Does this sound like Aspergers to you?

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taboo27
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19 Jul 2010, 10:01 pm

Our son is 3 in August. I have noticed many things since he was an infant. Here is a list of some of the things I have noticed:
When a baby bag pipes made him scream
Sun light in his eyes makes him have a tantrum
If things arent perfect (sunglasses dont sit on his face properly) he has a melt down
He is obsessed with boats and boat motors. He makes them our of yogurt containers, laundry baskets, over turned tables you name it. he has to sleep with his boat magazine, take it every where with him. He looks at it so much it is tattered and falling apart.
He wants to always brush his teeth when he was a baby he would chew his toothbrushes constantly ( at the time I thought it was teething)
He licks the furniture, windows,
He has meltdowsn if anything changes new shoes, needs to wear shorts because it is summer, car seat in a different place because it is a rental car, my husband driving the car instead of me
He has trouble jumping even on a trampoline
He melts down at tumbling tots (like gymboree) if he has to move from a station. he wont do the circuit like the other children he just wants to do 1 thing and if he has to share it oh boy meltdown!! !!
He is very aggressive with children or he bosses them around.
When he sees someone new he hides, or he just makes pretend sneezing noises over and over again
If I am driving or doing something and he calls me "mom" and I respond with "yes hun" or just "yes" he will keeping trying to get my attention until I make eye contact. he doesnt get the "yes" means I am listening.
Those are just a few of the many things. There are some days were things are great. Example no melt downs for 3 days now!! ! Can Asperger kids go a few days without meltdowns or does it have to be all the time?

I am waiting for an opening to have him evaluated but I am just curious what those of you with young children noticed in the beginning. I have been told they may very well tell me to come back when he is older... Not what I wanted to hear. Any information would be great!! !



Chronos
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19 Jul 2010, 10:29 pm

To be honest I'm kind of adverse to labeling children at such young ages unless they exhibit very unambiguous traits.

My perfectly NT brother was obsessed with trains and insisted on being called "Tommy" (the name of the green power ranger) when he was three. He also did not want his siblings to play with him and generally did not mind but he grew out of all of that by the time he was five....sooner actually.

It has been my observation that AS associated hypersensitivity does not peak until the age of 6 or 7 for some reason....everyone is different though.

Anyway, I was not aggressive in any way. In fact I was such the opposite of aggressive that when a babysister told my mother I kicked her, my mom knew right off the bat she was lying (the girl just got fed up with me because I wouldn't stop crying). And I certainly did not bully other children. In fact I generally had nothing to do with them. Nor did I have tantrums all the time. I only very rarely had a tantrum and usually for normal toddler reasons or due to some very big change.



taboo27
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19 Jul 2010, 10:53 pm

I suppose I need to qualify aggressive. If he is busy playing with something or doing something and a child comes over and tries to take whatever he is playing with or be apart of what he is doing he gets very upset and he will yell at them. Sometimes he will even push them and tell them to move away. Other times though if a child sits next to him and tries to talk to him he will turn away from them and talk but he will not face them and again he will do the pretend sneeze thing over and over and over again........



angelbear
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19 Jul 2010, 10:57 pm

Your son definitely sounds like he has AS traits. I am not a doctor, but the list you gave fits so much of what I have read and observed, that I would not be surprised. Of course, a lot of little boys do have strange behaviors, so he could outgrow some of it. I would go ahead and have him evaluated to ease your mind.



Chronos
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20 Jul 2010, 4:47 am

Where did he learn this pretend sneeze thing?



iceb
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20 Jul 2010, 4:50 am

taboo27 wrote:
When a baby bag pipes made him scream

I cannot think of anything that would so much make anyone scream :)
Bagpipes are not a musical instrument, they are a weapon of war!


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angelbear
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20 Jul 2010, 9:33 am

I wanted to post again to tell you some of the things that were noticed in my son from the beginning. He is now 5 yrs.old, and he is diagnosed as PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified)/possible Asperger's. He was diagnosed at 2.5 yrs old by a developmental pediatrician, and then again by the school system when he was almost 5.

My son was late with all of his physical developmental milestones. He did not walk until he was 21 mos. old. He did not learn to jump until he was 4 yrs. old. That is very late, because I see 18 mo. old babies that are able to jump. My son's fine and gross motor skills are delayed, but with therapy, they are starting to catch up.

Also, my son never really played with toys very much, and he pretty much avoids playing with other children. He always has. He is getting better about interacting with them, but still does not play with them. He is very social with adults.

My son is fully verbal, but his speech development has taken a very different path. He had words at about 10 mos, He began repeating lines from cartoons and books, and was doing a lot of echolalia (repeating what was just said to him) He was not really using his words to communicate with us, he was just talking "at" us. He is improving greatly with speech therapy.

My son is obsessed with car makes and models (especially VW) He talks about them a lot, and whenever we go places, he wants to go up and touch them. He also draws them all of the time.

My son has never really had a lot of fits or meltdowns, and when he does, they are pretty short lived. So, yes, children with AS can go for a while without a tantrum. He also flaps his hands mostly when he is excited.

My son has always had good eye contact, and is very loveable. He does not really seem to mind very loud noises, but never likes the sounds of babies crying. He will start imitating them or get upset.

We are still not certain whether our son falls in the Asperger's category, but we know that he is on the Autism Spectrum. We knew that as early as 2 yrs. old, and suspected it from as early as 1 yr. old. .

Many 3 yr olds, especially boys, have difficult behaviors. However, I think your son has a lot of AS characteristics. It can't hurt to have him evaluated, and if it is not AS, then great. But the sooner you find out, the sooner you can begin to get him the help he needs if you feel that he needs it.

Good luck, and welcome to Wrong Planet!



taboo27
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20 Jul 2010, 1:09 pm

@iceb I couldn't agree more I dont care form them myself!! ! Sadly our neighbors on both sides play them!! !! !! We are always tortured it just so happens our son gets the worst of it!! !!

@Chronos I guess he picked up when he sneezed.....

@angelbear thank you for sharing about your sons traits. I can see my son has traits but perhaps not the full syndrome. Again why I was looking to a forum to see what other parents have noticed or saw when their children were 3. It is just difficult when he is amongst other kids he is just not at the same level. He is in intellect if not far exceeding them but as far as physical characteristics such as his lack of being able to jump, he falls often when walking, and also just the intensity of his play it is just different. You are correct little boys can have quirks or funny personalities I just would like to know if he does so we can learn the tools to help make him more successful. It is not easy especially since when I told my husband I wanted him evaluated and his response was "why would you want to open that can of worms"! !! ! I was shocked. Even he has come home and compared him to his nephew who is 4 months younger and noticed the difference in speech as well as his nephew bounding like a rabbit and our little guy barely getting the tip of his toes off the ground!! ! He can do the motion of jumping but has no lift.



Marcia
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20 Jul 2010, 4:27 pm

My son was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 7, having been referred by the Community Paediatrician when he was 6. The school raised concerns about his head-banging, in particular, and when he was at nursery, probably at the age your son is at now, they raised concerns as well but no action was taken.

If I had bagpipes on either side of me, I'd be screaming too! Aside from that, pretty much most of what you say does fit, but he could still grow out of some of those behaviours or swap them for others.



rideon
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22 Jul 2010, 4:55 pm

My son is like yours, he was diagnosed at 2 with autism or pdd the doctor said that he met the criteria for autism but was verbal with a lot of echo. He can be aggressive does much of what you mentioned, and has trouble transitioning between things. His obsessions change from year to year and depending on what movie he is into as well. I am finishing my masters in special education now. It doesn't matter what the label is, trust me from being in the classrooms I have seen pdd/nos greater effected than someone labeled with autism so I don't even care what they call it anymore.

The important thing is to get him the early intervention therapy, practice turn taking, developing his language and teaching verbs. We started with flash cards and getting my son to label things, and then actions and using a conveted item or playtime after each time he worked as incentive. We had cush balls you name it. I would also verbally prompt him if he didn't answer. We worked one on one him and i for half hour sessions twice a day and then he also went to a speech therapist and special ed teacher outside treatment. He now will formulate his own answers to questions and has impulsive speech at 4yrs old. He still will repeat lines from movies, or shows BUT will fully obey directions and answers my questions most of the time. If it is something he finds hard or is too distracted to answer I cup my hands on his face and say Jimmy "yes or no - hotdog" or whatever I am asking him if he wants or if he has to go potty ect... Potty training is almost complete but was another HUGE hurdle for us.

I have a bunch of therapy websites I would be happy to share from my courses at Drexel.



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22 Jul 2010, 5:09 pm

Chronos wrote:
To be honest I'm kind of adverse to labeling children at such young ages unless they exhibit very unambiguous traits.


I completely agree with this.

You didn't mention in your post how he is verbally or with expressing himself.
Also, how he is with playing with other children? You mentioned controlling but does he have joint attention or shared interests?

It definitely doesn't "sound" like Autism (of the type that is usually dx at 3) but you will need to watch him progress until school age. Right now you should be focusing very strongly on his social skills! I wish I had known enough to work on my daughter's social skills at 3-you are very lucky to be here so early. Be the go between with him and other children coaching him on sharing and interacting appropriately. There is a book called the Eclipse Model that is good for this age group. I would get the book and start the program with him. Also, possibly look into OT for his sensory issues. Above all, do NOT discipline the sensory stuff, it will cause behavioral problems.



violetchild
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22 Jul 2010, 8:32 pm

I personally think some of your expectations are way off.. Most of that stuff you said sounded normal child stuff for that age.

3 yr olds are often learning still about things like sharing, 3 year olds (with parents help) are still learning socialisation skills.. many little kids are scared of bag pipes and dont like sun in their eyes. His meltdowns.. he may just be going throu the terrible twos a little later than most. (ive seen my friends normal children throw melt downs at 4-5 yrs old). Its just something young children sometimes do.. esp 2 or 3 year olds.

A baby wanting to chew on a tooth brush 8O . All babies chew on things. You sounded like a neurotic parent.

I think you need to relax (nothing there seemed extremely abnormal at all), and if you are still worried by the time he reaches preschool age, ask his teacher if she thinks he's showing signs of any issues. It will be easier to tell then if he's really got any real issues.



taboo27
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30 Oct 2010, 1:08 pm

Our son was officially diagnosed PDD-NOS. We are starting the early intervention and will go form there. Thank you all for the feedback.



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30 Oct 2010, 1:42 pm

Good luck, taboo - I hope you are able to get the help you need. I wish we had been as foresighted as you: in hindsight, I realize that what we thought was "delayed terrible twos" when my son was about 3 was, in point of fact, a sign of what was to come.



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30 Oct 2010, 3:04 pm

Thanks for the update Taboo. I hope you will continue to come to Wrong Planet if you have questions about anything. We are all in this together, and you will be able to get valuable insight here from other parents as well as adults who have been living with ASD.

At least now you know what you are dealing with, and I hope that your son will get the help that he needs!



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30 Oct 2010, 11:38 pm

iceb wrote:
taboo27 wrote:
When a baby bag pipes made him scream

I cannot think of anything that would so much make anyone scream :)
Bagpipes are not a musical instrument, they are a weapon of war!

Years ago some friends were in a dinghy on the water in a bay, with a set of bagpipes 'playing' (as you do.. :roll: ) and they got shot at, which I guess is kindof fair :lol: