I'm so confused!
Find a Conversation
| Mon, 09-18-2006 - 1:11pm |
We had a diagnosis of asd ppd-nos over the summer by our dr and the slp and ot that worked with Joey(he's 3). He is in a pre-school that is for special needs kids. He got into this one mainly because Joey doesn't talk, but the dx of autism also was considered. Now I just got a call from the family liason who said that they don't think Joey is autistic and they want to see him in home setting. They said they are basing this on that he is 'social'. I am so confused by this new diagnosis. We do have an appt to go for further testing at the centre here in the city on Oct 10/11, but what do I do in the meantime? He still does all the things that lead my dr to the conclusion that he is autistic, albeit high functioning, so what does this mean to Joey now that the school doesn't think he is autistic?
help?
Stacy

Lots of autistic kids are social. Some overly so. The difference is that they don't understand social cues as well as typical children. Depending on the child depends on the level they understand social cues. Most can be taught social cues but they have to be taught specifically how to do it in concrete manners.
Some autistic kids when very young are more social because they haven't had social failures yet. When they get into grade school on up they will start to have those failures and may with draw more. This happened with our son.
We made this mistake with our son. He had many autism symptoms but was social so we took that to mean he COULDN"T be autistic and it delayed his diagnosis for many crucial years. For example he would always ask children to play but would often scare them or keep going on a theme long after they were done. Little kids are forgiving so they would keep trying to play with my son or find him to be a clown but they did not relate to him as they did NT friends and he does not relate to people in the same way that NT's do but he was very socially outgoing with other children. Even now he has a couple little buds if he is in a good place he will play with but because he didn't have the support early on and had many failures he is much more socially withdrawn than he was and is just starting to become more social again.
Naturally he is a sweet, empathetic, social little dude. However, the autism makes it hard for him to understand others and how to socialize and when to be empathetic. Doesn't mean the desire and personality trait isn't there, just that the communication differences and sensory challenges make it harder for him to be successful at it.
Renee
Hi Stacy,
And welcome to the board.
I would be careful of a special needs school that sees your ds as social therefore not autistic over a doctor who understands pdd-nos diagnosic criteria. It is a mistake to think that all children on the spectrum are not social, esp. when little. My ds is 9 now and is dx'ed with pdd-nos. He has ALWAYS been social and interested in other kids, but he does have trouble with misunderstanding social cues and participating with other kids. Except when he does very well with other kids, which does happen! And sometimes often. But now my son has had years of therapy and social skills assistance, which has helped his growth in this area of challenge.
Children on the autistic spectrum are all unique, and the school is not really qualified to diagnose! However, it is not a bad idea for school to see him in home setting. Are they thinking he should no longer be attending the school? Is he benefiting from the school? If he is, I would work hard to keep him there for now.
3 is very young and more trouble socially will be showing up with even more force as your child gets older, if he is on the spectrum. Does he still have OT and SLP etc.? I would keep those services going if possible, esp. if they are good practitioners. And October is coming soon, so you will know soon
Stay in touch, let us know how things go.
yours,
Sara
ilovemalcolm
Wishing you best of luck.Belinda