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-> Parenting our children
-> Our Challenging Children (gifted, ADHD, sensitive, defiant)
Chana Miriam S
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Fri, Feb 24 2017, 1:10 am
The early diagnosis commentary is in another article. I can't seem to post the link but if you google zwaigenbaum infant sibling study, it's one of the links that comes up under national institutes of health.
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nylon
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Fri, Feb 24 2017, 12:26 pm
My son couldn't talk. They didn't want to say "autism" when EI evaluated.
A lot of the early signs people mentioned are nonspecific--that is, it's not that they aren't typical of autism but they could be other things too.
The red flag for me was that my 2yo could neither point nor follow a distal point. He could follow a proximal point--that is, if I pointed at a book we were reading, he could follow. But he could not follow if I pointed across the room, and if he wanted something, he would grab my hand and take me to it. He also did not show joint attention. This type of very clear deficit in nonverbal communication skills shows up around age 2. There are subtle signs earlier, but they're harder for parents to spot.
People can overemphasize skills like eye contact. He makes eye contact. We had to pay more attention to the fact that it's not instinctive to him. If you get his attention he'll look right at you.
It all depends on the type of autism a child has. The type formerly known as Aspergers, which doesn't involve an early language delay (which is more likely to result in early diagnosis) may not be apparent until the child is a little older. There are clues but they may not be specific because the child's difficulties don't show up until they have issues with higher level language and social skills. It may be obvious that the child is in some way "quirky" but it isn't clear exactly how.
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Chana Miriam S
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Fri, Feb 24 2017, 1:14 pm
I'm currently sitting next to DS who is doing his construction math homework for his community college course. His DX remains PDD-NOS.
We went to a number of doctors before he was diagnosed at 3.4. One told us there was nothing wrong. Another told us to come back when he was six. The one who finally did something productive was the one who referred us to the local children's hospital which had screening in place. Through the screening I remember I kept saying- I know he sounds normal, but really I know there's an issue. I have no idea whether he might have slipped through the screening had I not repeatedly said that, but they saw us. Our dev. Ped. Knew within15 minutes without any fancy testing. He said we were welcome to a second opinion but to take the dx because then we would get services. Since we were also referred to a PDD team, he said they'd catch it if he didn't belong on their service.
The team was made up of behaviour therapist, speech path, doctor of course and it seems like there were a couple of more I just don't remember it was so long ago.
We became socially friendly with our doc later ( Jewish, kids in same school) and I asked him outright how certain he had been after 15 minutes and if it took 15 minutes, why he took 2 hours to tell us. He said that he knew but it is such a massive thing to tell a parent, he felt that parents need to go through the assessment process as well, so that they can see and hear what he looks for and sees.
At 21, my son displays exactly what the doctor said would happen. He had speech by three, so the prognosis was better than with a non verbal kid. DS is actually incredibly verbose and writes amazingly well. He has 98% in his current essay writing class at community college. I go through his course notes and try to make sure he gets everything done. But he is the one getting the grades. I have an English degree and he writes better than I do!
He also has executive skills in the first percentile. So if he doesn't know how to do something he has 99% chance less of getting it himself than a person who is in the 99 th percentile. He is three weeks behind in math because he could not figure out that he needed a calculator to do factoring. He was doing it in his HEAD. Factoring is when you multiply a number by every number below it down to zero. Seriously, try it from 10, Without a calculator. So we get Everest highs with Dead Sea lows.
I'm sitting next to him through all his work because if I don't he gets off task insanely easily.
He is actually a mensch, with an insane gift for Jewish learning ( although he really wants to do architectural technology) and learning in yeshiva to smicha would have been an amazing way for him to make a career. He is also great with kids and would make a great teacher. Alas, he wants this architectural thing.
So we do our best to sit with him, help him and try to ensure he will be able to do what he loves. If he doesn't get 60 % in this class, he won't be admitted to the programme. If that happens, we think he should focus on his writing.
I'm not sure why I am telling you all of this except to say that you NEED to follow your instincts. We were very lucky to have a developmental pediatrician who KNEW what he was doing. If he had told me to come back after another three years, I was willing to pay outside our free medical system here in Canada to get an answer sooner. Heck, I'd already been told by one schmuck ( who was later charged with molestation of teen boys) to come back in three years. When I thought about how much intervention time would have been lost had I followed his advice,
It makes me queasy. The sooner intervention starts, the better the outcome.
You follow your gut. YOU are the specialist in your child. And my PDD team taught me that.
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