We need help knowing if we should have our son evaluated for autism. If he does indeed have autism, he is lightly (I don't know if that's the proper term) in the spectrum. We want him to receive help - if that's the right thing to do. Suggestions regarding information and programs would be appreciated too.
Answer:
Hello:
I have a son on the Autistic Spectrum also. He is 12 now. Here is some information on Autism, it's symptoms and the testings that are done to determine the correct diagnosis.
If there is anything that I can do, please contact me, my contact info is in my profile. Please feel free to use it at any time. Also, I have a ton of information on Autism and the spectrum and will be bore than happy to share that information with you.
What are the symptoms of autism?
impairment in social interaction,
communication, and behavior.
First, patients with autism fail to develop normal personal interactions in virtually every setting. This means that affected persons fail to form the normal social contacts that are such an important part of human development. This impairment may be so severe that it even affects the bonding between a mother and an infant. It is important to note that, contrary to popular belief, many, if not most, autistic persons are capable of showing affection and do demonstrate affection and do bond with their mothers or other caregivers. However, the ways in which autistic individuals demonstrate affection and bonding may differ greatly from the ways in which others do so. Their limited socialization may erroneously lead parents and pediatricians away from considering the diagnosis of autism. As the child develops, interaction with others continues to be abnormal. Affected behaviors can include eye contact, facial expressions, and body postures. There is usually an inability to develop normal peer and sibling relationships and the child often seems isolated. There may be little or no joy or interest in normal age鈥揳ppropriate activities. Affected children or adults do not seek out peers for play or other social interactions. In severe cases, they may not even be aware of the presence of other individuals.
Communication
Communication is usually severely impaired in autistic persons. What the individual understands (receptive language) as well as what is actually spoken by the individual (expressive language) is significantly delayed or nonexistent. Deficits in language comprehension include the inability to understand simple directions, questions, or commands. There may be an absence of dramatic or pretend play and these children may not be able to engage in simple age鈥揳ppropriate childhood games such as Simon Says or Hide鈥揳nd鈥揋o鈥揝eek. Adults may continue to engage in playing with games that are for young children.
Autistic individuals who do speak may be unable to initiate or participate in a two鈥搘ay conversation (reciprocal). Frequently the way in which an autistic person speaks is perceived as unusual. Their speech may seem to lack the normal emotion and sound flat or monotonous. The sentences are often very immature: "want water" instead of "I want some water please." Those with autism often repeat words or phrases that are spoken to them. For example, you might say "look at the airplane!" and the child or adult may respond "at airplane," without any knowledge of what was said. This repetition is known as echolalia. Memorization and recitation of songs, stories, commercials, or even entire scripts is not uncommon. While many feel this is a sign of intelligence, the autistic person usually does not appear to understand any of the content in his or her speech. For more, please read the Autism and Communication article.
Autistic persons often exhibit a variety of repetitive, abnormal behaviors. There may also be a hypersensitivity to sensory input through vision, hearing, or touch (tactile). As a result, there may be an extreme intolerance to loud noises or crowds, visual stimulation, or things that are felt. Birthday parties and other celebrations can be disastrous for some of these individuals. Tags on clothing may be perceived as painful. Sticky fingers, playing with modeling clay, eating birthday cake or other foods, or walking barefoot across the grass can be unbearable. On the other hand, there may be an underdeveloped (hyposensitivity) response to the same type of stimulation. This individual may use abnormal means to experience visual, auditory, or tactile (touch) input. This person may head bang, scratch until blood is drawn, scream instead of speaking in a normal tone, or bring everything into close visual range. He or she might also touch an object, image or other people thoroughly just to experience the sensory input.
Autistic children and adults are often tied to routine and many everyday tasks may be ritualistic. Something as simple as a bath may only be accomplished after the precise amount of water is in the tub, the temperature is exact, the same soap is in its assigned spot and even the same towel is in the same place. Any break in the routine can provoke a severe reaction in the individual and place a tremendous strain on the adult trying to work with them.
There may also be non鈥損urposeful repetition of actions or behaviors. Persistent rocking, teeth grinding, hair or finger twirling, hand flapping and walking on tiptoe are not uncommon. Frequently, there is a preoccupation with a very limited interest or a specific plaything. A child or adult may continually play with only one type of toy. The child may line up all the dolls or cars and the adult line up their clothes or toiletries, for example, and repeatedly and systematically perform the same action on each one. Any attempt to disrupt the person may result in extreme reactions on the part of the autistic individual, including tantrums or direct physical attack. Objects that spin, open and close, or perform some other action can hold an extreme fascination. If left alone, an autistic person may sit for hours turning off and on a light switch, twirling a spinning toy, or stacking nesting objects. Some individuals can also have an inappropriate bonding to specific objects and become hysterical without that piece of string, paper clip, or wad of paper.
How is autism diagnosed?
The essential features of autism are the significantly impaired or abnormal development of communication and social interaction and the abnormally restricted repertoire of behaviors, activities, and interests. This disturbance in normal development must manifest itself prior to age three. While many parents report normal development in the first year of the child, there is actually limited opportunity to observe this, as the child is usually not brought to the attention of a practitioner until several years later in many cases. If there is a period of normal development, it cannot extend past age three.
Any person with a delay or regression (loss) of language or an abnormality of social interaction beginning prior to the age of three may be suspected of being autistic. The medical evaluation begins with a thorough medical history and physical examination. This examination should be performed by a practitioner not only familiar with autism, but with other disorders that may appear similar to or mimic the symptoms of autism. The practitioner should have particular expertise in the neurological examination of impaired individuals, as subtle findings may lead the examiner down a particular diagnostic path. For example, the presence of mild weakness or increased reflexes on one side of the body will lead the examiner to conclude that a structural abnormality in the brain is present and that an MRI examination of the brain is appropriate.
The history and physical examination will point the examiner to specific diagnostic testing to evaluate for other conditions associated with autism or developmental delay. Any child who has a language delay should have his or her hearing formally evaluated. It is not sufficient to simply determine whether or not a person being examined is able to hear. In order for normal language development to proceed, the individual must have sufficient hearing capabilities at low volumes in the high frequency range. Therefore, even if the person turns his or her head to a clap or shout, he or she may still have enough of a hearing deficit to inhibit language development.
There are two types of hearing tests; behavioral audiometry and brainstem auditory evoked responses (BAER). Behavioral audiometry is performed by a skilled clinical audiologist. The person being examined is placed in a room and his or her responses to different tones are observed. For the BAER, the individual is sedated and earphones are placed over the ears. Tones of different volumes and frequencies are played and the electrical response of the brain is monitored. If the he or she is capable, behavioral audiometry is the preferred method primarily because sedation is not required. Depending upon specific features of the examination and history, the practitioner may want to obtain blood and urine samples for specialized testing to evaluate for some of the inborn errors of metabolism and to obtain DNA for chromosomal studies and fragile X testing.
If the neurological examination is normal, there is may be no need for a brain CT ("CAT scan") or MRI scan. However, if the neurological examination is suggestive of a structural brain lesion, then a neuroimaging study, preferably an MRI, should be performed. Newer imaging procedures such as SPECT or PET scans are used primarily as research tools and have no place in the initial evaluation of the autistic individual. In very specialized instances, such as the autistic person with difficult鈥搕o鈥揷ontrol seizures, such tests may be useful.
The evaluation of autistic persons by speech pathologists will provide not only detailed information as to the nature of the language deficits incurred by the autistic individual, but will also be the first step in formulating a specific treatment plan with respect to language. Occupational assessment may be particularly helpful in determining the day鈥搕o鈥揹ay strengths and vulnerabilities of the individual with autism (for example, sensitivity to clothing and food texture) and assist those who care for the person in promoting his or her strengths and compensating for their challenges.
I don't know if this will help. I have noticed that so many doctors are waving the autism flag over kids now. It seems to be the new label. Once your child is labeled, the label sticks forever.
Look up the DSMV criteria for autism... Wikipedia will also give you a basic rundown of what to look for.
If your child is about age 2 here are a few symptoms..
Spins in circles
Lines up objects
Limited eye contact
Reptitive speach
withdrawn
No sense of fear
Intense temper tantrums
rigid routines..
A loss of some skills...Communication, the ability to walk...dress or fed self...{possibly}
Do yourself a favor and go to a neurologist, do not waste your time with a behavioral specialist...
Good luck..
I have a nephew that is autistic and the first thing you should do is look up the warning signs and have your child tested in one of the hospitols in your area that specialize in that. More and more children are have autism now and in the past they were diagosed as retarded or special education. The autistic child can still learn and be normal if he is helped early enough and some cases it's very hard to detect autism in children because they appear normal. Go find a clinic or hospital that deals with this as soon as you can.
Ignore these psycho definitions , psychiatrists etc... He should take things more seriously, work hard, play games, be annoying sometimes, learn new jokes, hangaround, etc.. just sitting there won't do any good.
Good luck " to him"
Our state, NC, has a program to evaluate young children in order to determine if they have learning difficulties and developer a course of treatment for them. Contact your local Children's Services organization.
Simple answer. Find a specialists in your area and get the proper diagnose. The DSM IV is a book with suggestible guidelines. There are many different forms of Autism.
Go see the doctor. May take some work to find, but it is worth it.
Start by consulting your pediatrician (although there are many who don't seem to know much about developmental stuff). You can go to the child's school child study team and present your information about your child and tell them how you believe that it is affecting his educationalprocess. They can then begin the evaluations (neurodevelopmental, OT speech and language). Or you can do it privately by going to a pediatric neurologist or a developmental pediatrician.
What makes you think he is autistic?
If you say your son is lightly, he may have what is called Aspergers Syndrome. This is a high functioning autism. As for the process. You make an appointment with a clinical pyschologist, and they will bring you in to talk to you first regarding your concerns, and have you answer a bunch of question from paper. Then they will have your child come in and speak to him.(psychological testing) Then make a follow up appointment to diagnos him, then make you another appointment to the results of the testing.
If your child is 3 years of age or older you should contact your local school district for an evaluation. They will look at any areas of concern including language skills, cognitive functioning, motor skills, social or behavioral issues. The school will also determine if your child qualifies for special education services. AT least where I live doctors are quick to give a diagnosis and will not offer any services through yoru health insurance. The school district will consider this diagnosos, but will do their own testing to determine eligibility and actually provide services to your child in any areas of actual need. meaning not only does your child have or not have the diagnosis but they have an actual need such as a speech delay that can be addressed and they may provide services such as speech therapy. Also if your child is already school age and passing classes, has friends and overall functioning ok at school you may get a diagnosis but not qualify for any services. Your child must not only have a diagnosis but an identified defiicts that effects their ability to succeed at school.
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