New to ASD diagnosis

[Guest guest]

My name is and I am a stay-at-home mom of two wonderful children. In January, will be 15 and will be 8. I have been married to my husband Newton for 18 years.

is neuro-typical...well mostly. He has ADHD and has some sensory issues but for the most part he is fine. has always been a challenging child. From infancy, I knew that something was different. She was always hypersensitive and 'abundant'. In first grade she was diagnosed with ADHD. She was placed on medication. The first day, she came home very excited. She said "Mommy! I didn't go on Step today!" Step is like a time out. She was very proud of herself. I was sold and we continued the medication. She was also tested by the school district in first grade and was found to be 'highly gifted'. She tested in the 99%tile and was placed into a self contained, center-based program for highly gifted children. The nice thing was that most of those kids were just like her and the teachers understood her. For once she 'fit in'. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long. In fifth grade she couldn't take the stress of school, especially a gifted program. We had to move her back to a regular classroom. That helped some but it also created more problems. The other kids just don't understand her and she didn't fit in again. It was hard. Junior High was good for her. In some ways it helped her and some ways not so much. High School has been good so far.

She has seen several different psychiatrist. Along the way they have diagnosed her has ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, Tourette's, Sensory processing disorder, depression and anxiety. While she does have the symptoms of these conditions, none of them really explained everything. I have brought up the possibility of HFA multiple times but none of them would even consider it. I had heard about the Melmed Center so one day I just decided to stop in and make an appointment. So we are now on our 3rd psychiatrist (well actually she is a nurse practitioner) and finally have a diagnosis that fits.

On our first visit the nurse practitioner asked me if I thought it was possible that she was ASD. I said YES!!!!! I wanted to scream! We spent 2 hours there. An hour into the appointment, the real showed up in all her glory. She decided that she didn't want to be there anymore so she completely shut down. She would not make any eye contact (even less than usual), would not speak, would not even acknowledge the provider. It was good that someone finally saw it. could usually hang on for an average Dr visit but this was just too long. I'm sad to say that I was ecstatic when she started to meltdown. I feel guilty but it seems like no one ever believed me so it was good to finally have proof.

So they have diagnosed her as Aspergers, ADHD, sensory processing disorder and OCD secondary to ASD. They are taking her off the lithium (THANK YOU, JESUS!!!). She is on 3 other medication to treat the side effects of the lithium. So, we are hoping to get her off those meds to. That will bring us down to Abilify and Vyvanse. The Vyvanse isn't working (she failed their ADHD test miserably) so that will be the next to go. They are going to put her on Intuniv.

We had her tested for food allergies about 3-4 years ago. I didn't was to do the gluten free/casein free diet without some proof. She tested positive for wheat, egg, peanut, rye, buckwheat, pecan and cherries. Once we removed that, her symptoms have been better. She has made a lot of progress in the past year. I hope it continues.

Our current goal is to get her on an IEP. She is only on a 504 and is in the 'falls far below' category in math. I'm worried about her graduating.

Sorry this was so long. I can't wait to get to know all of you.

[Guest guest]

Welcome ,My name is and I too am new to the ASD diagnosis. My son is 5 1/2 and it was just last month that we got it. I knew before he turned 3 that there were some issues and had him tested for autism and because he was so young at that time they said he was fine. His gross motor skills were very advanced and they seemed to think that he acted typical for his age but me being his mother knew different. He didn't talk much at the age of 2 going into 3. People would ask me if he knew how and I would say yes, when he wants to, he will say a few words. Eye contact was very limited also. At the age of 4 he was dx w/ ADHD and put on focalin which seemed to work in the preschool setting, it did calm him down a bit but by the time he got into KG, which is more structured, he had problems within the first week of school. was put on an IEP in Jan of this year by the school district. He is extremely smart but has a lot of issues learning because of his behaviors. Right now, after several meeting at the school, my son spends part of his day with the PreK ESE class because it is more restricted and the teacher sits with them at lunch before he would not eat at all and run from the cafeteria. Maybe I should have them do an IQ test on him and I will ask his dr about doing the allergy test just to see because he is doing a little better since the doctor changed his meds to XR, which has a better effect on. Nevertheless, he also has Sensory disorder, disruptive disorder, failure to obtain neurological milestones and mixed expressive/receptive disorder.

 

My name is and I am a stay-at-home mom of two wonderful children. In January, will be 15 and will be 8. I have been married to my husband Newton for 18 years.

 

is neuro-typical...well mostly. He has ADHD and has some sensory issues but for the most part he is fine.  has always been a challenging child. From infancy, I knew that something was different. She was always hypersensitive and 'abundant'. In first grade she was diagnosed with ADHD. She was placed on medication. The first day, she came home very excited. She said " Mommy! I didn't go on Step today! "  Step is like a time out. She was very proud of herself. I was sold and we continued the medication. She was also tested by the school district in first grade and was found to be 'highly gifted'. She tested in the 99%tile and was placed into a self contained, center-based program for highly gifted children. The nice thing was that most of those kids were just like her and the teachers understood her. For once she 'fit in'. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long.  In fifth grade she couldn't take the stress of school, especially a gifted program. We had to move her back to a regular classroom. That helped some but it also created more problems. The other kids just don't understand her and she didn't fit in again. It was hard. Junior High was good for her. In some ways it helped her and some ways not so much. High School has been good so far.

 

She has seen several different psychiatrist. Along the way they have diagnosed her has ADHD, OCD, Bipolar, Tourette's, Sensory processing disorder, depression and anxiety. While she does have the symptoms of these conditions, none of them really explained everything.  I have brought up the possibility of HFA multiple times but none of them would even consider it. I had heard about the Melmed Center so one day I just decided to stop in and make an appointment.  So we are now on our 3rd psychiatrist (well actually she is a nurse practitioner) and finally have a diagnosis that fits.

 

On our first visit the nurse practitioner asked me if I thought it was possible that she was ASD. I said YES!!!!! I wanted to scream! We spent 2 hours there. An hour into the appointment, the real showed up in all her glory. She decided that she didn't want to be there anymore so she completely shut down. She would not make any eye contact (even less than usual), would not speak, would not even acknowledge the provider. It was good that someone finally saw it. could usually hang on for an average Dr visit but this was just too long. I'm sad to say that I was ecstatic when she started to meltdown. I feel guilty but it seems like no one ever believed me so it was good to finally have proof.

 

So they have diagnosed her as Aspergers, ADHD, sensory processing disorder and OCD secondary to ASD. They are taking her off the lithium (THANK YOU, JESUS!!!). She is on 3 other medication to treat the side effects of the lithium. So, we are hoping to get her off those meds to. That will bring us down to Abilify and Vyvanse. The Vyvanse isn't working (she failed their ADHD test miserably) so that will be the next to go. They are going to put her on Intuniv.

 

We had her tested for food allergies about 3-4 years ago. I didn't was to do the gluten free/casein free diet without some proof. She tested positive for wheat, egg, peanut, rye, buckwheat, pecan and cherries. Once we removed that, her symptoms have been better. She has made a lot of progress in the past year. I hope it continues.

 

Our current goal is to get her on an IEP. She is only on a 504 and is in the 'falls far below' category in math. I'm worried about her graduating.

 

Sorry this was so long. I can't wait to get to know all of you.