autism with mental retardation - Autism Spectrum Message Board

pipediggy · 03-02-2004, 02:44 PM

My daughter is autistic and today I was told my son is as well. His Dr. said he is also mentally retarded. I'm going to get a second opinion because I do not believe that he is mentally retarded. I do agree that he is autistic. I see him doing things that my daughter also did at his age. Which at the time I didn't know it was abnormal. Now I know what to look for. Anyway with my daughter she also has ADHD which I have been told usually goes hand and hand with autism. Does anyone know if it is common to see a mentally retarded autisic child? I am having a hard time believing that he would be both. If anyone has any experience with this please let me know where I can find more info. I've been searching the web but haven't found anything with info. on both.

shue · 03-02-2004, 03:12 PM

Statistically, it is possible, at least according to my reading. I think cognative impairment is pretty tough to really assess when they are very young. How old is he? Did the Dr. say why he thought this?
I'm sorry for your most recent diagnosis.
God bless.

KathleenW · 03-02-2004, 04:23 PM

Almost 70% of people diagnosed with autism are also mentally retarded. At this young of an age I think it is impossible to know. One of my close friends son was diagnosed autistic with an IQ score of 69 (which is mentally retarded). The diagnosis was at age 2.5. He was reavaluated when he was 3 years 6 months after being in an ABA program for 10 months and tested cognitvely at 3 years 8 months. Because of the difficulties autistics have with understanding language and compliance issues it is very hard to have an accurate test. My advise to you is to start working with him at home while your daughter is in school. Teach him how to do the things he could not accomplish when they tested him. We started out with the shape sorter, puzzles, and lots of pretend play. That is how small children learn best.

Redhead23 · 03-03-2004, 03:07 AM

Many children with Kanner-type autism are mentally retarded (IQ < 70), children with Asperger's and High-Functioning autism (Kanner-tpye but higher IQ and functionality) have an IQ of 70 or above, although in AS it is often average to above average, but not always.

But yes, mental retardation and learning difficulties are very common in autism.

Also most autistic children have some level of AD/HD symptoms.

princessputter · 03-04-2004, 06:46 PM

pipediggy... have u considered having ur son.. tested for fragileX.. it is a type of retardation...that has autistic like symptoms and behaviors... I read they can test them by a finger stick... mebbe its something worth lookin up on the net... best of luck