Patient Voices: Autism
April 4, 2010
The autism-spectrum disorders encompass a wide range of symptoms, from social awkwardness to a complete inability to interact and communicate. Here, six men and women speak about living with an autism-spectrum disorder.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/02/health/healthguide/TE_autism.html
what every parent must know - the early signs of autism are NOT necessarily the early signs of aspergers - autism awareness day is April 2nd!
April 1, 2010
Do you wonder why your child seems to be much more difficult than other children? Do your child’s tantrums seem to last much longer and be much more explosive than other children their age? Is your child exhibiting signs of intelligence much past his developmental age? Does your child obsess over certain objects, can focus on a particular item of interest for days or months, or need to collect items he’s interested in? Does your child have remarkable memory, especially for details? Does he seem to be inflexible, more difficult to make transitions? Is he having trouble learning in one or more areas, despite his intelligence? Maybe he is having a more difficult time getting along with other children? Or, seems overly disturbed when walking into a crowded or loud room? Does your child seem to be more emotional than other children? Does your child like talking to strangers, like being the center of attention, is he chatty and sometimes doesn’t know when he’s said too much?
In light of World Autism Awareness Day, I want to do my part to raise awareness of the signs of autism. There are a lot of children (and adults, but for this purpose I’m referring to children) out there undiagnosed. And while I do not necessarily think the diagnosis is essential, I do believe there are key things a parent can learn through the diagnosis process that will immensely help their children succeed in life. I talk about this in one of my earlier blogs.
There is a lot of media attention on autism these days, which is absolutely terrific. However, the media doesn’t make much mention of Aspergers and how that looks different from autism. Aspergers is an autism spectrum disorder but many of the early signs of Aspergers are different from those of autism. Because of this, doctors and parents often are not able to diagnosis a child with Aspergers until much later, missing those key early intervention years - below the age of 5.
We have a lot of autism in our family. I knew the signs of classic autism. My son, who has Aspergers, exhibited NONE of these signs. In fact, in some areas, he was the complete opposite - like, he loves to snuggle, he is very animated in his expression, he initiates and carries on conversations. So, we thought “there is no way he has autism”. He said his first words at 6 months, walked at 8 months, and could tell you how electricity worked by the age of 2. How is it possible for someone with this kind of advanced development have autism?
I googled “signs of autism” and here are the top 3 sites that I found:
Mayo Clinic’s signs of autism:
- Fails to respond to his or her name
- Has poor eye contact
- Appears not to hear you at times
- Resists cuddling and holding
- Appears unaware of others’ feelings
- Seems to prefer playing alone — retreats into his or her “own world”
- Starts talking later than other children
- Loses previously acquired ability to say words or sentences
- Does not make eye contact when making requests
- Speaks with an abnormal tone or rhythm — may use a singsong voice or robot-like speech
- Can’t start a conversation or keep one going
- May repeat words or phrases verbatim, but doesn’t understand how to use them
- Performs repetitive movements, such as rocking, spinning or hand-flapping
- Develops specific routines or rituals
- Becomes disturbed at the slightest change in routines or rituals
- Moves constantly
- May be fascinated by parts of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car
- May be unusually sensitive to light, sound and touch and yet oblivious to pain
Autism Speaks signs of autism:
- No big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter
- No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles, or other facial expressions by nine months or thereafter
- No babbling by 12 months
- No back-and-forth gestures, such as pointing, showing, reaching, or waving by 12 months
- No words by 16 months
- No two-word meaningful phrases (without imitating or repeating) by 24 months
- Any loss of speech or babbling or social skills at any age
About.com signs of autism:
- Does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by 1 year of age
- Does not speak one word by 16 months
- Does not combine two words by 2 years
- Does not respond to name
- Loses language or social skills
- Poor eye contact
- Doesn’t seem to know how to play with toys
- Excessively lines up toys or other objects
- Is attached to one particular toy or object
- Doesn’t smile
- At times seems to be hearing impaired
Everyone that knows my son, and I would bet that this is true for a lot of folks with Aspergers, did not show these signs. He did have poor eye contact, he was inflexible with unexpected changes, and he had extreme interests in certain objects. But, THAT’S IT! And, this could be any kid. Believe me, in this journey of autism, there is nothing I would have liked more than to have his diagnosis at age 2 or 3. I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH, IF YOU QUESTION WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON WITH YOUR CHILD, IF YOU THINK THAT HE IS DIFFERENT IN SOME WAY, - GO GET HIM (OR HER) EVALUATED!!! DO IT NOW! A diagnosis is very difficult and scary. But you will be so glad you did it after several years have passed. And it is what is best for your child. There are so many great resources today to help your child live a successful life - but early diagnosis and intervention is BEST. And, if you need help accessing resources, there are a ton of us parents out there to help guide you - and we are all happy to do so!
From my google search, WebMD does the best job at describing the signs of Aspergers, but many of these signs can’t be detected until later ages when you can really assess their social development. Listen to the questions I raise at the beginning of this post.
from WebMD:
Parents often first notice the symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome when their child starts preschool and begins to interact with other children. Children with Asperger’s syndrome may:
- Not pick up on social cues and may lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others’ body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking.
- Dislike any changes in routines.
- Appear to lack empathy.
- Be unable to recognize subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others’ speech. Thus, your child may not understand a joke or may take a sarcastic comment literally. Likewise, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent.
- Have a formal style of speaking that is advanced for his or her age. For example, the child may use the word “beckon” instead of “call” or the word “return” instead of “come back.”
- Avoid eye contact or stare at others.
- Have unusual facial expressions or postures.
- Be preoccupied with only one or few interests, which he or she may be very knowledgeable about. Many children with Asperger’s syndrome are overly interested in parts of a whole or in unusual activities, such as designing houses, drawing highly detailed scenes, or studying astronomy. They may show an unusual interest in certain topics such as snakes, names of stars, or dinosaurs.2
- Talk a lot, usually about a favorite subject. One-sided conversations are common. Internal thoughts are often verbalized.
- Have delayed motor development. Your child may be late in learning to use a fork or spoon, ride a bike, or catch a ball. He or she may have an awkward walk. Handwriting is often poor.
- Have heightened sensitivity and become overstimulated by loud noises, lights, or strong tastes or textures. For more information about these symptoms, see sensory integration dysfunction.
A child with one or two of these symptoms does not necessarily have Asperger’s syndrome. To be diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a child must have a combination of these symptoms and severe trouble with social situations.
Although the condition is in some ways similar to autism, a child with Asperger’s syndrome typically has normal language and intellectual development. Also, those with Asperger’s syndrome typically make more of an effort than those with autism to make friends and engage in activities with others.
