Just curious about some things regarding this and the diagnosis of these disorders.

At what age did you suspect there was a disorder? And what were the symptoms?

How did you acheive diagnosis (testing, etc.)? And has diagnosis been helpful?

Thanks.

Just curious about some things regarding this and the diagnosis of these disorders.

At what age did you suspect there was a disorder? And what were the symptoms?

How did you acheive diagnosis (testing, etc.)? And has diagnosis been helpful?

Thanks.

That is a hard question forme b/c I feel that something was off with Hobbes when he was not saying Hi or bye by time he was 12months But the feeling was even strong when he was 2yrs. I read an articlethat described Hobbes to a T !but was in denial! Hobbes' symptoms which are long, were/are no speech, what words he did have, they stopped, he stopped socilaizing with others, he stopped responding to his name and making eye contact with anyone, he didn't know how to play even with cars. He started to repeatly start and stop his DVD movies, He has to watch the beginning 20 times before he could go farther intothe movie(it took us three n=months to watch All of Shrek). He started to have meltdowns that lasted for a hour or more. Where I had to hold him down till he wen tot sleep. If he got upset, he would hit himself in the head or face(he still does) He would head bang his head on the floor. He has to have 6 ormore baths a day. He does weird thing with liquid and he need close contact to me at night to sleep. There is alotmore but I think you can getthe point.

We gotthe testing done by my Child developement worker at time agreeing with me that ther ewas more to Hobbes when I told her I thought that there was something not right with Hobbes and I thought that he had autism. We videotaped him playing and interacting with me. After that they did a test where they interacted with him and scored him on his ability(I forget wha tthe test is called) We know where that test that he was that day.

It has been helpful in some ways...I am more patient than what I was when I was not sure if there was something wrong with him. And in someways no b/c there is that fear of not knowing what his future will be now.

I hope this has helped you in some way,Leigh!

Thanks Shannon, you were very helpful. :) I am wondering though what was involved with the development screening. Was it long? Was Hobbes receiving treatment for his speech by then? Sorry, I can not recall. Did they reccommend the development screen or did you have to push for it?

Will they retest him at some point? I know he is high functioning but is he considered Aspergers or Autism? I am still trying to figure out the difference, so be patient with me.

Was Hobbes developing "normally" for the most part and then started behaviours consistent with Autism? I see you thought there was something by the time he was a year but was there anything before that? It is so very hard to figure all this out.

It must be so very hard on you as you are uncertain of his future and you have your hands so very full Shannon, but I know you have been so very proactive and whatever his future holds he will be the very best he can be with you in his corner.:wink:

I have a friend who has a little boy with Asperger's. He was diagnosed by a child psychiatrist. I know it took many months of visits to decide. He also had intermitten unexplained seizures and had a pet scan which showed hypo profusion of his right frontal lobe...apparently a know cause of autism. I can tell you, that to know that something was off with him, you have to spend A LOT of time with him. He is a chatty, smiley, engageing child. Loves to play and be played with, looks you slap in the eye when you talk to him. He had delays, but with lots of intervention, he is on track in those areas-i.e speech and fine motor skills. He does have an odd speech pattern from time to time, but you have to spend time with him regularly to pick up on it. He also has a fixation with all things trains and used to spend hours lining and un lining them up. He also has some trouble reading social cues from others. I think that is the hallmark of asperger's, the social awkwardness with average or above average intelligence. He is a super sweet and loving kid. He strikes you as quirky...and that is about it. Hope that helps with some of the differences. Of course you know that it is a spectrum disorder and I am sure than even within asperger's there is differences in how severely one child is affected as apposed to another. Just my personal experience with one child.

Thanks Shannon, you were very helpful. :) I am wondering though what was involved with the development screening. Was it long? Was Hobbes receiving treatment for his speech by then? Sorry, I can not recall. Did they reccommend the development screen or did you have to push for it?



Will they retest him at some point? I know he is high functioning but is he considered Aspergers or Autism? I am still trying to figure out the difference, so be patient with me.

Was Hobbes developing "normally" for the most part and then started behaviours consistent with Autism? I see you thought there was something by the time he was a year but was there anything before that? It is so very hard to figure all this out.

It must be so very hard on you as you are uncertain of his future and you have your hands so very full Shannon, but I know you have been so very proactive and whatever his future holds he will be the very best he can be with you in his corner.:wink:


Leigh, The developemental screening was different from the Astism screening...similar but different. We saw a Developemental specialist who do some testing on him like OT/ST will and said he was global delay with speech. The test that they did for Autism was an hour to an hour and a half. They had him playing with him. Then they would see how well he could transaction intothe next activity. Which Hobbes could not do. No, hewas not getting speech. We just got speech this last December! It took two yrs to get it here!

They will retest him b/c he can change as he gets older where he may have Aspergers. Aspergers was explained this way to me...A person is very verbal where they talk all the time and about subjects that no one else knows nothing else about or whats to know about, like space or math. Autism or high functioning like Hobbes has mant different ranges to the spetrum(sp).

Hobbes did Everything right on time (except talking...he just went MMMMMMMM) till he was 18 months then Everything Stopped!!!!! It is hard at times to think about that time period.Even he is starting to stop some words again which is hard to see!


Thank you Leigh!:smile:

Thanks so much Melissa and Shannon. I am gathering that there is indeed a wide range of symptoms for this from "quirky" to obvious developemental problems. I had always thought that the eye contact avoidance was key but I guess not.

Was the screening able to determine this in short order or was repeated testing required?

And I also see that early intervention is key as with all issues.

Leigh, I liked this site and thought it too be helpful to me. Maybe it will help you.http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=212&a=3580

As for the screening question, for us, it was kinda two test that were do b/c Hobbes would not work with the Child developement Specialist and if he had then maybe we would have know sooner. I think tha tit depends on how well the child can respond and transaction into the next part of the testing.

Thanks again Shannon. I keep seeing communication seems to excell with Aspergers so I am guessing a child who is severely speech delayed is considered more autistic then? It does not seem to have a range for this aspect of aspergers, am I right?

And has anyone had a kiddo who NEEDS to be stroked a lot with this condition? I have had it pointed out to me quite a bit from the professionals we have dealt with that Iain *may* fit into this spectrum for disorders but we are having a developmental screen set up for him sometime soon I think as the SLP ordered one. If we do the developmental screen then they probably determine if we require the autistic screening I guess? Or was that just because Hobbes would not co-operate only?

**off to check out that site**

I know that my friend's little boy went through a ton of tests, because they were so thrown by his eye contact and closeness to others. He had several tests, but right now I can't remember what they were. I will give my friend a call and see what she says. Apparently, the eye contact thing is more related to Autism specifically as apposed to Aspergers. My friend kept going back to it when they first started saying "he is on the autism spectrum" She even took him to the cleveland clinic to have his seizures investigated as a possible cause for some of his behaviors. I guess that is around the time that he was officially dx'd with asperger's, and one of the keys to that dx was because he made eye contact and was so social. Like I said, though, he is mildly effected. The neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic told her to fully expect him to grow up, go to college, and have a good job. He said that his social relationships is where he will have issues. She was told that he might be considered "the weird kid" in school, or he may do well enough to fit in okay. It all depends on his intervention. It is about teaching a child with asperger's how to read social cues in a way that works for him. Another child with it may be more impaired in other areas and need a different kind of intervention. I am just spouting off what she told me was said to her. Like I said, right now, he is pretty much a quirky little guy. I also know that he is in a special education preschool for kids with varying degrees of needs. He started last year at age 3 and was put with 3 year olds. They ended up having to move him up to 4 & 5 year olds. He was just more on that level. He is back again this year and they are pulling him to work more on his level and next year he goes to mainstream kindergarten. I am braggin on him a bit too...lol. He is such a sweetie! He and Abby are 2 weeks apart, but here the rules for starting school are that they turn 5 before Oct. 1st. Abby will be 5 at the end of Sept. and he won't be 5 until Oct. 11th, so he will be a year behind her. Anyway, they play well together, but Abby does get frustrated with him at times because of his speech patterns. He speaks very clearly, but tends to repeat himself several times when he is really excited. Usually, though they are fine. That mostly happens when they haven't seen each other in a while and he is just excited to see her.

I am not sure how much technical help I am. I am just trying to give you a personal experience of dealing with a child as an outsider. Parents always see their children differently than others.

Is there any kind of label for an aloof, unaffectionate, minimally verbal child who makes too much eye contact?

Leigh, Hobbes doesn't need to be stroked BUT he does NEEd to have the touching. It is hard to explain. It is like skin to skin touching. He will be his hands up my shirt just to have to input or contact. He also likes tohave us/himself put pressure on his lower arms and he liked to have his feet held. At bedtime he needs to have me close so that he can touch me to sleep.