Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 Hi, and welcome! Our guy is Louie, who is 21 now and living in a supported living center for 4 months. Your psych has a lot to learn. One wonders what he would do about diagnosing Dr. Temple Grandin, who is autistic, a professor, an inventor, an author, and a well-known lecturer. Or my friend (who will remain nameless) who is using his prediliction for pattern recognition to pursue a career in international affairs. It sounds to me like your Nic is high functioning autistic, as is my Louie. Louie carries also the dual diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome as well as HFA, with also Oppositional Defiant Disorder. He has always been a loving, cuddly child, even though he quit talking at almost two and didn't speak again until he was over five. He had eye contact with us as a tiny child, but not with those outside the family until he was around three and a half or four. And he is *definitely* HFA/AS. So you can see, there's more than one kind of autism.....it's more a spectrum of syndromes rather than a single one that only presents one way. This is a great place, in any case, with a wealth of information! Again, welcome! Annie, who loves ya annie@... HCV active and wife of 27 years to Ron, cancer and stroke survivor, mom to Kris, 32 and bi-polar (and possibly AS) and Louie, 21 and HFA/AS/ODD -- If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed... Oh wait! He does! --- anon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 Welcome, - I'll use your message to re-introduce myself, per Sharon's request to us older list denizens. I'm , married to Beth lo these 16 years. Our children are , 10 and NT; and ( , in fact), also 10 (twins, by the way). Both and I are Aspergers persons. I think it very likely that my father would also fall in the Aspergers spectrum, were he not conditioned to avoid diagnoses, as would my late uncle and grandfather (his brother and father). To paraphrase the old joke, " Aspergers runs in my family? Heck, it practically gallops! " We've know about our son (and consequently, myself) for 4 years. To outsiders, he's merely highly intelligent and very curious (about this strange planet he and I find ourselves on), but eccentric and not graced with social skills. Only family and a handful of friends have been informed of any diagnosis. We've taken both kids through a range of applied learning, gifted and talented, homeschool, and charter school scenarios. Right now, we're enjoying the charter school we've found for them. has a wonderful relationship w/ , which makes it easier on him, considering his difficulty in attracting friends. Of course, as the careen toward adolescence, I'm sure there will be some strain developing. That's us in a nutshell/case. Welcome again. New Hi, My name is and I have 2 children and a husband of 12 years, . Nicolas is 6 and is my autistic child. is 4 and NT. Nic will be entering Grade 1 in September. He will be in a reduced size classroom(max 15 kids) with a 50% aid. We are unsure how that will work for him. He had a full time aid in Kindergarton. He is obsesses with movie, Disney in particular, books, Wheel of Fortune. Am sure I am missing a few. We are the the middle of a diagnosing nightmare. We have known for about two years that Nic has High Functioning Autism. All the people that worked regularly with him agreed. And the psych-ed testing also concluded this. Yet the only child psych in town refused to give him a diagnoses...said was to young and because Nic has some eye contact and related to myself and my husband he could not be autisitc. After fighting for two years for recognition ourPed finally agreed to refer him to Sunnyhill, the Provincial centre for Special Needs here. He did this saying that it definitly appears Nic has unique behaviours and we should have the diagnosis reviewed with our local Specialist as well. Argggg we have been seeing these people since Nic's birth, he has heard the litany of problems and finally after losing it with my family Dr cause nothing was being done he says we should maybe get things reviewed. Been fighting for two years to get it reviewed. So now we have to see local specialist in August again and are on waitlist to get to sunnyhill(6 months). Some info about Nic: We have been involved with early intervention programs since he was 13 months old. Started sign about 18 months, he said his first word at just over 2.5 was bubbles in our backyard:) Nic has other problems as well, GDD, SI, ERLD and a few other things but right now we are focusing on the lack of focus and some of the delays. We use pecs and a variety of other things, ABA type intervention, sign, social stories. His Grandmother says we cater to him nicely. Our goal right now is for him to become as independent as he can(getting dressed, shoes, brushing teeth etc) and maybe learning to talk with people rather than at people. Well I should have bored you all nicely by now, ...Mom to ,4 (Chronic Severe Asthma); and Nicolas 6, (High Functioning Autism or PDD-NOS, Hyperlexia/Semantic-Pragmanticdisorder; General Developmental Delay (2 years delayed); Severe Language Disorder; Mild Intellectual Impairment; Sensory Integration Issues) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 (rolling my eyes at doctors who base autism/aspergers diagnoses on eye-contact) I don't know if I learned it in the dark recesses of my childhood, or it's just an exception to my symptoms, but I also have excellent eye-contact, sometimes too excellent, in fact. I have to periodically make myself look away so as not to creep out other people. For me, it's the one big tool for reading what someone is trying to tell me. I'm horrible on the phone ("death comes a calling" as my friends say) because I can't read any visual clues there. I do so much better either face to face or in print. Our son, however, still has lots of trouble with eye contact. In fact, he even tries to turn his body away, twisting and looking all over, I think trying to maintain that Aspie buffer. He has gotten significantly better, though, about facing you and TRYING to make eye-contact when he has a question or a request. -----Original Message-----From: Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 8:00 AMTo: autism-aspergers Subject: Re: New Welcome, ! My son has great eye contact and always has, so I don't think that's a reason for them to say that your son does NOT have autism. I'm surprised that they said that. Mommy to (8/20/97)http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/2654/Keep smiling! People will wonder what you're up to! New Hi,My name is and I have 2 children and a husband of 12 years,. Nicolas is 6 and is my autistic child. is 4 and NT.Nic will be entering Grade 1 in September. He will be in a reduced sizeclassroom(max 15 kids) with a 50% aid. We are unsure how that will workfor him. He had a full time aid in Kindergarton. He is obsesses withmovie, Disney in particular, books, Wheel of Fortune. Am sure I ammissing a few.We are the the middle of a diagnosing nightmare. We have known for abouttwo years that Nic has High Functioning Autism. All the people thatworked regularly with him agreed. And the psych-ed testing alsoconcluded this. Yet the only child psych in town refused to give him adiagnoses...said was to young and because Nic has some eye contact andrelated to myself and my husband he could not be autisitc. Afterfighting for two years for recognition ourPed finally agreed to referhim to Sunnyhill, the Provincial centre for Special Needs here. He didthis saying that it definitly appears Nic has unique behaviours and weshould have the diagnosis reviewed with our local Specialist as well.Argggg we have been seeing these people since Nic's birth, he has heardthe litany of problems and finally after losing it with my family Drcause nothing was being done he says we should maybe get thingsreviewed. Been fighting for two years to get it reviewed. So now we haveto see local specialist in August again and are on waitlist to get tosunnyhill(6 months).Some info about Nic: We have been involved with early interventionprograms since he was 13 months old. Started sign about 18 months, hesaid his first word at just over 2.5 was bubbles in our backyard:)Nic has other problems as well, GDD, SI, ERLD and a few other things butright now we are focusing on the lack of focus and some of the delays.We use pecs and a variety of other things, ABA type intervention, sign,social stories. His Grandmother says we cater to him nicely. Our goalright now is for him to become as independent as he can(getting dressed,shoes, brushing teeth etc) and maybe learning to talk with people ratherthan at people.Well I should have bored you all nicely by now,...Mom to ,4 (Chronic Severe Asthma); and Nicolas 6,(HighFunctioning Autism or PDD-NOS, Hyperlexia/Semantic-Pragmanticdisorder;GeneralDevelopmental Delay (2 years delayed); Severe Language Disorder; MildIntellectualImpairment; Sensory Integration Issues) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2001 Report Share Posted July 18, 2001 , welcome to the list, and no, you did not bore us. You are in good company. I think all of us have been fighting for our kids for some time now. It's a difficult process to get doctors to listen sometimes,but hang in there. Don't give up. Look forward to hearing more from you. Sharon(moderator) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 1, 2002 Report Share Posted February 1, 2002 Leah, welcome to our group. You will learn much here. There are alot of great people who I am sure will be willing to help you in any way. I applaud you for your career choice. I have 4 boys on the spectrum. So if you need to know anything or have any questions, feel free to email me privately anytime. God bless, Sharon(moderator) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2002 Report Share Posted February 2, 2002 Hi. I'm actually a college student. An assignment was to join a listserv dealing with our field. I am a psychology major. I will be getting my special education certification this summer. I start grad school in the fall. I am planning on specializing in PDD and treatment. I have done therapy work, mostly ABA-type stuff, with a few children already. I am really interested in other therapies, what works, what doesn't. Basically, how can I better prepare myself to work with these great kids? My uncle, Jack Southwick, is a asperger specialist; he has even written a book on the subject. Anyway, I hope I will be able to learn a lot from everyone who is experiencing autism/pdd first hand - every day. Nice to meet everyone! -Leah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 2, 2002 Report Share Posted February 2, 2002 Leah, It is great to hear that folks like your self are getting in to the special ed. field. We need enthusiastic, knowledgeable people like you to help our kids. I especially like that you already think of these kids as "great." I had quite a battle with my son's school because they did not understand his needs and labled him as an agressive behavior problem. Now that they understnd him, he is doing great. What book did your uncle write? Welcome, Debi new Hi. I'm actually a college student. An assignment was to join a listserv dealing with our field. I am a psychology major. I will be getting my special education certification this summer. I start grad school in the fall. I am planning on specializing in PDD and treatment. I have done therapy work, mostly ABA-type stuff, with a few children already. I am really interested in other therapies, what works, what doesn't. Basically, how can I better prepare myself to work with these great kids? My uncle, Jack Southwick, is a asperger specialist; he has even written a book on the subject. Anyway, I hope I will be able to learn a lot from everyone who is experiencing autism/pdd first hand - every day. Nice to meet everyone!-Leah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 3, 2002 Report Share Posted February 3, 2002 <smile> I'm really excited about it, too! He wrote a book with Myles called: Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage, and Meltdowns. > Leah, > > It is great to hear that folks like your self are getting in to the special ed. field. We need enthusiastic, knowledgeable people like you to help our kids. I especially like that you already think of these kids as " great. " I had quite a battle with my son's school because they did not understand his needs and labled him as an agressive behavior problem. Now that they understnd him, he is doing great. What book did your uncle write? > > Welcome, > Debi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2002 Report Share Posted February 6, 2002 leah--give your uncle a hug for me. this book has been very helpful for me in dealing w/ my 6.5 y.o daughter w/ aspergers! tantrums, rage and meltdowns are her specialty. renée > <smile> I'm really excited about it, too! > He wrote a book with Myles called: Asperger Syndrome > and Difficult Moments: Practical Solutions for Tantrums, Rage, and > Meltdowns. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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