Mild Case of Autism ???

Actually, PDD-NOS is the "mildest" form of autism. You can just google PDD-NOS if you'd like to learn more.

Hi T.,

I have twin girls with autism, please feel free to ask me any questions,. I will try to answer them to the best of my ability and if I don't have an answer for you I will try to point you in the right direction.
There are many different types of autism and I can honestly say no 2 children are alike even with identical twins their autism is different.
P.

Take your doctor's advice and get him tested immediately. There is an Autism Spectrum, with Asberger's Syndrome as a very mild form. In the mild form, it can be difficult to diagnose, and so testing is important. Also, with early intervention, mild forms of Autism can often be successfully treated so that your son should be able to live a normal life. When I worked in daycare, I dealt with a girl with Asberger's Syndrome as well as a boy with full-blown Autism. Because of early intervention, the boy was able to make progress in leaps and bounds, whereas the girl's family ignored her problem and she was eventually in worse condition than the boy. If the testing comes back positive, you will be able to talk to the testers and your doctors about the important next steps. Catching this and dealing with this early is key.

Most states have programs that are cheap on a sliding scale or totally free. In Indiana, it's done in-home until the age of three and then through the school system. Check into what programs Ohio offers to help you.

I have a 17 year old son with Aspergers autism. Looking back, the signs were there all along, but he was not diagnosed until he was in 4th grade. Some of the things he had were speech problems, lack of eye contact, and when in a group of kids, he did not participate in the group activities. He preferred to do his own thing - not being disruptive, just not doing the activity. If they were doing a play, he would stand there, not doing the hand motions to the songs like the other kids. He was also super intelligent - knew credit card logos at age 1, all the states on the map at age two, etc. I would hesitate to use the word mild to describe any case of autism. Milder, maybe, but it does impact so much of a person's life. With therapy, that can be helped. Another thing, my son is double-jointed in his fingers, and I found out that a lot of autistic kids are and that is what makes handwriting so difficult. Occupational therapy helped him a lot. Some are overly sensitive to noise, and some have digestive symptoms, that can be treated with diet. My son has a high pain tolerance. Such that he would say his ears did not hurt and the doctor would say he had a raging ear infection. This past week, he had an infected ingrown toenail. He noticed a white spot and that there was discharge, etc. But no pain. Even when the nurse had to mess with it to get the culture. So we have to always tell the doctors to not rely on pain or the lack thereof as an indicator with him. I would get him evaluated. There is so much hope and the earlier the interventions the better.

T.:
My son was diagnosed with mild Autism at the age of 2.5 It was pretty ironic, because I am a Special Ed teacher, who worked with Autistic Children for 11 years! I know the feeling of a crushed heart, but this diagnosis actually brought my son, husband and I closer together.
First, THE LABEL DOES NOT MATTER, what is important is that you get him the help and therapy that he needs. Get him speech therapy, Occupational and Physical Therapy, and perhaps Play Therapy or the Floortime Method (kind of a combo therapy of Speech/Language and social interactive skills, developed by Dr. Stanly Greenspan). Since he is already 3, get your school system involved AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Hopefully they will be good and supportive, but be sure that you educate yourself and prepare to stand up for your son and your self.
When you are with him, do your best to "engage him" - have conversations with him, and work with him to "complete conversation circles" - when you ask him a question, make sure he gives you a full response (even if you have to coach him), and then have a comment back to him, so that the conversation has a few back and forths.
If he seems to have some sensory sensitivities (certain sounds, touch, etc), that is good for you to work on also, they often love massages, and that will help with touch sensitivities. And work with him on things like balance and motor skills when ever you can. Standing on one foot, picking up pennies with 2 fingers, wheel barrow races, etc, will help with his motor skills and clumsiness.
Good luck!

Is your son socail? I have a 3 year old son. He has a language disability (originally diagnosed as a speech delay) and he is a little clumsy. He has been diagnosed as having apraxia. Other then the speech delay and the coodrination issues he does not match the austism diagnosis. I have had a lot of good intentioned people tell me my son is autistic but according to the specialists he most definately is not. So before you get depressed get him tested.

Also either way early intervention is best so your fisrt step is getting him tested. If your doctor did not recommend anyone, your first step would be to contact your local school district and request testing.. At 3 your son is too old for Help me Grow. Good Luck if you need someone to talk to please feel free to email me.

Hmm I'd first suggest that you contact your local school district and see what pre-k and early childhood help the offer for autism. Then I'd see if there's a local support group for parents. Those parents will be able to best guide you to help and services in your area. Autism ranges from mild to severe and can be best diagnosed by a pediatric psychiatrist. Check with your hospital to see who they have . Good luck

It would be a good idea to have him tested. Is the doctor looking at developmental delays??? This is what tipped us off with our 11 year old who has autism. Socially, he had a lot of delays but intelligence wise he is very smart. He just has his own way of learning things. The sooner you know about the autism. Be sure you have him tested with a developmental pediatric neurologist. We went to a local children's hospital. It seems like someone just knocked the wind out of you, but you are your child's best advocate in this situation. Educate yourself as much as possible. Autism is a spectrum disorder which means the level of autism varies from child to child. Autism Speaks is a great organization to get information from and a great resource for networking with other parents. Take a deep breath and know that you have hundreds of parents in the same situation. Including me.

K.

My son was diagnosed with autism at 2 and a half due to speech delays, social delays etc. I got him into occupational therapy which can help them with sensory disorders that are common in autistic children and speech therapy. He is now 4 and enrolled in a special needs preschool speaking 4-5 word sentences and interacting with peers and teachers he has come a long way. My advice would be to research organizations for example in Franklin county Ohio they have Help me Grow ,which is where I lived, they help you get started and give you directories of services available and help you understand the condtion more. Most importantly early intervention is key in autism and children with autism can live normal lives if caught early enough and dependant upon severity. If your son only has a mild case of it there is a good chance he would respond well to therapy. Another suggestion is to get a hold of your local MRDD which can also provide services. I was told with my son the more therapy the better and he still surprises me everyday with what he is capable of doing.

I have been in the MRDD field for about seven years now and I've worked with alot of people who have autism. No two people with a form of autism is alike, just like if you have 2 kids they aren't alike despite what they have in common.

You could ask your doctor for more information-as to where to take your son to get him tested further. You can call your local hospital and see if they can help. Also check with your county-the MRDD side of it (Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Although most of them are or will be changing their name to DD-Developmental Disabilities) and they will be able to help you with everything you need. Also look into Head Start programs or especially Early Intervention, they will not only help your son but they will help you and give you tips as to what you can do with him at home.

The most mild form of autism is asperger's syndrome. I have a cousin who has it, and for the most part he's a typical kid, but he lacks social skills.

My friends daughter has autism but she grew up surrounded my family so where most autistic people shy away from people, she will at first but then once she sees you again she's fine.

So it really just varies.

You said he's starting to have tantrums. That could be because of his age or b/c his speech is delayed he is getting upset because you can't understand what he is saying or what he wants.

A Website to check out is http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/asd.cfm

I think you are in Stark County-but I could be wrong, but here is Stark County MR/DD's website, I would definately give them a call.
http://www.starkmrdd.org/about-us/about-us.html I would start with the school first and go from there.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask. I know this must seem shocking, and scary and very overwhelming for you, but just take it one day at a time.

If your son does have autism, I will say treat him like he is a normal boy, don't try to sugar coat anything for him because it won't help him when he gets older. I've worked with adults who are worse than kids because when they were younger their parents gave in to them and they are severally delayed because of it.

Tisha,

I have three kids on the spectrum. Autism ranges in severity and every kid is different. My experience has been that pediatricians know VERY little about autism, autism treatment, and the related developmental issues.

My suggestion to you is that you make an appointment with a Developmental Pediatrican, you can find these at your nearest childrens hospital. This may take a long time, so in the mean time, make an appointment with speech therapist and occupational therapist for evaluation and start both speech and occupational therapy.

The developmental pediatrician should answer all your questions and do a complete evaluation that gives you a blue print for what to do and will be the bottom line for you about what his diagnosis really is. Until you have a comprehensive evaluation, you really don't know if this is autism, or something else, so take a deep breath, and get him as much therapy as you can afford right away. The one thing you can count on is that early intervention is the most successful.

You can also contact your local school district. They are repsonsible for locating and serving all children 3 and up with disablities. You should not let this be the definative evaluation, but you might be able to suplement his therapy with public services. The school is responsible for seeing that he will be functional in the classroom, but you will always want to give him more therapy so that you maximize his potential, there is a huge difference.

Good luck, email anytime.

M.

I see you posted this this past January, I was wondering if you had some answers now? My daughter will be going through testing next week and like your son was told to possibly have a mild case, she is really walking that fine line. People who know her and love her, says well there is something different we just can't put our thumb on it, just like my husband and I. So I guess now I am asking you do you have any advice?

I'm sorry I tried to respond yesterday but the system would not let me. I have a 11 year old son who was diagnosed with speech delay at 3. We were able to get him in school and speech therapy at 3 and a half. Our school district did a multifaceted evaluation on him. He was identified as needing speech and language therapy and started getting services during the school year after his third birthday. What I don;t like about diagnosing autism is that it is not the diagnosis that we need to focus on but the specific deficiencies. My son was not diagnosed on the autism spectrum until he was in the fourth grade. His actual diagnosis is PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) which I think it means he does not fit the criteria of all the other ones but he has a few deficiencies so we will throw him into this bucket to give him a diagnosis. I have documented every therapy and activity he has been involved in since he was 3. DO not focus on the diagnosis. Identify what he needs and get it. I don;t know what state you are in but if you are in Ohio go to your school district and get the evaluation done. Talk to your doctor. You need to work with a pediatric neurologist. Get your doctor to prescribe speech therapy. In Ohio kids can get their speech therapy free through the district. ( once the evaluation identifies him as needing it). I know you are in shock but if you start focusing on how to help your child it will help you deal with this situation. I am willing to share with you whatever you need. You would be surprised how many kids are in our schools who would be considered mild autistic whose parents don;t know it.

You are lucky that someone recognized the signs while your child is young. Mine is 15 and it was only last year that I knew his trouble was Asbergers.
I would get in touch with the school system. My child went to a program called Early Intervention at two and a half years old and later went to a special pre school for three years. He started kindergarten at six in regular classes, but by first grade he was being tested for special ed.
What I have learned is that you have to be very pro active and make sure the school is getting through to the child.
I heard there are special schools for Autistic Children, but I am not sure where they are located.

There is a wonderful organization called The Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities. They have people who will help you advocate for your child.

There is so much help available now for Asbergers kids, and the government subsidizes much of it.

For me it was wonderful to begin to understand why my kid did some of the wierd stuff he did.

Good luck, and remember, Holland is nice too, even if you meant to go to France.

there is a wide spectrum in the autism disorder.
You can google and find many resources.
If you live in Terre haute call the Hamilton Center ###-###-#### (Child adolescent department)
they have people there who have experience working with children with Autism. (you can call even if not in Terre Haute)(Dawn would be a good contact, but I am sure there are others as well)
Best Wishes

try the website www.autismspeaks.org they have support groups and they are very good.

Sounds just like our grandson. Take advantage of all services and testing...there is much help available.
Be pro-active.
Expect good behavior from your boy, he is capable of it.
Help him to focus on you and others.
Our grandson is four and 1/2 now and he goes to pre-school and has an aide in the classroom.
He is doing very well interacting with others, loves to go swimming, play the piano, and loves numbers, letters and can read.
It is a lot of work, but you will be able to help him so much.

Please don't wait to take him for testing. My grandson is 8 with severe autism. Be thankful he is saying anything. My grandson started school one and a half years ago. Best thing that ever happened to him. He is now potty trained, can dress himself, lets you know if he wants something. The sooner they get help the better. My son and his wife didn't want to admit there was anything wrong with him. She left two years ago. I now take care of him while my son works. He still throws tantrums because they get frustrated not being able to let someone know what they want or need but it gets a little better each day. Teach him just like you would any other child and even if he doesn't talk to you he is still learning. And above all don't spoil him because you do pay for that later believe me. There is a lot of help out there don't isolate yourself or your son. These are all things we are now having to work on. He is just like everyone else, but he is wired differently. One time we took my grandson into a busy restaurant. Of course this made him scream. I over heard some men saying things about him not behaving. It really went through me and I went over to them and said " I am so sorry if he is bothering you but he has autism and he too needs to get out of the house." They stammered and said oh oh thats okay he isn't bothering us. People need to get use to children with autism considering one in one hundred and fifty has it. And the number just keeps climbing.
Keep your chim up and live life just as normal as you can.

T.....There is a walk every year for Autism, which I attend. The walk is May 22 at Coney Island. There are tables set up with gobs of info on the subject. There is also a kickoff event on February 27th 10:30 at the Great Wolf Lodge at Kings Island in Cincinnati. They can give you info there as well. It's important to start early on your childs development. Your doctor should have referred you to someone. You start seeing problems about the age of 2-3.