[livingwith]

My son Alex may be autistic. We still do not know. We are going to have an assessment as soon as we can.
Alex is constantly reading. He likes looking at books and memorize the texts. He is not quite three. He has great motor skills, he started running at nine months, but tends to like to do his own thing.
He does not socialize with the other children in his day care much. He constantly recites the texts in Slovak at his daycare without stopping.
However, he has varied interests such as listeni...Read the full article

[grannymoon]

My grandson, now age 6, had very limited speech at age 3 and sometimes seemed to avoid interaction with children his age. He was diagnosed with pdd-nos (pervasive developmental delay, not otherwise specified). This means he is on the autism spectrum. The sooner your child is diagnosed and early intervention begins (if he is on the spectrum), the better. We've had my grandson in speech and occupational therapy for over two years, and he is now beginning to read and is in a regular classroom. I do wish we'd know earlier so we could have been working with him before age 3. Another word of caution, pediatricians may not readily recognize the symptoms of autism, so don't be afraid to ask your doctor about an evaluation.

[nrfarley]

Hi
I have worked with children with Autisim for 17 years, I'm not a doctor but I have a lot of experience.
It is good you are seeing a Specialist he should have experince in Child Mental Health and always get a second opinion or third. First it sounds like Alex is a gifited boy, Find out if there are certain topics he is looking at and if so, see if you can relate them to tangible objects. He sounds like he whant's to learn, when your out in community show him, and tell him, all the things you see thay may relate to the things he reads and likes. Use pictures that show every day task like wakeup, eat, happy, sad, bathroom, pain etc. If he likes music take him to a childrens theater he can socialize with kids and music at the same time.Try to use the things he likes in a social atmosphere this way he is having fun and socializing at the same time. He likes Play dough try taking him to a pottery making class or craft art class for kids. He likes music try music lessons that is one on one teaching contact. The more he interacts with others the more social he will be. Please feel free to call on me for help if I don't know the answer I can find someone who does. I live in the Washington DC area and worked for one of the top organization in the Autisim field. I'm Home on Disability and have some free time. And try not to worry most children with Autisim learn to live very happy lives.

Neal
P.S. I'm not the worlds best speller, but I will try my best I wish this site had spellcheck.

[bystandermom]

Neal is a Genius! I have 2 sons and one is Gifted and identified and the other is Autistic. However, my Autistic son was never diagnosed. It was 20 years ago. He ran everywhere, we could not take him to places like Malls where he seemed to be impaired as young as 2 months, he would stiffen and scream non stop. He would only repeat about 30 times a day, "I love you mom" at about 1 and half until he was about 3 years old. Then he started talking like a robot always and flappying his hands above his head when nervous or anxious. He never watched TV and preferred to play by himself always with things that turned or had wheels. He was fascinated with trains and digging toys. He called them by their correct names and became very frustrated when others referred to them as just toys.
I agree with Neal, your son sounds like he may be in the gifted area. They can be high strung and be very focused on the needs that they have. Such as being interested in only one or two things.
My son is intellectually gifted with a very high IQ. He is not your typical gifted person. He graduated High School with a 4. but did no studying and spent most of his time on the things he appreciated. He was talented musically and unfortunately the University he chose to attend did not satisfy him and he dropped out. He lives modestly, works in a coffee student union and has a collection of books and is happy. These children are sometimes at risk for dropping out of High School and getting lost in life.
My autistic son had the opportunity to attend a private Montessori Preschool. He thrived on structure and routine and began to develop as I had hoped. He was never diagnosed. And he is doing well and is a student at a University, in a Fraternity and is a loving son.
Good call Neal, you are very insightful, Thank you

[kkordosova]

I wish I could talk to you about your worries. I am Slovak and talk to my Jacob in Slovakian but my husband in English. He has limited understanding and doesn't say a word. He is 2 next week. I am going to have him tested.

[nrfarley]

That is good, he should be tested,and you keep talking to him even if he looks like he does not understand you. Believe me he understands, he just dosen't no how to react. You and your husband keep talking and teaching him every thing you do and see in both languages . keep him busy and stimulated, also try to get more than one professional evaluation you need to be sure of his diagnosis.
Anything I can do to help feel free to call on me.


Neal

[family]

i think you should keep pushing to get your son assessed, it sounds like he has aspergers. my three and a half year old has been diagnosed with autism and he knows the whole alphabet, numbers, shaped and can do a fifty piece puzzle alone. your child is showing the same signs as mine, so if my child has been diagnosed with autism theres a good chance your child will get the same diagnosis.

[spikegomez]

[quote="grannymoon"]My grandson, now age 6, had very limited speech at age 3 and sometimes seemed to avoid interaction with children his age. He was diagnosed with pdd-nos (pervasive developmental delay, not otherwise specified). This means he is on the autism spectrum. The sooner your child is diagnosed and early intervention begins (if he is on the spectrum), the better. We've had my grandson in speech and occupational therapy for over two years, and he is now beginning to read and is in a regular classroom. I do wish we'd know earlier so we could have been working with him before age 3. Another word of caution, pediatricians may not readily recognize the symptoms of autism, so don't be afraid to ask your doctor about an evaluation.[/quote]

So we should not afraid to ask our doctor about an evaluation. thanks for the info...

[ladydy]

I am trying to reply to nrfarley, Neal, I read your comment and thought I would try to contact you as 17 yrs of experience is the key factor I believe. I am a Nana to a grandson that is a child to my young 24 year old son and his 24 yr old wife. They have been stationed at Army installations, always far away from us. My grandson is now 23 months old. We did get to spend 2 weeks with him last summer when he was 18 months old. Other than the fact that he really didn't say many real words, he had his own little language and would talk while looking at us but it sort of sounds like Japanese. I have read so many of the early signs of Autism but it is so complicated I am having trouble understanding it all. To make this long story short, my grandson's parents have been so worried that he doesn't say many words that they took him to a pediatric child developmental spec to get eval. This doctor told them things to work on with him but also gave them the info that HE is concerned that my grandson has a mild form of Autism. This doc told them that he would test him after he turns two years old. I am 5000 miles away from them and feel very concerned that my grandson could be misdiagnosed. I have tried to tell myself that this won't hurt my grandson, maybe it will just make my son and daughter-in-law give the baby more attention and what could that hurt, right? I sure can tell you some things about my grandson that are the opposite of the autism symtoms, like he loves to be cuddled, he plays well with all of his toys, he loves trucks, the bigger ones and yes he does line them up but is that unusual. I raised 6 children and to me he sure had no signs of being so different from any of them except he speaks his own language. We do see him on our webcam and he does like to see us on there and does talk his talk to us. We were so thrilled last week when he clearly said Papa Bob to my husband when he said HI to him on the webcam. I am not sure how you can help me Neal but at this point of my anxiety over this, anything from a professional will give me some peace of mind so I sure hope you see this. I am in Virginia and noticed you are close to DC so thought I would try to contact you on this forum. Thanks Ladydy, just a Nana