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23-08-2010, 19:26
Sorry if this is a bit long.
My now 8yo son was diagnosed with autism when he was 4. We first realised something was not quite right when he was 2 and was not speaking at the same level as other children his age. At 3 he was diagnosed with a language disorder (he still has this) and we chose to put him into an early intervention program. There were a lot of autistic children at his early intervention school and although he showed no stimming signs prior to attending there, he mimicked the other children soon after starting. He was stimming with the best of them when he was diagnosed my a multi-disciplinary team as autistic at 4. At the same time he was attending kindergarten, where he was quite disruptive, often running off and rarely staying still when the other children were having floor time.
We decided that he should go to a 'normal' school and undertake sports with other 'normal' children. He is thriving at school, very popular and academically going very well. The other mothers thought I was joking when I finally mentioned his autism. As soon as he no longer was exposed to other autistic children his stimming stopped. He has pretty normal sensory patterns and is generally a very thoughtful and loving little boy at home
However, he has continued to be disruptive in class, running off when it suits him and although he's not the naughtiest child there, he's definitely not one of the better behaved children. But the teachers are happy to excuse him because of his label of 'autism'.
Also, at sport he is very physically capable, but again he can be inattentive and disruptive.
We have managed to control his inattentiveness/disruptiveness with bribes and reward charts, but it is an ongoing process.
We are in the process of getting him re-assessed by the same multi-disciplinary team who originally assessed him as I am suspecting he may not actually be autistic. However, this inattentiveness/disruptiveness is still of concern to me, and leads me to wonder whether it may the symptoms of ADD. I do not know any children with this and do not know much about it, so would be interested to hear from any mothers who have experiences similar to my son's and whether they are of the belief that this is more autism or ADD?
I look forward to your replies and thoughts.
My now 8yo son was diagnosed with autism when he was 4. We first realised something was not quite right when he was 2 and was not speaking at the same level as other children his age. At 3 he was diagnosed with a language disorder (he still has this) and we chose to put him into an early intervention program. There were a lot of autistic children at his early intervention school and although he showed no stimming signs prior to attending there, he mimicked the other children soon after starting. He was stimming with the best of them when he was diagnosed my a multi-disciplinary team as autistic at 4. At the same time he was attending kindergarten, where he was quite disruptive, often running off and rarely staying still when the other children were having floor time.
We decided that he should go to a 'normal' school and undertake sports with other 'normal' children. He is thriving at school, very popular and academically going very well. The other mothers thought I was joking when I finally mentioned his autism. As soon as he no longer was exposed to other autistic children his stimming stopped. He has pretty normal sensory patterns and is generally a very thoughtful and loving little boy at home
However, he has continued to be disruptive in class, running off when it suits him and although he's not the naughtiest child there, he's definitely not one of the better behaved children. But the teachers are happy to excuse him because of his label of 'autism'.
Also, at sport he is very physically capable, but again he can be inattentive and disruptive.
We have managed to control his inattentiveness/disruptiveness with bribes and reward charts, but it is an ongoing process.
We are in the process of getting him re-assessed by the same multi-disciplinary team who originally assessed him as I am suspecting he may not actually be autistic. However, this inattentiveness/disruptiveness is still of concern to me, and leads me to wonder whether it may the symptoms of ADD. I do not know any children with this and do not know much about it, so would be interested to hear from any mothers who have experiences similar to my son's and whether they are of the belief that this is more autism or ADD?
I look forward to your replies and thoughts.