Hello - Does anyone have any Info. on diagnosing Autistic Children?

Question

It's concerning my child. She's 5 and is basically a smart cookie, however she does lack in several areas. We just had her tested. None of it is behavioural, mainly she's not meeting all of her speech and writing milestones. The word Autistic was referred to and I have no clue what it is. Please help?? Serious Answers, please..(and thanks)! Worried mom.

Answer 1

Dear mum, I know how it feels and it is kind tantalizing to see whether your sweetie is Autistic or not that I ever checked it on my son, too, when he was about 3 yrs old ( now nearly 5).

Here is the info I ever download in my file named Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia... You could go to google webiste to input to search this then input the Austism when you reach the website.. there are a lot of information you could see whether she has slight Autistic syndrom or not... Then I still would recommand you to send her to see pediatric psychologist and speech pathology after you browsing through all the info.  But I got to tell you it is kind a long process to have a diagnosis on your sweetie.... Very very long... and kind time wasting.  We ever sent him to see specialist in a university hospital but they did just few sessions of evaluations then suggested us to see the crappy community clinics to have further evaluations.  Then after done this, he will see whether my son has such kind diagnosis or not.... Frankly speaking, I gave up when we did the speech pathology for 6 monthes long....There is nothing better for him to develope naturally without cramming teaching techniques which will frustrate my son too much.  So We decide to send him to kindergarten first, plus spending 10 minutes on speeching or reading books to him...  From what you said, she is kind social with the other kids... so why not put her to kindergarten with the other kids.  And spending few time with her every day to teach her how to speak and how to do some basis of counting, and writting alphabates as well... Don't forget she is just 5 years old is not about the age of writting... simplely teaching her how to recognize the numbers, letters.  Most kids at this age is kind hard to hold a pen to right size of words including those things I said...

Do not panic by what people said about her in negative way, but you got to be alerted and teach her now.  That is what I do for my son...

Answer 2

For what you are describing about not meeting speech and writing milestones and someone referred to the word autism they could only be suggesting PDD.NOS which is a catch all diagnosis for having some atypical autistic traits.  PDD.NOS kids do have delayed speech and fine motor along with many atypical signs.  Since she has no atypical behaviors as a chief complaint not likely she is spectrum.  Here is a link to ease your mind it is a PDD assessment and is pretty accurate in my opinion, both my sons are mild and they both come out in the mild of the mild range.  http://www.childbrain.com

I do feel autistic spectrum is currently being overdiagnosed.  Beware of unqualified people throwing it around which is any teacher, psychologist, daycare provider, parent ect, only a neurologists opinion counts and it varies from neurologist to neurologist and in addition it changes over time (for the better).  Loads of kids at 5 have fine motor and speech delays, usually they have an educational classification of developmental delay which is good for 3 years.  This is what my oldest son is carrying and he is PDD.NOS and the psychologist also suspects mental retardation but she is way off which happens alot for spectrum kids.  First off to be PDD.NOS you have to have an ave. IQ.  It has been my experience that most psychologists have no clue about autistic spectrum disorders so even if a psychologist suggested that I wouldn't hold a lot of weight to it at all.

Answer 3

Beware of people throwing out the word "autism" because it seems to be the "in thing" just now.  There are other reasons a child may not meet speech and reading milestones.  Children are individuals.

This article from the National Autism Association explains how it is diagnosed and what kinds of things they look for:

http://www.nationalautismassociation.org...

Answer 4

You need a medical specialist to specifically diagnose autism. There are no medical tests, at least at this point. It's diagnosed behaviorally, and there is a wide spectrum of behaviors. Some children may manifest mild symptoms, others more severe. There are also different types of symptoms. Autism is a syndrome, therefore there are many, many different symptoms. If you need more information, there are several good texts on autism; just google them and check in your library. If you suspect that you child is autistic, you might want to document the behaviors you suspect and then present them to the doctor.  Mom, unfortunately, there is no quick answer. While speech and writing may be part of autistic behavior for some children, it's usually behavioral, such as rocking, staring, repetitive actions, not making eye contact. I wonder, who suggested autism, and why without a behavioral analysis. Go back to this person and ask for more information as to why she/he intimated autism. It is irresponsible for a professional to make such a statement w/o providing more specific information. And frankly, if autism is suspected, and the only symptoms you are seeing is delayed or poor speech and writing, I would not suspect autism. Please let us know. Good luck.