Aspergers/Autism/Sensory Integration Chatter #4

[loulabelle]

Hi everyone,

I keep meaning to pop in here, although we are only going through the diagnosis journey now. Hope you don't mind me crashing the thread. It just seems like this is the best place for advice and info.

We should have ds's diagnosis on the 20th, seems so far away but, i know that's actually really quick.

Had an appointment yesterday, I'm not sure what about what she is thinking. She said ds is definitely more than just shy, he seems threatened. She mentioned tactile defensiveness a few times and said there looks to be strong sensory issues. She did say he isn't autistic, but that he does have some of the symptoms. As for his development, he's above normal mentally but a little below in fine motor.

So, all in all, I'm just completely lost! I keep going over what this could mean, is he just this way and that's l there is to it, will he need treatment, is there a name for this? I don't think I could bare being told that he just is this way and they can't help him. I want him to be happy and I'm struggling to do that by myself.

Sorry for the vent, and crashing your thread.

X

[~mamaspice~]

Thats awesome freya :yay:

Clover and loulabelle, all the best for getitng your diagnosises done and dusted.

I kind of feel like I'm not sure if I belong here yet either seeing as we havent been diagnosed yet. I'm still pretty sure DD has aspergers, although quite mild. I've been reading a book at the moment that talks about how girls are often more difficult to diagnose as they learn to camoflage some of their behaviours from a very young age. The book is called The complete guide to Aspergers syndrome by Tony Attwood. He's a clinical pychologist in Brisbane who works with and diagnoses aspy kids and adults.
Another reason why I'm convinced she is an aspy kid is I'm certain my DH has it, and they have striking similarities. He has never been officially diagnosed (apart from his paed telling his mother he thought he was mildly autistic as a toddler - to which my MIL refused to acknowledge). Does anyone else here have a spouse or other family member who has signs? I've read that 40% of aspy kids have a parent who has it too.

DD has been very tough of late. I think it's a mixture of her aspy tendancies with the usual 3 year old defiance added into the mix. Oh boy...

Just to bounce something off you all. How has your child been when you have added siblings? DD is getting used to DS but when I ask her if she wants another brother or sister she always replies with a definite NO! I would dearly love another bub (unless we're having a bad day then I'm like, that's it! I couldn't handle another, lol), but I worry how DD will cope and that it will compromise the amount of time I can put int DD if that makes sense. I almost feel guilty for wanting another ITMS.

[Freya]

MamaSpice - my DH has Aspergers traits. Ive always said that socially he is beyond unusual. He doesnt have any social understanding, I cant take him anywhere because he is embarrassing and he always says things that are not appropriate. He's good at not doing it if I ask him to but esp when its just he and I, he says things and I have to say "Dude, you cant say things like that!" and he gets all annoyed because he doesnt see why not. He has friends but they are few and far between and usually through me making friends with their spouses. Otherwise he is happy to be a loner. Funnily enough, its only been the last month or two that Dh has said to me "I think Rip is like this because Im like this, maybe I have ASD too. Would explain alot." Even my MIL has commented that if DH was a kid today he'd be diagnosed with ASD. There is also speculation about my father and brother (I def think my brother is Aspie too but he is 18 and kind of passed the diagnosis stage).

Today is the first day of our new life I guess. Rip has had a good day so far, no meltdowns but I havent really expected anything of him so we'll see what happens in a minute when I have to dress him and go to speech therapy. He's always better when we have a whatever day, he can do his thing and I dont harrass him about doing this or that. Plus he slept all night last night (yay!) so he is prob in a bit better mood.

One thing Ive wondered about it the whole stimming thing. Im not entirely sure Rip does it? If we are butting heads with him because he isnt behaving (ie running away at the shops, squealing, punching his brothers etc) he sort of goes lax and drops his body weight, closes his eyes and smiles. Its really weird. I end up having to carrying him or hold him until he suddenly just comes good again. He also tends to jump repeatedly, or flicks his fingers. Are these things classed as stimming?? He also has verbal outburts of jibberish or just loud sounds, esp if your asking him to do something like say "Pick up your lego Rip" "Put your clothes on Rip". The jibberish talk has increased alot lately, even though we know he has a good vocab even with the speech issues.

[~mamaspice~]

Freya, my DH sometimes says things that come across as rude in social situations. He can also come across as ungrateful. I guess it's the honesty thing. Aspy people are often said to be profoundly honest. He also takes things literally sometimes when it's clearly not meant to be. And he is not very good with empathy. If he sees someone physically hurt he will have empathy but emotionally, he has trouble getting it. There have been situations where DH is 2 meters away from DS and DS is crying really upset and I have to say to DH - pick up your son he is upset. From an emotional perspective i feel very alone in our marriage ITMS.
Anyway, enough about that.

I'm not sure about stimming sorry. But I can say that DD has been doing the jibberish lately too. She can talk perfectly well but has recently been going through a stage where you cant understand a word she is saying. She does the random noise thing too.

[Yeddi]

He also tends to jump repeatedly, or flicks his fingers. Are these things classed as stimming?? He also has verbal outburts of jibberish or just loud sounds, esp if your asking him to do something like say "Pick up your lego Rip" "Put your clothes on Rip". The jibberish talk has increased alot lately, even though we know he has a good vocab even with the speech issues.

Yep, that's stimming. It's another way of saying a repeated physical behaviour. They'll usually use it in a situation when they're in a hightened emotional state (over-excited, anxious) or when they need more sensory input to process something. It helps them calm and organise themselves, but it is an indicator that something is up that you might have to look into.