Im looking for more insight into autistic children.... you have any?

Question

i have an almost 3 year old son who has an evaluation for autism in a couple of weeks. he has a lot of quirky behaviors and signs of autism, but he isnt socially withdrawn like most asd kids are. instead he knows no boundaries with people. he has zero stranger anxiety, and will walk up to anyone. his speech is 2 years behind where it should be now... when we first saw the dr. about the speech and motor delays, he said his delays were only 10 months behind, now he is walking so that has caught up some (still not quite what it should be) but his speech delay has grown even larger. we are working with early intervention, but are there any other resources out there? any other advice or tips? oh, and we are in south dakota if that makes any difference.

Answer 1

Usually the full signs of autism aren't show till a child is atleast 3 year olds. I would work on getting alot of therapy along with working with him at home, but don't treat him as if that is def. the case. Working at a day care center we have several autistic kids and to me once they are diagnosed, parents seem to give up on them and turn to teachers to try to help, but take that there is no cure, as there is nothing they can do.

I was reading once in an add for a therapy place that there is a cetain social therapy that what it is, is they say there are children who get easily frustrated and throw fits and show many signs of autism, but their brains are miswired i guess you can say.. so they percieve things differently than they think they are and then get upset when its not right... its hard to explain but what it does is it makes the child's brain relearn expiriences and stuff.

Also I have seen that daycare is helpful for these kids. they get alot of early stimulation that helps prevent them from falling behind more when they get into school.

Answer 2

My nine year old has no social withdrawl what so ever!!  Like your child my son has no boundaries when it comes to people and/or strangers.  I am not sure what SD has to offer your child.  Find a support group (in your area or online, talk to other parents and learn as much as you can and keep on learning.  Find a therapy clinic to get him extra speech, OT and PT services.  Search online and learn everything you can and get ideas on how to handle certain situations and find all of the resources you can in your area and use them.

Answer 3

You should also seek private speech therapist services through your medical insurance or medicaide.

I would look for a parent support group. Often these groups have wonderful resourses and insight.

There are a couple good yahoo online groups about this subject you may want to do a search

Answer 4

Hi!,  I have twin 5 yr. old boys who both have autism. What you describe sounds like one of my boys.  Clark is very loving and would go home with a completer stranger if he could.  He is also very affectionate.  There is such a wide range of symptoms.  Other than being non-verbal, my boys are quite different: one jumps and flaps and the other doesn't, one bites himself, one is very ritualistic and the other isn't.  I don't know about resources in SD since every state is different.  In WI, where we live, we have an early intervention program that is 30 hours per week per child and is paid for by the state.  The really frustrating part is that there are so many waiting lists for services.  From diagnosis to the start of the intensive therapy was a YEAR AND A HALF!.  I would suggest doing a search for the autism society in your area and finding out from other parents what is available.  From what I've found in my area, the parents are much more helpful than the professionals.  

here is a link to an autism handbook from SD:

http://www.usd.edu/cd/autism/autismhb.pd...

Good luck to you and your family.