worse than a diagnosis of Autism in the scheme of things. He only has a few things on the list for TS but they want to be thorough while we are at it. That is a huge a blessing.

Autism is progressive so finding out early on is vital to everyone.

So I am not really giving you a whole lot more than you already have. Other than stay close to Jesus and this awesome saying I am so trying to remember (Disclosure: I have blown this a few times over already): Be Excellent Where You Are.

You might want to rent the HBO Documentary Autism: The Musical. Basically it gives you a behind the scenes look at how the various types of Autism can affect the family. I felt blessed to see it. If nothing else ~ will give you a good cry which is very therapeutic.

[Biblenuggetlady]

My youngest son is autistic. It was frustrating for us because we knew there were problems from infancy. I really feared that he was mentally retarded. Anyway, like many autistic families, we kept taking him to doctor after doctor and they knew he had a developmental problem but not sure what, they couldn't put their finger on it. He was sent to another doctor who screened for Fractured X and when that came back negative we were sent to a psychiatrist and neurologist who specialized in autism for evaluation. The testing he went thru was extensive. Once we had the diagnosis, he became qualified for early intervention. He attended that for a year before being put in the general pop. for Kindergarten. We were lucky that we got a great teacher, but he just couldn't keep up with the other kids and we held him back in 1st grade as his K teacher moved to first grade, so he went with her and then was held back with her another year. When he continued not to progress we had another IEP done and he got services for speach and reading. When we moved, he was in 3rd grade now and very behind the other kids and they wanted to hold him back yet again. We landed in a FANTASTIC school who re-evaluated him and completely re-did his IEP program and got him more service. He graduates from 6th grade next week, but will not go into the general population for Jr High, there is no way for him to continue to get by or be accepted socially with the other kids now that they are getting at that age. He will attend a special program in the school system that is for autistic children.

Long story short, early diagnosis and intervention is key. Push for all the services your child is entitled to, it makes a big difference. Trust your gut instincts and be pushy. Medication does help my son, but each case is so different. At 12 he was still wetting the bed everynight, but an increase in meds stopped it. :yeah If you get a diagnosis check with your school for an early IEP evaluation and enrollment in an early intervention program. You might want to check your aread for what is called, Regional Center. It is a state funded program that gives services to autistic children and they come to your home, no cost to you.

Hope this helps, I know there are a lot of parents here with autistic children who can also help with input. I pray for your child to get the right diagnosis and help, and that the Lord comfort and lead you in getting them the help they will need. :pray

[Pat Hood]

My youngest daughter also is autistic, from birth. We didn't get any signs until she was about 3 months old, when she was sitting in my in-laws sitting room. My SIL who was a teacher of young children moved towards her and there was an awful scream. A lot of previous things mentioned were the same as Mandy's - rocking, general round of doctors, drugs of all kinds, a love of classical music etc. She went to Kinder, then referred to a Special school also a school for older children with special needs. No help from the government at all, so it was a bit of a fight. We looked after her until she was 18 years old and we were forced to put her in a hospital as she became violent. She is now in her own unit, where she was given a variety of drugs and she has put on a lot of weight. However, she has had treatment with a psychiatrist who has taken her off all her drugs except one. She has a job and buys her own clothes. To our great delight, she is reading the bible with us at our home church bible study. Maybe she'll understand more as time goes by.

[ANewCreature]

Yes, I believe it! Now that I look back at my daughter she was a little different as a baby than the other two. She hated loud noises, bright lights, etc... She could be sound asleep as a newborn and if you took her into Wal Mart of a restaurant she flipped out. She doens't have any speech delays, though. She actually has above-average intelligence/speech, which is why we "missed" her issues for so long.

And, that's why it's so confusing - because Asperger's is a spectrum consition, it is very easy to miss.

I'm forwarding this thread to a friend whose son might have it - don't know if he'll join or not, but just reading will likely help him. Well, okay, his wife would hve post here since it's for women; but, men can be concerned, too. (I'm sure y'all are decent in here :-) I just posted to tell you I was sending it, since my friend is conerend about that. Y'all can delete it if you want since I'm not a woman. :-) Just noticed that part on the board about reserving it for women.

Oh, well, one of ou post something in the men's now to get back at us. :-)

[Pat Hood]

Has anyone found that their son/daughter has a favourite parent ? Mandy has been "daddy's girl" all the way along, and this has applied also to our niece aged 3 years old when she was diagnosed. Lucy is also "daddy's girl". It used to hurt so much in the early years, but of course I gradually accepted it as being another part of Mandy.