autistic spectrum disorder

[Guest guest]

They always say trust your gut. Well, last spring I started worrying

about this odd behavior was having, glancing at his last

three fingers on his right hand several times a day. I even posted

about it and talked to school about it. No one at school was

worried, I just knew in my gut it was autistic-like. Well, now I'm

really concerned and want to talk to those of you have children with

DS-ASD.

As if I need more going on with the war I'm fighting at school to

have included in Full Day Reg Ed Kindergarten instead of the

DD self-contained preschool they have him in but tell me " 's a

kindergartener " . Anyway, his odd behaviors are reallly picking up.

I worry that spending his day in a pretty non-verbal peer group and

all that goes with that is taking it's toll on him. He's just not

himself. He started hand flapping over the summer and doing lots of

jumping and throaty noises. He chews his index finger so much that

it looks odd, bigger than his other one and callused. He doesn't

seem to acknowledge me when I talk to him, he just ignores me. If I

ask him something I know he knows, I get nothing. loves farm

animals so if I ask something like " jackson, what does a cow say? "

nothing! I'm scared of the unknown here. I've been fighting since I

got here to the school district trying to prove he's worthy of reg ed

with a 1:1 aide and now I worry that he's really regressing.

I read the article online by Dr. Capone at KK. He seems to really

know his stuff. Does anyone see him? What should I do? Where do I

start. I need to do something as I feel like I'm losing him more

every day. I never had a hard time with being born with DS,

I was always fine with it but this seems to have crushed me and I'm

quite sad about it.

You all have always been such a great support to me and I truly

appreciate your answers/support/ideas. Being a Military Family in a

new town is lonely, no one here knows us or knows the I know

is inside that body, I just can't find him right now.

Thanks for reading this long post.

Jayne

(sad mommy tonight)

[Guest guest]

Jayne,

Hang in there! You should join the group by sending email to

-subscribe . There are other parents there who are

having their child evaluated for ASD in addition to the parents whose

children have been diagnosed with some degree of ASD and parents whose

children have a mood disorder.

Yes, we know Capone and have since was a newborn. He seems to be

the one parents take their children to who have behavior issues like autism

or mood disorders. He did alot to have DS-ASD recognized - I'm hoping he

does something similiar for children with DS and mood disorders. Our next

appointment is in a few weeks.

About the finger chewing, also does this and has calluses. He does

it more when he's anxious or sick. The throating noise could be self stim

or tics, too. It probably wouldn't hurt to take to KKI to be

evaluated. Go to http://www.kennedykrieger.org and then find the toll free

number to call and schedule an appointment. If your insurance will pay, I'd

have all the evals you can - OT, PT, Psychological, etc. in addition to

being seen by Dr. Capone. The evals will be mailed to you and you can

release them to the school yourself (that is what I do).

Jayne - you don't have to feel so alone. You know how I love this list, but

I really think you will get more support from the DS-Autism list at this

time (just stay here, too!!).

I'm going to email you my phone number seperately in case you want to call

sometime.

autistic spectrum disorder

>

>

> They always say trust your gut. Well, last spring I started worrying

> about this odd behavior was having, glancing at his last

> three fingers on his right hand several times a day. I even posted

> about it and talked to school about it. No one at school was

> worried, I just knew in my gut it was autistic-like. Well, now I'm

> really concerned and want to talk to those of you have children with

> DS-ASD.

> As if I need more going on with the war I'm fighting at school to

> have included in Full Day Reg Ed Kindergarten instead of the

> DD self-contained preschool they have him in but tell me " 's a

> kindergartener " . Anyway, his odd behaviors are reallly picking up.

> I worry that spending his day in a pretty non-verbal peer group and

> all that goes with that is taking it's toll on him. He's just not

> himself. He started hand flapping over the summer and doing lots of

> jumping and throaty noises. He chews his index finger so much that

> it looks odd, bigger than his other one and callused. He doesn't

> seem to acknowledge me when I talk to him, he just ignores me. If I

> ask him something I know he knows, I get nothing. loves farm

> animals so if I ask something like " jackson, what does a cow say? "

> nothing! I'm scared of the unknown here. I've been fighting since I

> got here to the school district trying to prove he's worthy of reg ed

> with a 1:1 aide and now I worry that he's really regressing.

> I read the article online by Dr. Capone at KK. He seems to really

> know his stuff. Does anyone see him? What should I do? Where do I

> start. I need to do something as I feel like I'm losing him more

> every day. I never had a hard time with being born with DS,

> I was always fine with it but this seems to have crushed me and I'm

> quite sad about it.

> You all have always been such a great support to me and I truly

> appreciate your answers/support/ideas. Being a Military Family in a

> new town is lonely, no one here knows us or knows the I know

> is inside that body, I just can't find him right now.

> Thanks for reading this long post.

> Jayne

> (sad mommy tonight)

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Click reply to all for messages to go to the list. Just hit reply for

messages to go to the sender of the message.

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/12/2004 9:34:26 PM Eastern Standard Time,

jacksonsmom99@... writes:

> Anyway, his odd behaviors are reallly picking up.

> I worry that spending his day in a pretty non-verbal peer group and

> all that goes with that is taking it's toll on him. He's just not

> himself. He started hand flapping over the summer and doing lots of

> jumping and throaty noises. He chews his index finger so much that

> it looks odd, bigger than his other one and callused.

-------------

When was in the preschool program she was in a class of 9 - 5 of whom

were autistic boys. She started picking up their behaviors by imitation and it

took me years to break her of the habit. DS kids are VERY good at observing

and mimicry - and she quickly discovered that by " acting autistic " she could

get out of having to work!

Get him out of there!

- Becky

[Guest guest]

While you may want to have him evaluated I have to agree with Becky, get him out

of there, ASAP.

The one time spent the summer program with a child who bit herself she

actually tried it a couple of times. (musta decided that it hurt, lol) She

also has spent alot of time with boys in her classroom who have had autism and

other behavior problems, tho none were really bad. She did pick up some of the

traits tho. And she is finally letting them go (most of the time, lol she still

tries them to get attention) The one that I notice alot less of lately is the

not wanting to look directly at you when you talk to her and want her to

respond, or when she wants to request something.

One reason we have avoided larger schools is because of the larger number of

kids in sped and the fact that she would get alot more exposure to kids with

autism and other problems (like self mutliation, biting)

Good Luck,

hopefully it's just some habits that can be broken when he's put in a classroom

with kids who for the most part have behaviors that you really want him to copy.

Re: autistic spectrum disorder

In a message dated 10/12/2004 9:34:26 PM Eastern Standard Time,

jacksonsmom99@... writes:

> Anyway, his odd behaviors are reallly picking up.

> I worry that spending his day in a pretty non-verbal peer group and

> all that goes with that is taking it's toll on him. He's just not

> himself. He started hand flapping over the summer and doing lots of

> jumping and throaty noises. He chews his index finger so much that

> it looks odd, bigger than his other one and callused.

-------------

When was in the preschool program she was in a class of 9 - 5 of whom

were autistic boys. She started picking up their behaviors by imitation and it

took me years to break her of the habit. DS kids are VERY good at observing

and mimicry - and she quickly discovered that by " acting autistic " she could

get out of having to work!

Get him out of there!

- Becky