How Can I Tell If My Child Has Autism

I have found The Autism Society of America to be the oldest and most informative site on this problem and I encourage you to visit the site for excellent information. Here I have copied their list of CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTISM. If your child has half of these behaviors, get them to a DEVELOPMENTAL PEDIATRICIAN for diagnosis. Early intervention makes a huge difference!

from their site:

"Every person with autism is an individual, and like all individuals, has a unique personality and combination of characteristics. Some individuals mildly affected may exhibit only slight delays in language and greater challenges with social interactions. The person may have difficulty initiating and/or maintaining a conversation. Communication is often described as talking at others (for example, monologue on a favorite subject that continues despite attempts by others to interject comments).

People with autism process and respond to information in unique ways. In some cases, aggressive and/or self-injurious behavior may be present. Persons with autism may also exhibit some of the following traits.

• Insistence on sameness; resistance to change
• Difficulty in expressing needs; uses gestures or pointing instead of words
• Repeating words or phrases in place of normal, responsive language
• Laughing, crying, showing distress for reasons not apparent to others
• Prefers to be alone; aloof manner
• Tantrums
• Difficulty in mixing with others
• May not want to cuddle or be cuddled
• Little or no eye contact
• Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
• Sustained odd play
• Spins objects
• Inappropriate attachments to objects
• Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain
• No real fears of danger
• Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity
• Uneven gross/fine motor skills
• Not responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf although hearing tests in normal range."

My son had all of these markers by age 3, but your child may not. Early diagnosis is key!

After ruling out deafness, Jake's speech therapist, Robin Rossman MS CCC (30 N. San Pedro Rd, Suite 265, San Rafael, CA 94901 phone 415-479-7880) went to work on teaching Jake and I some basic sign language so that Jake and I could communicate visually until he, many years later, learned to speak. I know a woman who won't allow her autistic son to be taught deaf signs because she believes if he learns to sign, he'll never learn to speak. I can only say that I had great success using sign language until Jake could talk and I know many other parents who had the same success. I say, use whatever works today. If you stand on principle, you may be right, but how will you know today if he or she is hungry, cold, needs something? Give them any venue they can employ to communicate with you. You can change and adjust methods as you go.

You Can Lead an Autistic to Food, But You Can't Make Him Eat...

Hi Danny,
I'm copying and pasting your email to my autism blog. I never heard of Sprue... I assume it's a gluten allergy.

Many people have told me my son's autism was due to the immunology shots he got as a baby/toddler. I was guilt stricken and in horrible emotional pain for a long time thinking that I had held my baby still for the shots that made him autistic. Although I know I can't be held accountable, but it doesn't change a mother's feelings if she thinks she did ANYTHING to hurt her baby.

Several people have told me about gluten and all I have to do is change his diet to cure him. Anyone who wants to change my son's diet has to live in my house and let me leave the state while they try to change his diet. He eats: Eggo Homestyle Waffles (you have to take scissors and trim the edges, if the waffles aren't perfectly round, they can't be eaten), Louis Rich Turkey Bacon, Skippy Low Fat Smooth Peanut Butter (eaten with a spoon, but ONLY from a NEW JAR each time), Original Pringles (but not any broken ones), McDonalds Chicken MeNuggets (only the round ones), caffeine free coke, whole milk, sometimes Minute Maid strained orange juice. That's the whole list. He's never had a piece of fruit or vegetable since I stopped bottle feeding him when he was six (I used to mix strained fruits and veggies in his formula). I give him vitamins to fill the gap. Once I made him eat one little raisin. He gagged until he vomited on the floor. He was crying and got hysterical at being forced to eat the raisin. He was nonverbal the whole next day. That was the last time I tried to change his diet. Now I just suggest and hope...

If the MD community had expanded the diagnostic parameters to include PDD on the spectrum, that sure explains a lot....
There's a great site Autism Society of America, best info I think. I have to put their link on my blog.

It has been one long difficult haul with an autistic child.... I can't tell you how many people try to tell me how to handle him and how I need to impose more discipline on him, etc.

I was seeing a man briefly until I had him to the house for lasagna. We both love games so we were playing Monopoly. Jacob wanted to "play" and I explained that he doesn't know or care about the rules, he just likes to roll the dice and move the little car around a few laps and then he wanders away. We just give him a turn and let him move the car. The guy looks at Jake and says,"Well I'm not gonna baby you like your mother. If you wanna play this game, you have to play it right."

He got the lasagna, but nothing else, the relationship lasted about another 30 seconds after he said that to Jake. Jake was in tears and agitated. I sent the guy out and spent the rest of the night consoling a 12 year old boy who just wanted to play his version of monopoly for five minutes. Once he was calm, we played his version of Monopoly, because autistics always have to complete the cycle or task. We took turns, he moved the car, I moved the dog. Since the car made it around the board first, I announced him as the winner (he always wins..) and he was just fine the rest of the night...
Sally

Comments from a pediatrician

This is from my friend Danny who is a pediatrician.

Sally,

Thanx for the link to your BLOG about your experiences with Autism.

You wrote:

"When my son Jacob was born in 1990, it was only occurring once in 30,000 births. I believe part of the reason for the increase is better diagnosing............."

It's not better diagnosing.

It's better lumping of many different things into what is now termed "PDD" (Pervasive Developmental Delay). e.g. What used to be called "psycho-motor retardation" is now lumped in with autism. This is what has contributed to the confusion about autism.

What is now called autism is actually many different entities. That's why I got many many calls after that magazine article came out, "How I Cured My Child of Autism".

They removed gluten from the diet and he was cured!! SHEESH, that child had SPRUE not autism !!!! Why their doctor didn't recognize the other symptoms and labeled him autistic is beyond me. But then again, many people write to be sensational and get publicity. (c.f. Robert Kennedy's son who is all over the news now)

The problem is that everyone has an agenda and everyone is out to make a buck. But I digeress. I'm glad I got an updated on the kids from your blog.

:-)

Take care

Enjoy the summer.

Danny