Discussion Topic
my son was just diagnose with autism
Posted on 06/21/08, 08:43 pm
hello my name is luwanna i have 5 children and are youngest was just diagnosed with autism last year on my birthday. he is currently in speech thearpy. he is 3 years old and speaks at a level of a 9 month old he just started saying more words but only when my son who is 4 years old tells him to say it. he is on an organic diet and in thearpy . i only known what i have looked up about autism. i told the doctor you told me my son has autism and gave me a new appointment card to run test and that was it i have been learning as i go. but the doctors where not a real big help.
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Reply #1 06/21/08 10:02pm
Well first of all Welcome! I have found a lot of realy smart and helpful people in the DS family. There is always some one to help with any problem. I know you will like it here. and second welcome to the learn as you go club. I have found that doctors some times have a hard time thinking outside of the box, and that is what is needed for my daughter. good luck! ~B~ -
Reply #2 06/25/08 12:38pm
Wonderfull you have help from his big brother, Speech Therapy, is good glad to know your son is talking even tho he speaks at 9 month level. For years my daughter would not talk, when she did was music to my ears. Living with disablites is challenging the rewards of comunicating with my daughter is the most beautifull words. -
Reply #3 07/18/08 9:45pm
i know that feeling my son actually started talking 2 word phrases at 11 months. then at a year he stopped he would mumble without moving his mouth it was very frustrating cause i never knew what he he wanted we did speech and when he was about 16 months he started alittle again. he was evaluated in october before he turned 3 and he was about a year or so behind, not to mention his social and emotional skills were at a 20 month level. it is hard -
Reply #4 09/25/08 1:35pm
"baby bumblebee" videos helped a lot with my son's speech,he watched my mouth every time they would say a word. The videos did miracles. -
Reply #5 09/25/08 2:48pm
I am also a big fan of the Sigining Times videos. We all learned to sign in the house. I think it is good to tickly the language center any way tha tyou can. -
Reply #6 11/13/08 2:33am
Speech therapy is a good place to start but my I suggest the following for you:
Get a refer to have your son evaluated by a neurologist. Some children who are thought to be on the autism spectrum are having petit mal seizures that cause the to blank out momentarily numerous throughout the day. These seizures are very tiny -- so tiny that they look like the child is just staring off into space for a bit -- but when they, happen on a frequent basis, this blanking out disrupts their ability to be in the here and now and learn from their environment.
Also get a referal to get your son evaluated by an Occupational Therpist who specializes in Sensory Processing Integration. Most all children with autism have sensory processing disorder (eg., a whisper to us can sound like a megaphone blowing in their ear, or a mouth that constantly feels like it has been shot up with novacane so they seek out sensation by overpacking their mouth with food or put anything and everything in their mouth long after the reach an age when they should know better. They also have problems with fine motor (handwriting, buttoning, zippers, picking things up) and gross motor planning (pedaling a tricycle, kicking a ball, jumping with two feet off the ground).
ABA therapy has been an absolute God send for us. Some school districts offer this program and are really good about implementing it, being consistent and taking the necessary data -- other school districts are not. I have found that it is better for me to find a separate source of funding to pay for this therapy so that I am the boss and I call the shots. The school district where I leave have not been as honorable as a parent would hope they would be and have not acted on my son's best interest, so I've taken matters into my own hands. ABA basically teaches our children skills in a manner which is best for them to learn for their learning disability -- 1-on-1, systematically, broken down into small modules. It helps children on all levels of their life.
Speaking of funding and coverage for all the services that your son will need, I don't know what your financial situation is but if you contact your local autism support group, they should provide you with a list of funding and respite sources that you can apply to for your son's ABA needs. And there's always social security or maybe a medicaid waiver program, if your State provides it, which will cover whatever speech and OT therapy costs that are not covered by your private insurance.
And here's my list of recommended reading for your to get you up to speed:
Autism for Dummies by Steven Shore
Healing the New Childhood Epidemics by Dr. Kenneth Bock
Changing the Course of Autism by Dr. Bryan Jepson
And, lastly, here are some websites that I have found very useful in helping me look beyond the "autism" label that is smacked on the cluster of symptoms that our children have and look more deeply at the medical conditions that my son is causing the symptoms. The websites are:
www.talkaboutcuringautism.org
www.autism.com
I wish the best of luck. As you are going through this with your son, it is going to be hard but please have faith that if you just roll up your sleeves and jump in there and do anything and everything you reasonably can, you can and will see huge changes in him. It's a slow process but it is definitely worth the time and effort. Recovery is possible. My favorite thing to say is that, "Our children are not rocks," meaning that they are not stagnant beings. With the right amount of time and effort, you can see wonderful things happen. -
Reply #7 11/20/08 7:16pm
hi my names debi
my son was diagnosed wen he was 15 although all the signs wer there he also has adhd
he dont see any1 now hes nearly 17 but only has mild asd but he is still hard work has avery high pain thresh hold and dose some very silly things like piersing his lip or arm driving me nuts and my 10 year old daughter has asd also and phobias hope to get more info on wats helped other children debi -
Reply #8 01/02/09 7:25pm
Hi,
Can i make a suggestion that you encourage/build his speech with the use of photographs. Take photos of all his favourate things, Velcro them to a large piece of cardboard, which he can easily have access to. When he wants anything eg favourits foods or fav video/toy silently take him to the choice board and by taking his hand remove the picture of the object he wants. Still saying nothing hold out your hand to encourage him to hand it to you once he has done that saw with lots of expression "... wants then chosen picture" -
Reply #9 01/02/09 7:30pm
...Sorry lost connection. Once he has become confident with choosing from the board he will come to you with picture, which initiate interaction and you can say "What do you want which will encourage a response"
Hope its usefull
Bernadete -
Reply #10 04/22/09 10:52pm
i am sorry to hear that the drs wasnt any help. trust me i have gone thru the same thing. my son was diagnosed with autism 9 years ago and im still learning. i feel as if i am being left out in the cold on alot of things. no one ever mentioned any special diet for my son,, he is in speech, ot, pt among other drs but only because i asked for it. my son is 12 and has a vocabulary of only 50 words. the world needs to be more educated about this sort of thing. the drs should offer to help more, listen more and suggest more. is your son still in diapers? my son still is. he has alot of health problems. im here if you want to talk. devona
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