Age diagnosed?
Find a Conversation
Age diagnosed?
| Fri, 11-11-2005 - 9:27pm |
Hi! I'm new here and curious from reading some of the posts - at what age were your children (or child) diagnosed? It sounds like so many of them are really young. My oldest is 7 (in 2nd grade) and we are just now looking into an eval to rule out AS/PDD/anxiety issues (from what I have been reading in articles, books, internet, and talking to DS's therapist - he definitely has some type of anxiety issues, most likely AS as well - although he has never had any speech problems - but I guess they are seeing more AS without speech issues). Also, what made you look into ASD/AS/PDD?
Christie

Hi Christie!
Welcome to the board! My son was dx'd HFA, right after he turned 5. We did the school district eval when he was 4. We looked into it because his preschool teacher had taken me aside and expressed her concerns about his behavior. I mentioned these concerns to my sister, who is an aid for autistic children (in another city). She was the one who brought up the word autism. And so, I just started looking into it, gathering as much info as I could. Nathan qualified for speech services at school, and then I also made an appt with a neuropsychologist to get an actual dx.
I started posting on this board when Nathan was 4, and I'm glad I did. Lots of great info here, and everyone is real supportive too!
Michelle
Hi....my name is Chrystee too!
My DS, Sam was dx this past spring at almost 6. I had been going back and forth for years with my ped trying to figure out what's up with him since 18 months old. He used to walk across playgrounds and throw sand in kids' faces for apparently no reason. We all knew something was up, we just didn't know what then. She aggreed that he was "spirited" and quirky but there were no obvious delays and he is very extroverted and social. Aggression and behavior problems persisted which I can now attribute to sensory overload, anxiety, or impairments in social skill and theory of mind stuff (not being aware of others' perspective/opinion, not being able to read body language...etc.)
Last year Sam went through these periods of anxiety at night that freaked him and us out. They involved what sounded like hallucinations (pictures talking to him..etc.) which we now attribute to high levels of anxiety. He hasn't had an "episode" in awhile. It's kind of like when you walk into a spider web and *swear* that a spider's on you but there isn't. I also became concerned with memory retention and his trouble with learning reading skills. I again talked to his ped. and she talked to her DH who is a child psych who teaches at Brown and it clicked as she was explaining Sam to him. She actually told me she was in mid-sentence when she thought, "Sam has Asperger's!" So she referred us to the Director of Developmental Disabilities at the nearby kids psych hospital and he met with us for an eval and agreed and Sam was dx'd.
Unfortunately we were then sent on our way with a short list of recommendations for us and the school and that was it. This happened right after DS #2 was born in March so I was a little overwhelmed (still am) and and trying to figure it all out at this point. Sam's 6.5 now and in 1st grade and is *great* *great* *great* at home. I think I've got his stress management down to a science (pat on the back for me ;) But he has a really hard time at school so I'm fighting that battle now.......yeah (sarcasm alert!)
It's not that unusual for a child to be dx with AS when they're 12. Alot of Sam's behaviors could have been attributed to age or immaturity (lack of impulse control, tact, empathy....etc.) So it was harder to see when he was 2, 3, 4...what was going on. Esp. since he talked well early and was so obviously interested in being engaged with other people.
Good luck!!!
Chrystee
My son Jake was just diagnosed this past June at 26 months. I had concerns that something was wrong from about 9 months. He never babbled and had poor eye contact. He didn't crawl until he was a year old and had a fascination with spinning objects which he could look at for hours if we let him. He would flap his hands when he got excited or frustrated. He began talking at age 15 months and also began walking at the same time. His speech came very quickly, going from no words to putting two words together within a month. He had an unbelievable memory and had Learned the abc's by sight at 20 months. At that time I felt he was out of the woods and not showing anymore signs but within 6 months he began using echolia all the time and now his new obsession was with trains. He played with them all day and talked about them constantly. He began hand flapping again and his eye contact was still very poor. I was told many times he was fine but I never felt totally reasured and finally at 26 months it was pretty obvious. I believe the thing that makes AS kids different from PDD kids is the fact there is no speech delay before age 3. I think it's quite common for a lot of people to only find out around the same age your son is now. Anxiety problems are quite common in people with AS especially when they become more aware of their differences.At what age did you start to have concerns about your son?How is he around other kids? My dh's cousin at around the same age as your son was tested for adhd which is often confused with symptoms of AS. His teacher felt something wasn't right. They were told he didn't have adhd and his parents were told he was fine. He is now 17 and very obviously has AS.
HTH
Teresa
Dear Christie,
As others have said, Asperger's often doesn't HAVE a speech delay, in fact, they often have excellerated speech. Which is part of the dx for Asperger's syndrome. My own son (now age 8) had language difficulties when small, which was part of the tip off to having him evaluated when he was 3 years old. It was tricky, though, because he had eye contact and used his speech appropriately! You just had to notice that there was a memorized quality to the speech patterns he used. Also, he had trouble interacting with children that was growing. BUT he liked other children and didn't seem antisocial at all. We happened to be very lucky that his difficulties were caught so young. He could easily have fallen through the cracks for a lot longer.
Actually, we didn't get the PDD-NOS dx until a year and a half ago, and the dx is considered borderline and provisional. We have all along used many different therapeutic interventions with him to great success. Much of the way to help him has to do with remembering that he can be interpreting the world around him with less information. When we can know where he is coming from, we can help him better and then teach him more effectively.
Anxiety doesn't only come from the understanding that they are different. They are always fighting sensory overload and therefore misinterpreting things that are happening around them. When our son gets very confused, his anxiety skyrockets and he can fall apart, get very angry. We work hard to keep his confusion and anxiety to a minimal. This makes the hugest difference for us all. Treating the anxiety as a symptom and looking for the cause, then allieviating it while teaching him how to deal with it, works best of all.
I often think of our son as being an alien in a constant state of trying to assimilate life on a completely foreign planet, with which the more familiar he gets, the easier it is for him. BUT he remains an alien. Just a very cute, friendly one. And he is now acting more and more like a native earthling...
Malcolm currently attends a small private school for Asperger's and PDD-NOS students. Many children there were not diagnosed until much later, and mostly because of extremely difficult times in school and with other children.
Good luck, welcome to the board. I have found this board a great place to swap ideas, compare notes and get super advice.
yours,
Sara
ilovemalcolm
My son was finally Dx'd at age 8 3/4 w/ HFA. We'd had concerns about his development since age 3. We knew for several years that he fit somewhere on the Autism spectrum but he was recieving what he needed at school with a speech and language IEP so we didn't push for a Dx. We decided to get a Dx so that we could get all our ducks in a row before we had to think about middleschool. Our son is doing incredibly well w/ all the therapy he's recieving and even though he has the HFA Dx in some situations he's much more normal than one would expect.
Betsy
Thank you everyone for sharing. As soon as I get a couple of minutes I will sit down and type out an actual intro so you know at little bit more about me, my son, my family and our situation.
Christie
My oldest started with special ed preschool at 3, formally dx'ed PDD-NOS at 4 and Aspergers at 7.
My 2nd child was questioned as ASD at 3 but needed more evals. He was diagnosed ADHD and SID at 4, ADHD with OCD, anxiety disorder, etc at 5 and Asperger's at 7. Depending though it often seems he ranges more toward the HFA side but he had his language on time and has a 120 IQ so AS it is.
My youngest started with evals at 2 but is mild. Speech articulation delay at 3 and ADHD-C and mild provisional PDD-NOS at 5, however, I think he may loose the PDD-NOS label.
(oh I have one typical 7 yo too, lol. Can't forget her)
Renee