Autism, Aspergers, PDD/NOS, ADD/ADHD

[maplesky7]

My oldest dd had some characteristics that family would tell me...isn't "normal." She has a speech delay, did have language delay, very shy, did not have eye contact, sensitive to noises (blender, vacuum, lawnmower...), night terrors, liked very small toys...NEEDED a mommy, daddy, and baby of all toys....lined them up...

I began early intervention with her at age 2...with speech class and a social visit. I enrolled her in tumbling and swimming so she would be around groups. I did what parents and doctors said she needed to come out of her shell.

But as you all know...mom really does know best. I opted to homeschool her. I went to the school and we sat in on the pre-school and she reacted poorly. There was too much stimulation. She wanted to play on the playground but then kids were running and screaming past her and she froze in her tracks.

It wasn't until last spring that I decided she had improved SO much and was actually having a social life with her ballet friends and church friends...that i enrolled her in a very small christian school.

She has made such strides that her current speech path. said we are dropping the language bit and going to hit the speech part only to focus on some of her sounds---r, l, j, sh....

Her tests have proven she has grown like a year in just months. She is now just under normal in some categories and above in 2 others.

In school she has made A's across the board and is a very sweet girl and all the kids are kind to one another.

But let me tell you....the current speech path. told me in Nov. 06' she was concerned with Zoe having a high level of autism because of the above mentioned things. We went to the children's hospital in Chicago for an eval.

It came back that she was fine...with some levels of anxiety....hyper sensitivity to noise...and they suggested she needed school and not to be homeschooled.

Well, how many times had i heard that before. too many to count.

They told me to get a book on the noise thing, they said she would grow out of her night terrors--said they were a hormone thing and scared me more than they did her, and told me not to be so anxious because i relayed a story of bad people taking kids the time she hid in a dept. store and i couldn't find her.

sigh.

I just kept on doing what we did and it gave me the opportunity to tell my family --especially those in the school system (teachers, or office workers) to back off.

Honestly,
Zoe was born premature, I had a hard pregnancy and was toxemic and on bedrest and hospitalized often. She was born healthy besides a few days treatment with the bili-blanket to get her to pass her bilirueben. She made each stride of life at HER pace. I was thrilled with her.

What I abhored was everyone comparing her to all the other kids her age.

I knew she'd get there but in HER time...and she did. Instead of being able to relax and enjoy my first child, I had nay sayers whispering in my ear...trying to steal me from that glory. I still do. I mean...I just heard my mom say my sister was still worried about her speech.

What the hay? She's been in therapy since she was 2 and now she is 7 and she's in school now. What MORE could I possibly do but what I do with her already?

I'm the one that plays the games to encourage her speech. I'm the one who is with her day and night and does all the things I am suggested to do by her speech path...saying words in front of the mirror with her and all the other tricks of the trade....

And she is being successful in school and in life....so why? why do people persist?

I even had my husband start to doubt her and me.

There was a book i wanted to mention...i had it and then gave it to my mom---because my 18 year old nephew had been diagnosed with Aspbergers at age 15....before they just termed him adhd. he graduated last summer from highschool, he works, and goes to community college. he has MANY awards in the music area...was in the boys choirs...and his asperation is to become a music teacher.
so there is life with aspergers.

anyway...the book was about a mom who's son had turned around much like yours did...pulled out of it completely. it was called...i think-----"Finding Isaiah."

when i read it at the time, some of the symptoms did remind me of my Zoe but not to that extreme.

I also have the faith that things like this can and do happen.

Thank you so much for sharing your stories every one and sorry i rambled.

me,
g

 

[okiemommy]

g

 

[ursusarctosana]

Quote:
The sensitivity to sound may be part of Sensory Integration Dysfunction. A lot of times it will not persist into adulthood, except in some cases; it did in my case. I'm bothered by sounds, some lighting, and smells. There are times when it bothers me so much I have to get away. Sometimes it can cause temper outbursts in children (and adults). It makes environments overwhelming, etc.

It is awesome that you are there for your daughter no matter what. For some of us it's people like you who have made the difference.

 

[ursusarctosana]

Quote:
Hi Henrietta,

I've seen "Autism: The Musical" and it caused me to feel happy that the kids were allowed to be themselves, not forced into a box or made to stand straight, all in a line and so-called perfect, as if in a military drill or something--like a lot of musicals. That made me happy. I hope you will like it when you have a chance to watch it.

 

[ursusarctosana]

Quote:
I, too, was deathly afraid of balloons, clowns, circuses, firecrackers, guns, loud power tools, generators, heavy machinery, revving engines, and the adults didn't understand. I couldn't go in the water over my knees; I was terrified. In fact I never mastered the ability to hold my breath and swim under water.

 

[maplesky7]

Hello okie! hugs ya back.


and thank you ursusarctosana.

me,
g

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
Hi Henrietta,

I've seen "Autism: The Musical" and it caused me to feel happy that the kids were allowed to be themselves, not forced into a box or made to stand straight, all in a line and so-called perfect, as if in a military drill or something--like a lot of musicals. That made me happy. I hope you will like it when you have a chance to watch it.

I'm sure I will. I've got to add to my Netflix list.

None of the students I'm currently working with are autistic but the woman I share a room with does have some. Her students are so interesting to interact with.

 

[okiemommy]

Here is a link to an article written by a man that was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum disorder at age 49. I thought this would help the person that asked about getting diagnosed as an adult a few pages back. hth


Autism late in life Article

 

[Wifezilla]

I didn't figure out until last year that I had ADD- Inattentive subtype. I am 45.
It explained so much

 

[Rachel96]

The sensitivity to sound may be part of Sensory Integration Dysfunction. A lot of times it will not persist into adulthood, except in some cases; it did in my case. I'm bothered by sounds, some lighting, and smells. There are times when it bothers me so much I have to get away. Sometimes it can cause temper outbursts in children (and adults). It makes environments overwhelming, etc.

It is awesome that you are there for your daughter no matter what. For some of us it's people like you who have made the difference.

I think you're right about the Sensory Integration Disorder (SID). I was thinking it as I read what Mapelsky had written.

SID is actually one of the most common disorders to be co-morbid with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. It's interesting that I'm the most high-functioning of the people in my family with an ASD (I have AS), but I have the most 'severe' SID. But that's not the point. I do think that SID is the main reason children with ASD have meltdowns, more than anything else.

I am very sensitive to sound, that's my main integration difficulty, although I also find smells and light difficult, and some tastes. Most of the time it doesn't bother me (I do correspondence school) but if I'm in a big crowd, I get overwhelmed very quickly. If I'm tired, it's worse, too. The best way I can describe it is, you know how every room has a note which reverberates really well? (My bathroom is G# above middle C). When I get overwhelmed, every noise sounds like that, just piercing. Sometimes it's even physically painful.

My sister (PDD-NOS) is completely different, though. Noise is her stim and she's always humming under her breath, like a constant buzzing not an actual tune. She needs to have the TV or radio on to concentrate, often quite loud (This is not in the least helpful for me). She's called 'sensory-seaking' and she loves noise and various touchy-feely things (she has a sheepskin mat which goes on her bed for her to sleep on, she rarely wears shoes, and so forth), but her main problem is taste. Everything's spicy, or yucky, or sour. There are very few things she'll eat because she can't process the taste properly.

My father (HFA) has the most problem with light. He can't have a light without a cover on it, or spotlights.

I've been trying recently to describe SID. I find, if you're in a room which most people would say is quiet, it isn't for me. If there's an air conditioner and a clock, I will hear the buzzing of the aircon and the ticking of the clock, everyone breathing heavily, and the cars on the road outside, and the lawnmower across the street. It's not that I have more sensitive hearing, it's that everyone else hears those things too and their brain automatically processes them and ignores them - in effect, they're not consciously aware of the sounds. My brain won't do that, so I'll always be aware of all those sounds and it makes concentrating on any one sound (someone talking to me) very difficult.

So in the crowded schoolyard situation, it wouldn't just be lots of children, it would be a combination of thousands of differents sounds and colours and movements, which all blur into a crazy mess which can't be processed.