Aspergers' in toddlers?

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Registered: 05-09-2003
Aspergers' in toddlers?
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Mon, 03-13-2006 - 1:13pm

Is Asperger's ever diagnosed in toddler age children? What are some of the typical signs in younger children? My son is 2.7 years old and has a lot of sensory issues and some odd behaviors, as well as social issues. A psychologist mentioned Asperger's as a possibility (but to wait and see). Any info would be great.

Thanks,

Jen

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Registered: 03-31-2003
Mon, 03-13-2006 - 5:07pm

I'm not sure how often kids that young are diagnosed. When my son, David was about two and a half, at that point, we hadn't seen anything troubling. Looking back, though, there were a lot of things that I now recognize as AS signs.

For instance, when he was a tiny baby, he had the world's longest attention span. We saw that as only a positive thing. He never took naps, but I still got a bit of a break most days, because once he was old enough to sit, he would sit in front of the bookshelf for an hour or two, looking at all the books. He'd get them off the shelf, and open them up, and turn the pages gently. He looked like he was studying. It could be kiddy picture books or my college anthropology texts, he loved them all. Not only that, but I could read to him for an hour or two, and he'd never get tired. I had an opportunity to read to another preschooler recently, and the kid kept interrupting. It drove me nuts! By the time David was three, he could read better than most kids who have just finished the second grade. (Depending on the book, his comprehension is good, too, which isn't as common with AS kids.)

Also, as an infant, he had a lot of trouble nursing. I remember being puzzled why he'd just cry but not latch on. It was three months before he learned to latch on right.

Oh...I had almost forgotten. When he was just old enough to walk, we used to walk around our block each afternoon. We lived on a street with a lot of parked cars, and he would point to the symbol on each hubcap, and say the word (in a baby way), "Hun" for Honda, "Tyo" for Toyota, "Vang" for Volkswagon. We took him to a friend's family gathering once, and we took David outside to read everyone's car emblem. They were so impressed! LOL! When he was a year and a half, he had 300 words in his vocabulary, but "mama" and "dada" were far below "Volvo" and "Michelin Man".

Oh, and how can I forget! He ran with his elbows at his sides and his hands up in the air! And when he got excited, his hands would shoot up and he'd wiggle his fingers. I never questioned it. It was just a cute thing he did. I remember my friend kind of jokingly saying that when he did that it reminded her of her autistic nephew, and made her think of this thing she read about called "Asperger Syndrome." But we just laughed it off, because there was David, having a real back-and-forth conversation with his friend, at the age of 2. Of course he couldn't have Asperger's if he was telling jokes with his buddy, right? And he seemed sad whenever he saw another kid cry.

So...for David, the systems didn't seem like "symptoms". We just thought we had a little genius. Right around age 3, some pretty difficult stuff started to happen. The first thing I remember is that he suddenly refused to make our daily trip to the park. The big kids (4 year olds in a poorly supervised daycare group) would come and do things like go UP the slide, or push past him, and it bothered him so much he just refused to go. If I had known back then that he had AS, I would have used that as a teaching opportunity (as best as I can, with my own total lack of social skills.)

One more thing and then I'll stop. He loved to spin wheels. If we were at the park and someone left a bike lying on its side, he'd always go over to it and spin the wheels over and over and over. (It drove DH crazy, because he was really stuck on the idea that you don't touch other people's stuff.) One of my favorite pictures of David is one where he is spinning the wheels on something, looking very busy and serious.

Well, Jen, chances are you're not seeing these exact things, since AS is sooooo variable from kid to kid. It was kind of theraputic to have a chance to remember all this stuff, though, so thanks! LOL! Looking back, I don't think I see any advantage to a "wait and see" philosophy. I'd be interested to hear what others have to say.

Evelyn
David 8, AS
Nathan 4 ?

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 03-13-2006 - 5:24pm

The powers that be are recognizing autism spectrum stuff earlier and earlier for what it is.

My kids weren't diagnosed with Aspergers per se until they were 7yo but my oldest was diagnosed PDD-NOS at 4 and my son was first mentioned with PDD at 3. It took a while to get them properly diagnosed, however, my daughter was born the year Aspergers was accepted in the US and it has taken years to really understand it and identify it.

There is a checklist for autism in toddlers. Looking back if they had that test when my kids were that age they would have been identified then at least as on the autism spectrum much younger. However, the checklist didn't come out until my 2nd child was about 4 and already going throuh diagnostic stuff.

Aspergers historically gets identified later than classic autism because kids with AS will have normal language and cognitive development. Often it is the lack of language that first prompts parents to seek early testing for kids. NOw they are coming out with better screening tools for younger kids to be able to identify them younger.

It is still not an exact art and it can be very very difficult to diagnosed young children which is likely why the doctor you saw took a more conservative approach at this time.

Renee

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Mon, 03-13-2006 - 6:06pm

My son was diagnosed asperger's the week after his 3rd bday.

 


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Registered: 08-26-2005
Mon, 03-13-2006 - 11:01pm
My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 26 months. I had a feeling something wasn't right from about 10 months on. He was more interested in spinning the wheels on strollers than kids when I would take him for play dates to the park. He never had a speech delay but did use echolalia until he was about 2.5.He had poor eye contact and flapped his hands when he got excited. By 20 months he knew all of the alphabet by sight and new all of his shapes and colors too. By 2 he knew all of the planets and was totally obsessed with Thomas the Tank. He didn't always respond to his name and at times seemed like he might have a hearing problem.He has been in E.I from about 11 months old and is doing well.
Teresa
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Registered: 03-30-2003
Tue, 03-14-2006 - 8:28am

Hi Jenn, I am going through the same thing right now. My DS is 17 months and has some issues. For me it is a lack of eye contact. He is better from a distance than up close. A lack of responsiveness to his name. He does respond to his name, but only about 60-70% of the time. We have issues with brushing teeth. I can't get a toothbrush in his mouth for anything and he is getting some plaque buildup on his teeth. Jacob has about 20 words, but really doesn't babble that much. I think he has some sensory things going on because I hear him making this weird humming sound once in a while.
And the other issue is that Jacob tends to shut down in new situations. Like he is blocking everything out. It's really weird.
But on the positive, Jacob likes to cuddle, look at books, play ball, and drive his cars around. He follows some commands and uses a few signs. He is completely mechanical as he likes to push buttons and get on the computer (DH is a mechanical engineer).

It is hard for me. I struggle trying to recall what I might have done during my pregnancy that may have caused this. I find it hard to believe that out of all the men in the world, I ended up with one that had the right genetic makeup to produce a child with this. But I am hoping things will get better.

Feel free to email me if you want to compare notes sagarner@finneytown.org

Good luck!
Sonya

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 03-14-2006 - 3:58pm

I knew from early on that Xander was special, even though we just received his AS DX at age 4. Some of the symptoms for us were mainly circled around his VERY delayed motor skills, for example, he still cannot eat a single meal without sharing it with his shirt and the table. His speech has improved slightly over the last few months but he also had a period of time when he was around 18 months that he spoke perfectly and then it completely went away. Another issue was his obsessiveness, but obsessiveness in itself can be a very common trait in toddlers. You see kids all of the time who love Barney for a period of time, have to have a certain blanket to sleep with and carry around all day long, or a routine that MUST be followed such as naptime, then lunch or vice versa. Xander's obsession was and still is Buzz Lightyear. Buzz has been a necessary part of this household since 18 months. He used to carry all of his Buzz toys in a bag and count them periodically throughout the day rather than actually play with them.


Hope that helps.

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 03-14-2006 - 4:57pm

LOL, I love your description of eating. My 10 yo still frequently shares with his shirt and his cheeks. Doesn't notice it either.

But he at least is more consistent about eating with utensils instead of his fingers. THAT was a pain in the tush. I think I still dream in "Mike, use your fork", "Mike use your spoon not your fingers".

Renee

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Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 03-15-2006 - 1:34pm

OMG! David is 8, and he gets food everywhere! After a meal, there are a few crumbs under the 4.5 year old's chair, and big globs of food all around David's plate and on the chair. Also, he leaps up from the table and basically does a series of leaps and twirls that spread whatever was on his shirt and lap all around the entire downstairs within a few seconds. At every meal, I have to tell him to brush himself off at the table. Sometimes he gets up when no one expects it, and things go flying.

Before he was on a mood stabilizer, and was constantly in some bizarre manic-angry-goofy-raging state, he would sit at the table and grab huge handfuls of rice, and fling it around the room, laughing wildly. And yet, it never occurred to me that he might have some kind of neurological disorder. DUUUHH!!! Excuse me while I whack myself in the forehead for being so unbelievably dense...THUMP!.... Yes, I thought he was testing me. I thought he was doing all that on purpose, and I just needed to figure out a discipline technique that worked on him. I spent every waking moment trying to come up with a reward chart that he wouldn't rip in half, or *anything*.

Nowadays, he's basically a good dinner companion. Well, okay, he talks about "butts" a bit too much for polite company, and I wouldn't dream of taking him to a restaurant that isn't McDonald's or Denny's, but we've definitely made progress. Incidently, when he was a toddler (like, up to age 3), we *could* take him to restaurants, like Sushi places, or sit-down Mexican restaurants, and he did just fine.

Evelyn

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Registered: 10-09-2003
Wed, 03-15-2006 - 11:10pm

Welcome to the board, (((Jen))).


My DD Noelle was dx'ed AS at age 3 yrs., 0 mos.

~ Chelsea
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Registered: 05-09-2003
Thu, 03-16-2006 - 8:01am

I knew there was something wrong with my three year old from birth. The nurses never said anything nice about her. She was in the NICU for two weeks and only one nurse seemed to want to hold her and be loving towards her. They said "she's a fighter" and "she sure lets you know if she doesn't like it" and things like that. The first few days home she screamed all the time. She never slept unless I was holding her in an upright position. She couldn't nurse (late found out she was tongue tied.) I finally had to put her down and let her scream herself to sleep, after a month of no shower, very little sleep (I couldn't sleep while holding her and she couldn't sleep if I wasn't holding her) and almost no food. I hated her. I talked about puting her up for adoption. She didn't get any better. At four months old she was still screaming for an hour before she finally went to sleep. She hated baths and screamed through them. She couldn't tolerate transitions and couldn't have clothes or diaper changed without major trama. I couldn't vacuum or use blenders or anything like that. I talked to the pediatrician and he said she had an A-typical personality.

When she was nearly a year I declared I was going to leave my husband. He had refused to go to any marriage counseling, but when I called him at work and told him that Kailey and I would not be home when he got back, he took off work and took me to the pastor for an emergency session. The pastor discovered that most of our problems revolved around our daughter and suggested that there was something wrong with her and we should seek out help through ECI. ECI didn't have anything to offer behavioural wise, but said she was delayed in her motor skills. After a year of playing with her therapist I learned about AS. My mom thought of me when she saw the information, but I was sure that my daughter had it also. The therapist didn't know about it. I took her to a behavioural specialist who said that she has sensory integration dysfunction, but did not believe that she has a PDD (which would include AS.) Later I was diagnosed by a neuropsychologist with AS and SID.

The pediatrician suggested taking her to a geneticist for testing in JohnWilliams and Fragile X Syndromes. I really think that we both have AS, though. It was suggested that perhaps when she's older she might be diagnosed, but that two years old (and now, again, at her three year evaluation) it's too early to tell.

The fact is that most professionals don't do all the research on AS that we do. All they know is the diagnostic criteria and anything they may be interested in looking at. I know an autism specialist who recognises AS in both my daughter and I. I'm not sure that she can diagnose her right now, either.

So much of getting a diagnosis lies in finding the right person.

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