New here, could someone help?

chris0118 · 10-13-2009, 03:12 AM

Hi, I'm new to the boards but needed some help from someone that has autistic child/ren..
I think my son may be autistic however, he doesn't seem to fall into all the categories. I would like to list the things that has me concerned and get someone's advice whether or not these symptoms seem to be autistic. We took our son to his dr. when he was 2 1/2 because even then we were concerned but he told us that he didn't feel that our son had autism .. now my son is 5 and it isn't any better. We are going to get him evaluated by specialists to if nothing else, put our minds at ease. Until then, I was wondering what you guys had to say?
Here are the symptoms:

He has to have routine if the routine isn't the same, he gets anxious
He won't eat certain foods if it looks funny or has "strings" like a banana or cheese if its melted or stringy he won't eat it even though he loves them
he is 5 and still can't talk plain . he had a language delay and still have trouble understanding him at times
his motor skills are very behind, he can't button his shirt, zip his pants or dress himself.
He can't color in lines or trace his name or even draw a stick man
seems sensitive to sounds at times

Although he does all those things, he loves to play w/ children, he makes good eye contact and is a very loving child.. wants hugs and kisses,wants me to hold him

So I guess I'm asking is, even tho he has the symptoms above, can a child w/ autism still want to be touched and to play w/ other children? And if it isn't autism, does anyone else have an idea of what he may have? Thank you everyone for your help. I'm just a very concerned mother looking for answers.

Merenwenrago · 10-13-2009, 02:24 PM

That sounds almost same as my symptoms with aspergers so he definitely has AS or another branch of autism

All autistic people are different they each have a variance in symptoms.

So one aspergers could be friendly extrovert and outgoing yet another aspergers is introvert

chris0118 · 10-13-2009, 02:43 PM

Thank you for your reply. I'm taking him to the dr next week to figure out what we need to do for him. May I ask what treatment options there are for a child w/ autism or a form thereof?
Thanks again

ghemmsak · 10-13-2009, 10:36 PM

Hi. My son was similar. I had to call the local school to get him evaluated by the special ed department. If they are on the milder end of the autism scale, say Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise specified, (PDD-NOS), they won't have all of the symptoms and may have some really odd ones.

As for treatment, the holistic/natural treatments helped him a lot. The younger they are, the more effective the treatments are. I recommend a book you can get at Barnes & Noble called Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, A Mother's Journey. By Karen Serosi. I hope I spelled that right. I like that book to into anyone into natural medicine, because she came from a family of MDs, and her husband is a researcher for Johnson & Johnson. Also go to Autism Research Institue web site and get info from them. Vitamin b was a great help for my son, as were homeopathic allergy treatments. He was diagnosed PDD-NOS, with a 40% delay, and Children's just told me he is functioning at Aspergers, and is operating with a less than 20% delay. Big diff!

Hope this helps

BeautifulBoy · 10-13-2009, 11:44 PM

I keep hearing about parents talking to the baby's primary care docs and being told its not autism. I honestly don't think they know enough about autism to make that call. I'm a firm believer in parents intuition, and if you think there is something 'off' about your baby, get a referral to a specialist! Early Intervention can't do any good if you don't get to it.