My name is Jennifer and I'm mom to Grayson, age three. Recently in parent-teacher conferences I was informed that my little boy is not progressing as he should be in the areas of language development and socialization. He's always said things in a quirky manner but his delays lie in the flow of the conversation--knowing how to give and take with speech and listening. I'm a registered nurse and acquainted with developmental milestones, but I'm well known as an overly cautious mother and I've been told time and time again that children develop at their own pace. His interaction with other children is non-existent. Last night, Danny and I tried to remember an instance when Gray initiated conversation with another child--it was futile. He just doesn't.
So we're waiting. Waiting for the school system to contact us for our initial eval with a diagnostician. Waiting for more thorough insurance to kick in so that we can contact a specialist of our choosing. And you know what? The hardest part is feeling helpless and knowing that for now, we just wait.
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Autism & Travel: Independence and Self-Regulation
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*This is part two of a two part series intended to help autistic adults
travelling and sightseeing. Part one deals with Logistics and Risk
Management. I ...
5 months ago
Excuse my ADHD if it appears.
ReplyDeleteI am 27 and recently diagnosed with Klinefelters which is predisposed to Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders and ASD.
I will have to ask my mom about how I developed around 3-5 but in Grades 1-3 is when they diagnosed me with ADHD/LD. Who knows is this was Child Disintegrative Disorder but I don't think they had the diagnosis back then in 1993. In Grades 6-8 I had several issues, legally and socially. Care providers from what I remember were horrible in giving any help. I remember when they were giving me my functional assessment and I was totally closed up and tuned out. I laugh at thinking of this memory. LOL.
Currently I am dealing with host of psychosocial issues along with incontinence during the day/night. I also carry around a dog from childhood named Ruff and use a soother. I have had several females, young and old, comment about the dog being cute. It has been my social bridge into conversation. On the whole though I am antisocial, avoidant, and only dependant on female caregivers. Occasionally when needing comfort do I do ste(a)(e)ming. I am also dealing sexual abuse from when I was 5.
MY OPINION
I am pretty sure you don't need much advice as being a nurse......
Beethoven, Einstein, and other nobel prize winners/inventors probably had Aspergers. IQ and word apprehension is usually high and is usaully locked away inside your sons head. Same with intense interests and focus. For example, when I was young I read every science book I could get my hands on and created pages of notes on the subject; then it graduated in middleschool, to more complex subjects such as genetics and chemistry, complete with croff-references in the notes.
If my parents new how to unlock this potential and manage it...I proably could have done a lot better. I didn't have much friends and I metal detected in my free time in junior high.
Maybe get some appropriate "vocational" training for a 3 year old, as a effort to ascertain what his interests/focus are in: visual (matching puzzle piece games), touch (blocks/lincon logs/lego), complex mental capacity (imaginitive stories).
For example, in Canmore, Alberta we have an interesting development program for 2-4 months called "Roots of Empathy", to gain insight into the physical and emotional developement of the baby. Their is such things as Child Developement Centers or programs....(guessing you're in the US):
Rich Rewards Development Center
http://www.neurocommspeech.com/
Gifted Development Center
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/About_GDC/aboutgdc.htm
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FYI
I have been researching non-stop for 3 months about the interralted factors, been through the Canadian Health Care system 20 times for psychosocial issues. I still haven't got anywhere. This is a different story though....
We know that genetics causes ASD and Schizophrenia, but other things can be involved. For instance in Klinefelters (Kallman, in females)causes hypogonadism/gynecomastia, neoplasia issues, LD, depression, osteoprosis/arthritis. I pretty much have all of these issues or some traits of all. That's why nobody knows what is going on. I should have continued my testosterone replacement but I fell into depression and carried my childhood ADHD and ODD (oppisitional defiant disorder) into adulthood.