:confused:
Hello everyone. I've reading some of the topics and posts related to Autism. My wife and I have a two year old boy. When he turned two we started noticing that he wouldn't turn to face us when we called his name. We originally thought he had a hearing problem. Also, we noticed that his speech was delayed. He wasn't at the level that he should be. We talked to our Physician and she said to give him some time. Well, we didn't think we could waite. We had him screened by our county and he was diagnosed with speech delay and cognitive delay. His motor skills were that of a three year old, however his speech and cognitive skills were at the level of a 15 - 18 month old.

We then started with a speech therapist. At our last visit she was concerned that he's not acknowldging us when we enter a room or call his name. He does allot of counting, for example when he goes up steps or he will count his toys. Sometimes he will line his toys or crackers up and count them. At first I thought the counting was a good thing. But now I don't know. He's a very happy and loving child. He does become frustrated because his language skills aren't at the right level. He doesn't have many tantrums. However, he doesn't want to leave the playground when it's time to leave.

He doesn't really interact with other children much. He will watch them and follow or mimic what they do. He knows how to put his shoes on and is starting to use more words mostly one word. We are trying schedule an appointment with a Pediatric Neurologist to have him tested.

I feel so bad for him. I feel like I've failed as a parent somehow. It's been really hard the past couple of weeks. Allot of information to digest.

I'm open to any advice or encouragement.

:confused:
Hello everyone. I've reading some of the topics and posts related to Autism. My wife and I have a two year old boy. When he turned two we started noticing that he wouldn't turn to face us when we called his name. We originally thought he had a hearing problem. Also, we noticed that his speech was delayed. He wasn't at the level that he should be. We talked to our Physician and she said to give him some time. Well, we didn't think we could waite. We had him screened by our county and he was diagnosed with speech delay and cognitive delay. His motor skills were that of a three year old, however his speech and cognitive skills were at the level of a 15 - 18 month old.

We then started with a speech therapist. At our last visit she was concerned that he's not acknowldging us when we enter a room or call his name. He does allot of counting, for example when he goes up steps or he will count his toys. Sometimes he will line his toys or crackers up and count them. At first I thought the counting was a good thing. But now I don't know. He's a very happy and loving child. He does become frustrated because his language skills aren't at the right level. He doesn't have many tantrums. However, he doesn't want to leave the playground when it's time to leave.

He doesn't really interact with other children much. He will watch them and follow or mimic what they do. He knows how to put his shoes on and is starting to use more words mostly one word. We are trying schedule an appointment with a Pediatric Neurologist to have him tested.

I feel so bad for him. I feel like I've failed as a parent somehow. It's been really hard the past couple of weeks. Allot of information to digest.

I'm open to any advice or encouragement.

Everything will be fine. There is always a reason to be concerned when our kids don't reach the proverbial milestones when they should. It is very frustrating, but all it takes is time. It also saddens me you feel he is this way because of your parenting. It most definately is not :) . The only time you have failed your son is by treating him as "different", which is one of society's worse labels for the disabled. I am sure you are a better parent than you think. Good luck and look into some early intervention for him.

Hi,

First of all, you need to know that it has nothing to do with your parenting or failing as a parent. My sister-in-law is a moron (sorry, but she is), she has no parenting skills what-so-ever, let's her kids do whatever they want and they are both smart as a whip!

I have a 4 year old daughter with PDD-NOS and my 2 year old daughter has pretty severe autism. From what I read in your post, it sounds like your son does have some words and you also stated that he "mimics" other children. That is a WONDERFUL sign in itself. My 2.2 year old doesn't have any words at all and will not even go near another child or even her own sister, we can call her name 50 times and she won't look and she just gets fixated on having 2 objects in her hand at all times. We do have her in pre-school but it's only 4 days a week, 3 hours a day. We are going to see a DAN dr. next week and maybe start chelation but your son sounds like he's on the right track.

I would definitely keep up the speech therapy and the fact that he follows other children and copies what they do is an awesome thing.

Keep your head up and definitely keep a positive attitude, our children might not talk well, but they can sense when we are upset or worried. I think they're all smarter than we give them credit for :)

Good luck to you and your family,
Lisa

I think you have to go through stages to get to acceptance much like someone would who has a disease like cancer. Acceptance comes in stages and you may feel a lot of different emotions before you get to that level. There's sadness, anger, denial, self blaming and probably more emotions that I've not mentioned. As time goes on and you find that there are things that you can do to help him I think you will be more comfortable with what you are dealing with.
Before anyone mentions it I'm not calling autism a disease it was just a comparison of emotions that you might experience.

I totally agree with heartcreature. The emotions are overwhelming when you feel your child is not developing properly. Much like you mentioned, my son didn't ever respond when I called his name. I had his hearing tested under sedation and was told that he definately could hear me. It was heartbreaking when I thought it was autism. I began to research and came across the gluten casien free diet info which I feel has changed our lives. If you haven't already, look into it. Don't blame your parenting because that's not the situation. Good luck

:wave: Everyone, thanks for your replies. Last week when we took my 2 yr. old son to his speech therapy session the Doctor said she was very concerned about the lack of eye contact and the speech delay. Last Friday my wife and I called and started the process to have our son see a pediatric neurologist. We filled out this long survey and sent it in on Monday.

I don't know if he's autistic. He does have some of the signs. Going to the Doctor will either confirm or deny. I've read allot of the posts on this site and they give me hope and encouragement that there is help for my son.

I have been feeling sad about the possibility of him having autism, but after reading many of these posts the diagnosis doesn't change who my son is. He's a loving and fun child. My wife and I love him with all of our hearts and that will never stop.

I do have a couple of questions. Recently my son has started to take off his diaper during the night in his crib. He thinks it's fun and laughs about it. Did this happen to anyone else? Also, is there financial help for families with autistic children? I know the treatments and doctors visits can get quite expensive. I'm not sure how much my insurance company will cover. My feeling is if I have to get a second job I will.

Thank you everyone for your support and comments. I will wait to hear from all of you.

Also, I didn't mention this in my previous post. When I was little I talked late and also had problems with speech, math, and reading comprehension. I was never properly diagnosed with any disorder. However, my doctor does seem to think I suffer from ADHD and hypertension when I was a child. I still have problems with comprehending what I read. I sometimes have to read things two or three times. I know childhood was struggle for me and I just want to give my son all the proper tools I can to help him while he's growing up.

Okay, I'm really done now.

Thanks for listening.

I'm glad to hear you are feeling better. It's all a process and takes time to adjust but the bottom line is that you stay positive and focused on what your son needs to help him. I love early intervention it has been a great help and a good resource for information.

My son never took his diaper off but he could get his pj's off and I would be scared he would get cold. Now when I put his jammies on, I put a tight fitting shirt on over the one piece PJ's so he can't get them off. If the PJ's are the one piece footless, I put them on backwards so he can't get the zipper down therefore in both cases he's not able to get to the diaper.

As far as the appointment goes, good luck. My advice to you is that you insist on a full developmental evaluation, not just an appointment with a Neurologist. You need a full team of developmental specialists to evaluate him. I learned this the hard way by seeing a Neurologist only who dx a speech delay. In February when the Autism special was aired on the today show, I knew my son was on the spectrum. I immediately pushed for the full evaluation and he was dx PDD/NOS. The dx is a blessing in disguise because it gives a sense of closure to the wondering if he is Autistic and it opens the door to many more services to help minimize the affect.

Thus far, I haven't had to pay for anything. It's been paid for via my health insurance and the state picks up the rest until he's three. That's when I hear the battle for services begins. Just be your sons best advocate and you will be fine. Good Luck

Hi Chilli4,

Boy, the diaper story brought back some memories! My 2 year old autistic girl hasn't figured that one out yet but my 4 year old (non-autistic) girl did that every single night for months, we finally figured out what worked. We put her diaper on, then we put those plastic diaper covers (they kind of look like underwear but there plastic for potty training) over her diaper and then put one piece p.j.'s on her. Problem solved! We finally ended up with a whole night sleep for the first time in months and no messy crib to clean up!

As for you having reading problems when you were a child, so did I! Math and Science always came easy for me but I would have to read things 2 or 3 times to retain the information when my friends always got it on the first try. I'm sure if I were a child in this day and age, I would have been tested for something but they just didn't do that back in our day.

With everything that your family is doing for your son already, at such a young age, i'm sure he will be just fine. Therapy and early intervention work wonders, especially when you incorporate it into your home but Love and Affection is the best medicine!!

Good luck to you and yours,
Lisa