My son is NOT on the Autism Spectrum

[rbnyc]

My wonderful, nearly 3 1/2 year-old son was removed from his preschool this fall for behavior issues. Some red flags for Autism were observed and it was recommended that he go for evaluation.

At first, we resisted going through the school system, because we didn't want him labeled, so we tried to go the private route. This was a disaster...waiting lists, no insurance...so we went through the school system and it was quick and painless.

The MANY evaluators came to our house, observed and administered tests. It was really interesting.

Anyway, he has the vocabulary of a 6-year old! All the evaluators were very impressed by him.

It turns out he has some sensory integration issues that were contributing to his behavior problems. There are not severe, and it seems he's already grown out of it a bit since the fall. He will continue to grow out of it. In the meantime, understanding the glitch makes him much easier to manage.

So that's really terrific news!

Just wanted to share.

Have to run now.

[KamaAina]

1. Well, it's been good to have you on our team

for such a short time...

They came to your house?! How on Earth did you manage that?

[rbnyc]

2. I learned a lot.

I learned a lot about autism while I was waiting for my son to be evaluated. I had no idea the spectrum was so broad. A lot of my preconceptions got blown away.

Now I'm learning about sensory integration disorder. It can be very severe. We're lucky it is mild in our case. The OT was telling us about one of her "sensory kids" who wouldn't eat. His brain couldn't taste the food and it was repulsive to him. He was emaciated and was going to have to go to the hospital for tube feeding. Then they decided to put huge amounts of red pepper and curry and crazy spices in his food and it worked. The kid eats peanut butter and wasabi sandwiches!

In my son's case, his body craves strong stimulation, so he does a lot of thrill-seeking behavior. He needs a lot of wrestling and tickling and tight hugs. And he has difficulty when there is too much noise. He brain can't sort it all out so it makes him become very withdrawn. In a class with 17 kids, he would not talk, make eye contact, or respond to his name. Coupled with his fastidiousness (always putting like things together, lining things up, putting things in order) it did look a lot like autism. But he's just a triple Virgo with some sensory issues. ;-)

It was no big deal to get them to come to our house. We told them that Garrison was in Daycare M-F 9-6 and that my husband and I both work and are in our busiest time of year and they each offered to come to the house evenings and weekends. What a group of amazing people, too.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. My oldest wouldn't nurse when I had him. Luckily he would take formula from a bottle with

a very specific nipple on it.

he still is weird about food but at least he will consume more than just cheerios now. LOL

[BlueIris]

3. HEY. That is GREAT news. Continued best of luck with your everything. nt

[Shell Beau]

4. Great! Sounds like you may have a little genius on your hands!

:hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. My eldest has sensory and OCD issues which made him look and sound a bit like

Rain Man. He is 10 now and outgrowing or learning to cope with things very nicely. One big thing he had trouble with was changes and transitions. Even now you can't just walk up to him an say "Turn the computer off and do your homework" or you could wind up with a major meltdown. But if you warn him "5 minutes, 4 minutes" etc etc it helps a lot because then it is no longer a surprise. (And he still keeps his "lovie" on his pillow to sleep at night because he doesn't like the feeling of a regular pillow case.)

Good luck to your own little guy! :)

P.S. If you don't have this book yet, you might want to get it: http://www.amazon.com/Loud-Bright-Fast-Tight-Overstimulating/dp/0060932929/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203612936&sr=1-1

[rbnyc]

7. Sounds a lot like my son.

Changes and transitions are a huge issue...or anything that goes counter to his expectations. He nneds major preparation for a change of routine.

Good luck to you too. But we ARE lucky to have such amazing kids.

:loveya:

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Yes, they are amazing and both very bright it sounds like. :^) When my guy was small

his Rain Man issues were almost funny if I wasn't exasperated.

A) He would line up about 200 hot wheel cars according to color or size in a parking lot. (Classifying things is a favorite of his.) But God help you if you pulled him away from it before he was done. (And done meant driving every single car back our of the lot and into the tote bag one at a time.

B) Like most sensory kids he loved to rock and so he adored his little rocking "horse" which was a bear we called "rocker pooh". He HAD to rock exactly 10 times every night before going to bed, and heaven help you if you pulled him off of it before he was done.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

8. Great news!

Happy to hear that all the tests came out okay for your son, and that he's not on the spectrum. And almost double his age in vocabulary...what a smart little guy!

My 6 y/o son was diagnosed with Asperger's/High-Functioning ASD 2 years ago, so I know how overwhelming it can be to go through all of those tests. He has made amazing leaps and bounds, thanks to a lot of behavioral modification and visual cues. He is in inclusion (regular classroom) now about 80-90% of his day, so his progress is huge. Given the right combination of therapies, these kids can truly thrive. :)

[Ellen Forradalom]

10. I'm glad you got some answers!

School professionals are vastly underrated. It's amazing what they can do.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. I am so glad to hear you say that. :^) My mom was a SPed teacher and she was the one

who got my son enrolled at child development services for testing because she suspected things weren't quite right.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

12. I had the sensory integration thing...

growing up and it was a bit challenging for my Mom -- especially because they really didn't know much about it back in the early 60s. The best advice I can give you is to never force/insist your kid eat/smell/wear anything that makes him feel uncomfortable.

Some of my most vivid/early memories are of bad experiences around food, clothing, and noise. I can remember with absolute clarity sitting in diapers on my Grandma's kitchen floor and having her take out her pots to make dinner. The sounds of the pots clanging together was literally agony for me -- I was too young to know how to put my hands over my ears to blunt the noise. And food? Good heavens, what a battle royale that was. :cry: I was overly sensitive to texture, taste, and smell -- particularly texture. My Mom thought I was being unreasonable and made me eat foods that I found abhorrent. One of the worst foods for me was stewed tomatoes - they felt like hot slime in my mouth. :scared: Once she was very frustrated with me and forced some in my mouth -- they came right back out and into her lap. Man was she pissed! :D

Your son should see a reduction in his symptoms as he develops the skills to deal with his sensitivities -- and some may stay with him. At 48 I still have many of the same sensory issues, though on a milder level -- I just try to respect and accomodate them.

[rbnyc]

16. Thanks for your post.

I agree. We never force Garrison to eat or wear or endure anything that makes him uncomfortable. (We do make him eat his veggies...but his reluctance to eat them is not extreme. If you tell him he can have ice cream if he eats his veggies, he gobbles them up happily.) But things he truly doesn't like, we don't push on him. He makes a lot of his own food and clothing choices. Half the time he prefers to be naked!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

20. Naked is good!

No nasty tags or seams or fibers bugging you. :P I have a serious preference for very worn flannel sheets and a velour blanket that I love the feel of -- I could stay wrapped up like that all day long -- it's all about the super soft. :loveya:

[MorningGlow]

17. We have a touch of the sensory thing in our family, too

MG Jr., who is 4, just switched from the toddler toothpaste that he could swallow to the kids' toothpaste. I got him Tom's of Maine strawberry flavor, because it's the only kids' toothpaste that doesn't have saccharine in it. Anyway, his toddler toothpaste was a gel, but Tom's doesn't make gel, just paste, and I knew he would have a problem with it.

Sure enough, every morning, he hesitates quite a few seconds before managing to get the toothbrush into his mouth, because he doesn't like the texture. And you know what? I don't force him, because I remember I was the SAME way when I was little--toothpaste induced a gag reflex in me (it didn't help that I hated mint flavor and still do, and that was when there was no such thing as kids' toothpaste in fun flavors). To this day, I use gel, and very little of it on the brush (it turns out you really don't need that giant strip/blob they show on commercials to clean your teeth well).

And at night, MG Jr. begs to be able to brush without paste, and I let him. Because even now I do the same thing, because the gag reflex is even worse at night. (And I have barely any cavities.)

As for repulsive food texture, my mom force-fed me slimy spinach from the can when I was little. EEEEEwwwwww! I practically choked on that crap. x( She never tried stewed tomatoes on me, but my reaction would have been the same as yours!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

21. I understand the toothpast thing!

I use the Tom's of Maine strawberry flavor myself because it is the only one without mint in it -- if I use mint toothpast my mouth feels like it is on fire.

Spinach -- don't get me started! :puke: To this day there is not a single green/leafy vegetable that I will eat cooked -- there is something absolutely disgusting about the taste for me. I'll eat them by the boatload raw, but the minute they get cooked -- bleck! My Grandma would drown our cooked spinach in white vinegar -- it didn't help. :D

I am thinking about slimey spinach from a can now -- THAT is gross!!

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. And scrambled eggs. To this day they feel like slime and smell like wet dog to me

[Hell Hath No Fury]

22. They found out I was allergic...

to egg white pretty early on, but not before I had been subjected to enough scrambled eggs to know I hated them. The smell of someone cooking eggs literally makes my stomach turn. :puke:

[AngryOldDem]

13. Congratulations. That is GREAT news.

I have a 7-year-old daughter with similar issues, but after years of tests, observations, etc., we still don't have a firm diagnosis of her behavior. A catch-all diagnosis is sensory integration problems, which came after she tested on the borderline for autism and Asberger's. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating it is not to know **exactly** what is going on with her. She does her best in school and has an IEP, but she struggles and we're afraid it's only going to get harder for her.

I can only imagine the relief that you must feel -- again, that is really good news.

[AngryOldDem]

14. Self-delete, dupe post n/t

[marzipanni]

15. There are so many things people are learning, and need to learn about the human mind

I haven't been on DU much lately...did you all see this in the news the other day, about an autistic girl who tells people how she feels by using a keyboard-
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4311223&page=1

[MorningGlow]

18. Great! That must be a weight off you!

Congrats!

I've been reading a lot about autism--what it is, and what it's not. It appears that kids have lots of different developmental "issues"--don't mean that in a negative way, though--that doctors have been lumping under the "autism" label because there were no other ways to classify them. I truly hope that the medical community is starting to loosen up a bit regarding labels and is realizing that various developmental differences don't all fit the autism spectrum. Much more research needs to be done in these areas.

P.S.: Don't you love the vocabulary of the 40-year-old midgets? We've got one of those in our house too!
:rofl: