Can someone please explain to me what your interpretation of mild autism is? My child has been assessed by different professionals and all came to the conclusion that he is so mild that he is borderline between autistic and non-autistic. Any input would be great, and is there anybody here that is mildly autistic? I would like to ask you some questions because I am quite confused. :?
That's what I asked but the answer was no, because he hasn't developed speech according to his peers. Doctors word for Aspergers was "high functioning autism without the speech delay". I was told that he is borderline because he doesn't experience sensitivity issues, has good eye contact, very social, likes to joke around, fully toilet trained at age 2, has imaginative play, doesn't really have a routine, not bothered by change, likes new people. This is what has many of the professionals confused about my son.
what traits does he express?
So can I ask how he differs from a normal three-year-old? Monotone speech, long detailed dialogues (well, as detailed as a three-year old can get), and an obsessive interest (apart from potties), perhaps?
He often lines things up and categorises them (for example, Toy story figurines go together, if you put Shrek in there he will toss it away; or number fridge magnets go in one line, alphabet magnets in another line), he is mostly talking in single words but puts the occasional 2 or 3 words together like "close the door" or "wipe my nose" or "sit in chair), he jumps up and down when excited which causes him to flap his hands, flaps his fingers when really excited, loves numbers and letters, goes into his "own world" a lot of the time, loves musical instruments especially the guitar (he will use anything and stand in front of the mirror and pretend it is a guitar), loves money and credit cards, sings nursery rhymes ALL the time. And because he is so advanced in one area (reading). That's basically it.
So they're saying he has some features of autism, but not enough to actually recieve that label? From your description of him, that would seem an accurate 'diagnosis.'
I have heard of "autistic features" used as a diagnosis before, but I think the technical term would be Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). This is a condition on the autistic spectrum, but is an atypical presentation of autism.
He often lines things up and categorises them (for example, Toy story figurines go together, if you put Shrek in there he will toss it away
I find it interesting that this is considered autistic. I did this all the time as a kid and can remember getting quite annoyed (internally) if people tried to make me behave differently. Like if I was playing soldiers they all had to be on the same scale. The best part was always lining them up (Which I can see is autistic). However, I struggle to see why not mixing toys up is odd - surely its about having a sense of realism - Shrek wasnt in Toy Story, why would you mix the two up? (BTW I'm undiagnosed but likely AS, which might explain why this doesnt seem odd to me)
What led you to seek a diagnosis ? Do these autistic traits cause you little boy any problems? (Wondering partly as I have 2 children of a similar age, and being recently convinced of the label AS for myself I'm starting to look at them for signs)[/u]
What led you to seek a diagnosis ? Do these autistic traits cause you little boy any problems? (Wondering partly as I have 2 children of a similar age, and being recently convinced of the label AS for myself I'm starting to look at them for signs)
Hi Richard,
Initially I took my son to a speech therapist for an assessment on his speech delay. After evaluating him, she thought he may be autistic because he was a little eccentric with his hand movements and was the only child she had ever met that could read 300+ words and understanding their meaning without using any of those words to communicate. When I say read, I don't mean just memorize words he has seen before, I can write down a new word and he will either read it or attempt to read it. Words such as caterpillar, hippopotamus, elephant, are easy for him. Such giftedness in one area she said was not "normal" and referred him to a couple of places for an evaluation.
So far, he has confused many of the professionals, they say that in their 30 years or more, they have never come across somebody like him. He qualifies for autism under DSM-IV, but only just. This is because for example "inappropriate use of toys" - he does use toys appropriately and can pretend play, but sometimes lines them up, like I mentioned earlier, so it is a blurred area.
I love what you wrote about that too, you would think that it would be considered logical to put things in categories. Another interesting example is my son has all these little plastic animals, he puts the farm animals in one line, will not put the dinosuar or the elephant or the tiger there. Dinosaurs go together, zoo animals together, and farm animals together. No exceptions.
Personally, I never thought any of these things would cause a problem for him, I thought he was just speech delayed until it was pointed out to me as otherwise. I don't know why children are pressured to be able to talk so early anyway, all children develop differently so the speech part doesn't bother me, actually, none of it bothers me if it didn't bother "society".
How old are your children Richard? My husband also thinks he may be AS, it was only when we were researching about our son that he came across all this info and read articles written by aspies and said "that was like reading about myself".
Hey, I still line up things after sorting them into their proper category :smile:
The funny thing is, so do I! I cannot stand it if things aren't categorized and in the right place and I have always lined things up to the point where they have to have the same amount of space in between. Also, everything in my house is straight and parallel, I don't like things being placed in any other way, they have to be parallel with the walls. At school and university, I could not start an exam unless all my pens and stuff were lined up evenly. At home I cannot sit down unless my house is spotless. My wardrobe is colour co-ordinated.
We have this situation where a child will receive the help they need in school if they are diagnosed with Autism or ADHD but not if they are diagnosed with PDD-NOS. So, the doctors tend to err on the side of autism because they know that otherwise, these children will be cut adrift in the education system.
There is a slightly similar motivation where older people who have lost their jobs are diagnosed with a condition that will qualify them for the invalid pension so that they will not be forced to continually and fruitlessly search for work.
Yes indeed. There is not enough money allocated for disability services of all kinds, including assistance for children with various conditions such as autism and ADHD so what money there is, is very stringently rationed out.
Oh, tapping and throat clearing tend to bother me, especially throat clearing. I always think why don't they get some cough lollies or drink some honey and lemon so they won't do it any more.
I line books up in the book case by height and feel rather fidgety if any of them are out of line. I also get distinctly nervous when pictures are hanging even a little bit crookedly. At work, people leave folders and other stores in a messy condition and I'm forever tidying up the filing.
Certainly sounds like Aspergers to me. Mind you, I'm not a professional but I a confirmed diagnosis and can relate to many of the points you make:
eg. don't like idle chatter, could work maths problems out in my head: no patience to write down all the steps, find people hard to understand, dislike some kinds of noises, smells, sights more than most.
If there is any way you can find to get an official diagnosis, it would probably be worth it to set your mind at rest.