HFA what were the first signs????

[Anonymous]

we had a regression at age 20 months. ds repeated words after an adult talked to him, and out of no where he stopped. we read books about animals, and he was able to identify the noises they made, he stopped that too. I noticed that at the playground, he will go to the top of the slide, and he will not come down, avoided eye contact with others, he did had it with both parents. He did not point at things. He lined up cars. The regression on language is what worried me. Our Ped. asked us to take him for a speech eval. We did, thats where all started, I had no idea of the many areas of language, he had a delay, and he was under 2. A devel. ped diagnosed him at age 25 months. We started agressive ABA at home, speech, and OT. He attended a private preschool with support (Speech), the county program was not a good fit for him, we saw better results with the typical peers. DS is 8 now, long story short, he still has a speech delay, but otherwise is chatty, funny, smart, and loves to play with friends. he still receives Speech, OT (helps him organize thoughts and control impulses), and social skills groups. It has been a long road, but all worth it. If you are in doubt, def, look for resources, have him evaluated for speech, and OT.

Good luck with everything,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At its heart, autism is a social communication disorder. Joint attention and the inability to read nonverbal cues are two of the best indicators in children who are very young (although there is one poster whose kid has Aspergers and she says he has great joint attention, most scholarly papers and autism experts list this as a key deficit.)

Hi, mom whose kid with Asperger's who has great joint attention. Highly socially motivated too. Normal eye contact. Kid just has a terrible time reading nonverbal social cues and pragmatics. Just had a Neuropsych eval with Dr. Black who diagnosed ASD and ADHD combined type. DS is 7.

The first sign for us was when DS entered preschool at 4. Would not play with other kids.

Question. Was your DS in daycare? When parents say that they did not know until school started and their kid was not playing with others- I just wonder what the previous years were filled with. I am not judging- just wondering if there is something different about 'school' playing with other kids vs. daycare playing with other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At its heart, autism is a social communication disorder. Joint attention and the inability to read nonverbal cues are two of the best indicators in children who are very young (although there is one poster whose kid has Aspergers and she says he has great joint attention, most scholarly papers and autism experts list this as a key deficit.)

Hi, mom whose kid with Asperger's who has great joint attention. Highly socially motivated too. Normal eye contact. Kid just has a terrible time reading nonverbal social cues and pragmatics. Just had a Neuropsych eval with Dr. Black who diagnosed ASD and ADHD combined type. DS is 7.

The first sign for us was when DS entered preschool at 4. Would not play with other kids.

Question. Was your DS in daycare? When parents say that they did not know until school started and their kid was not playing with others- I just wonder what the previous years were filled with. I am not judging- just wondering if there is something different about 'school' playing with other kids vs. daycare playing with other kids.

No, did not go to daycare. Preschool at 4 was the first time in a group setting with same aged peers. We had done the usual Mommy and me stuff and prior to 4 yrs old, parallel play is considered normal. DS modeled as a baby and toddler (we have a home in NYC) and he was always very engaging, unusually so, sweet and even tempered/charming with adults.

[Anonymous]

Gotcha. Thanks for the reply. DS is two and I'm wondering if ASD is in our future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one can diagnose your kid over the internet. Start with your pediatrician. Read a good book on child development like Touchpoints.

Also, check the CDC milestones for old your kid is. If they show the signs under "Act Early," then definitely talk to your pediatrician and early intervention services.

Lack of eye contact alone doesn't mean autism. Tantrums don't necessarily mean autism. Sometimes these things are age appropriate.

Our pediatrician was useless. DS with HFA passed all the autism screenings given by the pediatrician. Most pediatricians are not "good" with diagnosing HFA. Thus most kids with HFA are not diagnosed until they start school.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At a few days old, screamed until red-faced when nursing didn't work out, could not be consoled. The lactation consultant said she'd never seen such an easily frustrated baby. He was really unresponsive to consolation and once he got upset he couldn't calm down. My friend with an HFA child my son's age said her baby was kicked out of the hospital nursery because he was "too disruptive." Both our kids had unusual sensitivities in toddler hood. My son's first word was "Bright!" as in, that light is bothering me, it's too bright.

Our ped was utterly useless and the day after my son was diagnosed (by a dev ped after a full assessment) we were in for a routine appt and the ped argued that ds did not have autism and he could just tell.

FWIW, both my son and my friend's son are doing very well in late elementary school, academically strong and socially appropriate if a tad quirky, but well liked by peers. Good luck!

Op here. A few things you said struck me. My son is under two. He also complains that it is bright (when I'm not bothered by the light). We are currently seeking explanations for his behaviors via blood tests and physical exams but I asked the question because I'm beginning to wonder if this could be sensory related or even some form of non-typical neuro development such as HFA. I have no idea what's going on and have little or no experience with other kids his age to compare him to so that makes it harder. Given the responses here I think I may investigate this possibility further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gotcha. Thanks for the reply. DS is two and I'm wondering if ASD is in our future.

OP, if you're worried, take this online:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/diagnosis/mchat

to get a sense of where your kid is. Discuss the results with your pediatrician and make an appointment with a developmental pediatrician.

Please keep in mind that many 2 year olds don't make great eye contact, prefer parallel play, and may have certain sensitivities, e.g.., to light without being autistic.

If your kid has any speech or motor delays, you can call early intervention for an evaluation, but they don't diagnose anything, but will provide services if your kid qualifies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gotcha. Thanks for the reply. DS is two and I'm wondering if ASD is in our future.

OP, if you're worried, take this online:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/diagnosis/mchat

to get a sense of where your kid is. Discuss the results with your pediatrician and make an appointment with a developmental pediatrician.

Please keep in mind that many 2 year olds don't make great eye contact, prefer parallel play, and may have certain sensitivities, e.g.., to light without being autistic.

If your kid has any speech or motor delays, you can call early intervention for an evaluation, but they don't diagnose anything, but will provide services if your kid qualifies.

Thanks! We are getting EI services here in DC. We are definitely (trying) to be aware of how things make shake out for our family. We are waiting on the developmental ped for another year. It is a bit expensive and we feel that another year of development will give us all a better sense of what the deal is. I am a special education teacher as well- so it has been a blessing and a curse. On the one hand we are very aware, but then again we might just be over seeing things.

[Anonymous]

It's good you're doing EI and that you're aware that there are things other than autism that cause delays.

I would recommend getting the Out of Sync Child book from the library if your kid has different sensitivities. Regarding the developmental pediatrician, I'd give it 6 months, then make an appointment b/c sometimes the wait can be long. There are usually cancelations so it doesn't always take that long. And you can always cancel if you don't think it's necessary in the end.

[Anonymous]

Diagnosed age 7-8. A lot of what has been mentioned here. Our child was in daycare and preschool. They noted oddities. We had some misdiagnosis. One item that no one here has mentioned that stands out for me is that DS really didn't know "how" to play with something. He could build, take apart, organize, collect etc. but didn't really play with toys. Didn't initiate pretend play. While me might put together a train track and organize the trains (or let others play on it) he did't drive around the trains, make noises or stories about what they were doing, just build, rebuild, take apart and put away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Diagnosed age 7-8. A lot of what has been mentioned here. Our child was in daycare and preschool. They noted oddities. We had some misdiagnosis. One item that no one here has mentioned that stands out for me is that DS really didn't know "how" to play with something. He could build, take apart, organize, collect etc. but didn't really play with toys. Didn't initiate pretend play. While me might put together a train track and organize the trains (or let others play on it) he did't drive around the trains, make noises or stories about what they were doing, just build, rebuild, take apart and put away.

Can you elaborate on the "oddities" noted by preschool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

At its heart, autism is a social communication disorder. Joint attention and the inability to read nonverbal cues are two of the best indicators in children who are very young (although there is one poster whose kid has Aspergers and she says he has great joint attention, most scholarly papers and autism experts list this as a key deficit.)

Hi, mom whose kid with Asperger's who has great joint attention. Highly socially motivated too. Normal eye contact. Kid just has a terrible time reading nonverbal social cues and pragmatics. Just had a Neuropsych eval with Dr. Black who diagnosed ASD and ADHD combined type. DS is 7.

The first sign for us was when DS entered preschool at 4. Would not play with other kids.

Question. Was your DS in daycare? When parents say that they did not know until school started and their kid was not playing with others- I just wonder what the previous years were filled with. I am not judging- just wondering if there is something different about 'school' playing with other kids vs. daycare playing with other kids.

My kid was also not diagnosed until he started real school. He was in preschool, but the teachers were less well trained and less inclined to find "problems." For some things that's a really good thing, but in other ways, delayed diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diagnosed age 7-8. A lot of what has been mentioned here. Our child was in daycare and preschool. They noted oddities. We had some misdiagnosis. One item that no one here has mentioned that stands out for me is that DS really didn't know "how" to play with something. He could build, take apart, organize, collect etc. but didn't really play with toys. Didn't initiate pretend play. While me might put together a train track and organize the trains (or let others play on it) he did't drive around the trains, make noises or stories about what they were doing, just build, rebuild, take apart and put away.

Can you elaborate on the "oddities" noted by preschool?

Lack of body space awareness. Stimulant seeker and in other instances avoider---usually extremes. Poor fine motor skills coordination. Texture issues. Fascination with parts of objects, rather than the whole.
Overall, though, happy child. Made eye contact. Liked to be hugged, held, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diagnosed age 7-8. A lot of what has been mentioned here. Our child was in daycare and preschool. They noted oddities. We had some misdiagnosis. One item that no one here has mentioned that stands out for me is that DS really didn't know "how" to play with something. He could build, take apart, organize, collect etc. but didn't really play with toys. Didn't initiate pretend play. While me might put together a train track and organize the trains (or let others play on it) he did't drive around the trains, make noises or stories about what they were doing, just build, rebuild, take apart and put away.

Can you elaborate on the "oddities" noted by preschool?

Lack of body space awareness. Stimulant seeker and in other instances avoider---usually extremes. Poor fine motor skills coordination. Texture issues. Fascination with parts of objects, rather than the whole.
Overall, though, happy child. Made eye contact. Liked to be hugged, held, etc.

Joint attention?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diagnosed age 7-8. A lot of what has been mentioned here. Our child was in daycare and preschool. They noted oddities. We had some misdiagnosis. One item that no one here has mentioned that stands out for me is that DS really didn't know "how" to play with something. He could build, take apart, organize, collect etc. but didn't really play with toys. Didn't initiate pretend play. While me might put together a train track and organize the trains (or let others play on it) he did't drive around the trains, make noises or stories about what they were doing, just build, rebuild, take apart and put away.

Can you elaborate on the "oddities" noted by preschool?

Lack of body space awareness. Stimulant seeker and in other instances avoider---usually extremes. Poor fine motor skills coordination. Texture issues. Fascination with parts of objects, rather than the whole.
Overall, though, happy child. Made eye contact. Liked to be hugged, held, etc.

Joint attention?

Wow this sounds just like my kid. Yes curious, did he have joint attention? Mine does but if he did not I would definitely be thinking autism.