Greetings all!
I have bombarded with questions about how we found out about our son being on the autism spectrum. There have been a couple of unbelievers as well, citing lack of discipline. But as I have been living this craziness for the last 6 months I have come to realize 2 things:
1. These people do not really know our family
AND
2. These people have no real concept of the world around them.
I wouldn’t wish an autism spectrum disorder on my worst enemy! But there are some amazing resources out there. Our son was diagnosed with Aspergers about a month and a half ago!
Since the very beginning our original doctor’s answer was to medicate him for something he clearly didn’t have! MEDICATING A CHILD FOR ADHD WHEN THEY HAVE A SPECTRUM DISORDER MAKES THE CHILDS SYMPTOMS WORSE!
Ok so what are the symptoms?
Well I fouNd this great blog post HERE
This post helped my husband I see things that we just though were quirky!
So let’s go symptom by symptom and I’ll give you an idea of what our life looks like on the spectrum!
1.they have a hard time socially. Our son has a very hard time making friends. His friends are his little men. He has loads of them! But not just that they have no concept of social norms. A lot of spectrum kids will sniff, lick or touch people. Our son does all three!
2. Eccentric or Repetitive behaviors- we see this a lot in our son. He has many and they change from day to day. The first one which we see the most common is hand flapping. He does this when he is both excited and agitated! Then there is spinning in circles this is very common but I have only seen our son do this once. These things soothe the children who are affected. Our son also kicks his feet rapidly. He will rewind the same scene in a movie and watch it over and over and over again.
3. Unusual preoccupations and rituals. Our son has some of these one of them is inappropriate to share here. I will say this though he is fascinated with all things space. Star wars, star trek, star maps. He will stare on these things for hours! He is very enthralled with little plastic characters and goofy. He will sit and trace the outline of his characters for long periods of time. He doesn’t really pretend. At times we catch him re-enacting stories but he doesn’t make up his own stuff!
4. Communication Difficulties- one of the worst thing you could do to our son is yell at him to look at you. Kids on the spectrum have a very difficult time making and keeping eye contact. When our son is talking with us, he won’t look at us at all. Only a few people get get him to look at a camera when getting his picture taken! Our son also has trouble communicating thoughts. He stutters quite a bit, though he does have quite a large vocabulary, he didn’t talk until he was nearly three. AND. it wasn’t until recently that a memory came to mind of him as a baby. As a baby he never cried! I’m serious. One morning he slept for 12 hours…no joke. I went in and he sat laid in his crib. I had checked on him every hour but i finally had to wake him up. From that point on I set a timer! He did cry when he had a messy diaper and he never cried to get out of his crib after a nap. I frequently checked on him so i knew when he was awake! I shared my concerns with the doctor but i was dismissed and said “i just had an easy baby”
5. Limited range of interest. This really depends on the day for our son. It could be spce related or technology….movies, my ipad, tight spaces, and other times it might be finding every small plastic fugre he owns!,
6. Coordination problems- these kids tend to be very clumsy and awkward. My son is no different, he also has very low muscle tone. He is unable to jump on one foot, matter of fact he doesn’t run or jump with two feet at all!
7. Sensory issues- our son is just riddled with these! He is both more sensitive in some areas and less sensitive in others. Now we have found that what he is sensitive in one day might not be the same the next day. He hates shoes and socks …they “pinch” his feet. He hates regular clothes he would live in soft PJs . Matter of fact he has tried to sneak his PJs under his regular clothes before church or school! He rarely if ever feels cold in his feet. If we aren’t very careful he will go out in the snow without shoes on. Having his hair cut and washed is a huge ordeal. Same with having his face touched. Food textures and tastes are also a big thing. He doesn’t generally like meat!
8. Difficulty regulating emotions. He can’t control himself whether it’s happiness/excitement or anger/sadness.. We see ginormous swings in a matter of seconds!
9. Lack of empathy- so if i hurt myself (like a few weeks ago) and I cry because I am in pain, he basically could care less…OR he might laugh. Whereas our other children say whats wrong mommy?
(At this point I want to draw your attention to what our new doctor pointed out as another major symptom and that is the inability to read facial expressions so the famed “look” every mommy has used is worthless . They will just look at it as though you are making faces at them and laugh….this drove us NUTS!)
10. Difficulties in transitions and rigidity-from the very mom our son wakes up it is what are we doing today? What’s tonight? We answer this many times in a day. And if per chance we have to change our plans, look out! He is always asking what’s next.
11. Difficulties with imaginary play- as i said before this is not something he is good at and it is VERY rare that he plays with his siblings. He would much rather be in a room away from all the noise sometimes under a bed, in his safe room, or behind a chair playing with his toys. He doesn’t really play with many different toys.
12. Skilled or talented- our son has an amazing memory. He memories bible verses amazingly fast and only really needs to hear a song once or twice. He also does very well with numbers and can color like no other 5 year old boy, i have ever met!
This is by no means an extensive list of symptoms and all of these symptoms are intermingled with each other. I know this is a small glimpse but imagine all of these things going on and toss in verbal and motor tics as well and it makes for some super exhausting days!
Thanks for showing interest, care and love for our family as we embark on this new journey Life on the Spectrum!
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