Miss.B , does he specialise in ASD? I don't want to dismiss your dr , you know your son best & it sounds like the pead has a good history with your son. But I have to be honest & say I think he is missing the early signs. Your DS is 16 months? If you continue to see these behaviors over the next few months can you promise you will look further. Check with your local community health child development unit about referring your son for a developmental screening. if you do it now, when he comes up on the waiting list he will be a few months older. Here in Cairns the CDU screens for ASD.
I don't want to be a downer & i is great that your pead has given you some comfort that his behaviors are normal for his age. But My gut says he might be off the mark on this one. Keep it in the back of your head, take note (actually write it down) of things he does that you feel are not right. Video tape him even (camera phones are great for those on the spot moments). When the time comes, IF it comes you will be glad you kept a record of things. It will help.
eta - Have a watch of some of this ladies you tube clips. She uploads her sons behaviors as a way of other parents to see behaviors that they too maybe concerned about & are unsure if its "normal". It goes right back to when he was little little. http://www.youtube.com/user/joleenlove
It might help you decide if you need to look further into the possibility of ASD.
Miss.B - So glad you finally feel listened to and validated in your concerns. AND, for the 'good news' about DS. Your paed. sounds very thorough and supportive too. I agree that you should keep an eye on your DS (as all good parents do anyway, regardless!) over the next six months and see how things go. Sounds like you're gonna have a mobile DS soon too!
Just Me - I've filled out a lot of ASD screening forms for students in my teaching career and I agree you need to be making that appointment. As a teacher, it's horrible to see children struggle when you know they could be thriving with the right help. I think you have the right attitude. Hang in there!
Supportive threads like these make me realise how great BB is!
Efjay, thanks for you feedback hun, and I really thank you for your honesty too. Sometimes we don't want to hurt people's feelings Although I am happy that the paed has put my mind at ease, I did walk away with the thought that we will come back in 6 months and re assess things again. I'm not sure if DS's paed has got the experience with ASD, I would only hope that in his 20 odd years of experience he would notice anything that might be of concern. I promise to keep an eye on DS! I'll also look into the developental sceening too, thanks hun. The pead has suggested certain things to try to avert his attention from flapping his arms, so we will try that. I do have a diary that I keep that keeps track of all his milestones and things that he does that concern me, and even the paed said to take video recordings of things that concerm me if I want to take it further down the line. He's pretty good like that. I watched the youtube clips hun, but the boy is much older than DS so it's hard to see what he was doing when he was around DS's age. It was interesting to watch and I have seen other clips on youtube as well. Thanks for the link hun & your advice again. Can I ask, with your two little ones that you are having evaluated ATM, what things do they do and when did you get worried/suspicious?
Both my boys are high functioning. With Evan we had concerns from an early age (about 3) about his level of anxiety & obsessive behaviours. As the years went on & school approached he become more anxious & the agressive meltdowns started. He has a very high need for his expectations to be met, if things change or don't go the way he had set in his head, no matter how unrealistic his expectations are, he has a fit. The meltdowns can last hours. Our pead first said Aspergers but then said PDD-NOS. But she is reassessing that as I do feel aspergers is him all over. Evan is really single minded. its his way or the highway. He will argue for HOURS about things he has no idea about because he thinks he is right.
Glenn, to be honest I completely missed, said eh was a drama queen, middle child syndrome & a sook. It wasn't until the end of last year just after he turned 6 that I questioned his over the top reaction to things. He would get out of the car for school & drop his bag & he would react like he just witnessed his beloved pet cat get run over or something. His teacher agreed that he was much more a "sook" then other kids his age. So we were concerned that he was suffering with depression. Then I met my SIL's son when we moved to cairns who is PDD-NOS & they are so alike. Glenn also spins & runs in circles, he use to lick metal things & mirrors. He doesn't remember any of the kids names in his class, he switches off & will seem like he is in a bubble when we go out to the shops or crowded places. He doesn't respond to his name unless you scream it at him. He has little to no empathy, he thinks jokes about death & dieing are pretty funny. He comments inappropriately about peoples appearance (weight etc) He also has meltdowns but in a different way to Evan, One of Glenn's big triggers is not being listened too. So if he talking about something & trying to explain something & you cut him off & don't let him finish he freaks out. Because of his speech he can be hard to understand at times & he really struggles when someone doesn't understand what he means, Last term at school he pushed his desk over because he didn't get to finsih telling the teacher why he wanted to do something, she just cut him off & said NO its time to go inside. He would have been ok with that IF she just let him say "But I wanted to do XYZ first" she could have then said, No im sorry Glenn its time to come in. But she didn't she just cut him off & said No. Glenn was also speech delayed. The pead has diagnosed Glenn with High functioning Autism.
Both boys also have other processing issues. Evan has a diagnosed visual processing disorder. Glenn we suspect has an auditory processing problem, his hearing is fine but he just doesn't respond like he should. He will have that tested once he has turned 7.
Both boys though, its the social side that is most effected, Evan mostly he just has no idea how to play with kids his age.
Iain, is my next one on the list, he seems to be speech delayed also & has behaviours that concern me so I will be having a chat with the pead & see what she says, I think he is fine BUT its hard not to be paranoid.
Hi Fiona and thanks for your response. I guess it just shows that a parent's intuition is most often right! I was just thinking that maybe the reason my DS's paed suggested to come in 6 months is becasue it's just too early to diagnose or pick up anything? He said that when he starts walking his behaviour will most likely change, so maybe that's why he wants to wait a while??? I'm thinking Dec or Jan next year, which will make DS 21/22 months. The paed said that because he has very limited vocab, but not unusual for his age (only says 3 or so words the rest is real jeebrish although the jeebrish has really intensified in the last couple of weeks) he is getting frasturated becasue he can't tell us what he wants and uses his hands/arms/legs to convey his emotions across. In terms of relating to other kids, he loves interacting with the other toddlers at gymbaroo which is good. He also has excellent eye contact and responds to his name and other things I will ask of him (eg. give mummy ....., change nappy time - he knows what I want to do, yum yum and he follows me into the kitchen etc). I've just left a message at my local community child health centre and asked to be called back about the assessment, so we'll see how that goes. You are right hun, it is very hard not to be paranoid, especially after far too many hours googling and way too much youtube! lol
Yes, I need to fire Dr Google, it is eeeeeeevil, eeeeeevil I tell you! lol I'm usually the one that tells people not to google, I should take some of my own medicine! haha
I was wondering if you'd tried baby signing? It might help with the frustration of not being able to tell you what he wants.
We started signing with my DS really early on after seeing friends of ours do it with their little girl. We taught him signs that helped us more than anything, e.g. hungry, tired, thirsty, milk, finished, nappy. He's 2 now and talks a lot but still signs sometimes if it's a word that he can't say yet. He'd make up his own signs too if we hadn't taught him one, he just made up a sign for tickle, too cute. I found that he rarely got frustrated because I could understand what he wanted.
Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it, it might help...
Thanks SareBear I do use some sign language but not much, sounds like a good idea of persuing it more as like you've said it might reduce the frasturation a bit.
Fiona, I totally agree that knowledge is power, if only I could apply it the right way! lol
I'm guessing googling hun!! lol We went to bed relatively early (11 pm) but my dear DS decided to wake us up in the middle of the night again (twice in the row now) and then once I took him to bed with us he came alive and was blabbing to himself and giggling! He is a cheeky little chicken. I went onto this website yesterday where you could do your own assessment for ASD, but I figured it was for an older child as some of the questions were, I thought, older child related (say 3 or 4). Would that be right? I think DS is still too little. No one called me from the community health centre yesterday, I'm slightly annoyed as I'd really would like to speak to somebody.
Just a quick update.....I ended up calling the MCHN and asked if DS could be assessed and she asked me what the problem was so I told her of my concerns. She said it all sounds normal behaviour and even commented that her own son didn't start walking till he was 19 months, but I don't know if she was just lazy and dismissive or of she really didn't think there was a concern?? She said that we have an app. mid September (18 months) so she can evaluate and address any concerns then. I have noticed DS has been flapping slightly less, but is still doing it. Some days I am OK, but other days are harder when the doubts creep in. I have stopped googling though! lol
Miss.B Its really important that you address your concerns with someone who specialises in ASD. Yes it is very possible that it is all normal. But I got told over & over that my boys were normal too.
As for me, we had another pead appointment on Monday. She is thinking Aspergers for my older boy more so now & still on the fence about were to put Glenn. So we are doing some more assessing with an OT & will go back at the start of October with a collection of the OT, speech & Psych findings.
Thanks Fiona. My plan is to have the 18 month app. with his MCHN next month and if she says everything is fine, I'll still ask her to direct me to someone who specialises in ASD. Is a MCHN the one who can point me in the right direction?
We are seeing the Paed tomorrow for her to check DS1 and see what she thinks. Strangely I am starting to think maybe not Aspergers but a possible anxiety disorder (I have an anxiety disorder) but still something I need some information about managing because it is full on.
I am writing my list to take to the Paed now. We have noticed in the last couple of weeks that about half an hour before DS has a complete meltdown over nothing and something completely unpredictable (and sometimes things that we would have thought he was excited about - his reactions are completely unpredicatable), he starts running in circles usually around my legs but sometimes just tracks in circles around on the floor. The social stuff is actually okayish which makes me think maybe it isn't Aspergers but more something to do with anxiety. Whatever the reason, I think getting him assessed now is good because it should give him some strategies for managing next year when I am not there to help him manage.
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for the 'good news' about DS. Your paed. sounds very thorough and supportive too. I agree that you should keep an eye on your DS (as all good parents do anyway, regardless!) over the next six months and see how things go. Sounds like you're gonna have a mobile DS soon too!
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