Autism / Autism Spectrum Support Group

Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder which manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. Although the specific etiology of autism is unknown, many researchers suspect that autism results from genetically mediated vulnerabilities to environmental triggers.

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tbbrandyn 05/29/2014

I found out that my 4 year old son may have Autism. He has ADHD and I have to find another site to get him tested to see if he has Autism and where he is on the Autism spectrum he is at. He has movements that he yells for no reason and just takes off running through the house when we try to get him to do something. Its never been easy for us to get him to do anything not even picking up his toys. But when it comes to playing with something that he wants to, like the computer or the ipod, he will play with it all the time and never get board with it and will play for hours and I wont hear a sound out of him. I know he is smart but there are some things that he just don't get yet. He is getting speech and physical therapy and suppose to get OT soon. He was sick when he is was 15 days old and spent 10 days at the childrens hospital in Nashville, tn getting IV meds. They think that those 10 days on the meds is what made him a little slower then other kids his age. He is 4 years old but his brain is like a 3 1/2 year old. He wont potty train, he has trouble doing simple things, we have trouble getting him to eat some foods, and we just want the best for him and for our other kids. We don't know what to do that could help him.

sambod 05/31/2014

my suggestion would be that if he likes the games and computer, then you could start out having him do something like pick up a few toys and then he gets game time or computer. he most likely runs thru the house because he knows you have asked him to do something that he doesn't want to do, an avoidance issue where the attention is drawn elsewhere so that he gets to have that computer time. You might want to do a pec schedule which is a visual schedule and keep him on it. you can make them yourself....take pictures of everything, laminate them ( you can find these at walmart) and put him on a schedule. will it be easy? no but if you stick to it, he will eventually stick to that schedule.

tbbrandyn 06/02/2014

Thanks, I am going to try that. I have it where when he is going the computer he is playing PBS kids so that he is playing a game and learning at the same time. He tries his best and I know that he is having a hard time right now with what is going on with him and he does not 100% understand what is going on and we really don't understand what is going on with him and we are still learning on what we need to do to help him make the day-to-day things better and easier for him. This weekend will be a true test for him since we will be taking a road trip to our hometown for the weekend to see family, and he will be in a car for 4 hours. We have done this drive a lot in the past but not since we found out that he has ADHD and may have Autism. But I will be driving at night so he will sleep as well as my 2 month old. It will be a 'fun' trip .

Pampasgrass 07/08/2014

How about games and books that address those very same issues? For instance games or books that talk about neatness, about cleaning the room, about putting toys away.

That reward theory really is good advice. I practice that on myself, I will only reward myself when I feel that I really deserve it. On a very busy day I will always schedule little rewards in, like getting a drink after I do x amount of work, eating after I do x amount of tasks. I constantly do that and it makes me look forward to simple rewards.

deleted_user 08/12/2014

I'd definitely try the rewards system. We praise our son greatly even for the smallest of things and he takes it in, even though he doesn't always stick to it lol. I've noticed he seems very proud of himself and will tell us he's been a 'good boy'. He also looks for reassurance a lot so we want to boost his confidence. He doesn't mind praise, although he's still adamant sometimes that he's right and we're wrong.

We have got the visual schedule that sambod has mentioned. It's used at school where children go with many types of disabilities and they've found it to be a great help.

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