Does my dd have autism?

System

op go with your gut instinct - my dd displayed similar issues but school [infants and junior] just kept telling me they didnt see any issues, my dd was diagnosed as autistic and dyspraxic at the age of 12 !

raq

hi there

my ds was 3 when the nursery teacher noticed "Unusual ways". Two years later he was diagnosed with mild autism. He is getting huge support and is statemented. Hate the label but if it wasn,t for the label our ds would not be getting the help he gets.

I also would suggest a visit to your gp or health visitor

Firefly

From what you have written, I would recommend you start with a long conversation with your GP.

You say you don't want a label and I can understand that but we ALL have labels. What would you want to achieve by having someone tell you she doesn't (or does) have an autistic spectrum condition?

For me, a label gives access to services (potentially) so that when she requires a different approach, additional support or some sort of adjusted expectations, the label allows this. In my professional life I meet too many parents who simply struggle on because they don't want a label only to find that when things get too much, or they need additional support, the help isn't forthcoming because the label isn't there.

I have always found labelling really helpful but give some consideration as to what you would want to achieve from it.

Good luck.

Tea-and-Cake_3

Thanks to all who have replied. She is definitely not badly behaved or the result of poor parenting. I have 2 younger children also and their social skills are spot on for their age and compared to my dd at those ages she was lacking. I was noticing things from 6 months old eg. she would go to anyone and never looked for mummy....she didn't seem to bond with me until she was about 3!!!

I've been watching her really closely recently in order to see if there is any trigger because sometimes she seems so normal. It seems to be that when she is calm and occupied she is fine but when she is stimulated she gets all strange (for want of a better word) so if she is excited at a party or seeing "friends" on the way to school or stressed out by something her behaviour is odd.

Does anyone else's asd child have this pattern??

mumlady1

Hi there, obviously I'm not a medical expert & would recommend you speak to your Dr for referral to the appropriate professional BUT having worked with children of all ages for the last 25 years, it sounds more like asbergers to me. She certainly has the behavioural patterns of the children I've worked with who have this. The good news is that the earlier you get help for her the better her outcome. None of us have perfect kids so you're not alone
I'm sure taking the first few steps towards help will be a huge weight lifted from your shoulders

Ladyhawk

I appreciate you don't want to label her.... I don't have kids, and don't want them but just from the other side of things... I used to teach a martial art which was full contact. Before starting training people have to complete a questionnaire and tell the sensei if there were any medical condtions.
that may impact training.

One chap joined the class and didn't declare anything. He clearly had special needs but because he hadn't declared them we couldn't really support him in the right way. He trained with us for a number of years but never got beyond a notive grade. I have alway felt that if we knew what condition he had we would have been able to support him better.

Another chap was diabetic and didnt tell us. We only found out when he went hypo in the middle of training! Luckily we knew the signs so could help.

Sorry I know that was slightly off topic...

pigpen

Tea-and-Cake wrote: »

Does anyone else's asd child have this pattern??

That's not really a question with a definitive answer. ASD covers lots and lots of conditions and traits so what is normal for one child is part of the ASD of another. That said I think everyone is on the spectrum to some degree.

It really doesn't matter what anyone here says you believe she has a problem of some sort and as you are the perso who knows her best in the whole world I suggest you act on your instincts.. over 95% of childrens disabilities are highlighted by the parents first.

It can take years to get a proper assessment so I recommend if that is what you want for her you start the ball rolling on Monday.

julie03

i go to an autistic support group and most of us have noticed our children act normal at one time or another. My son has aspergers and he shows alot of the symptoms you mention, it really s worth trying to get a referall to a paediatrician

mum_of_2_kids

this is my first post, so please be gentle! I felt so strongly when reading some of the ridiculous posts that i felt compelled to register.

as a mum of a seven year old asperger girl, it really does sound like she may have asperger's or be on the spectrum.

Asperger's, or aspies, as they become known are high functioning and seem "normal" lots of the time. My daughter is bordering on genius in so many ways, however her social skills are severely lacking. I definitely didn't want a diagnosis of autism for my daughter as i didn't think it would be of any help (and also didn't want to believe it), however i was wrong, things have got a lot better since her diagnosis last year. when her behaviour is challenging, i realise it the autism and that helps me calm down!

Does your daughter have any sensory issues - need to touch things or the opposite where she won't want anything to touch her; loud sounds could be painful, seems clumsy. that is very common with aspies. my daughter loves spinning around as she is sensory seeking. At age five she kept going up to the other girls and trying to cuddle them.

Although it is really scary, i would definitely seek advice from your GP. As someone else said, the schools miss asd with girls as they present so differently from boys, and don't fit the standard criteria for autism. however all the research seems to have been done on boys and lots of girls go on undiagnosed.

a good book is aspergirls, and you might wish to have a wee look at that. most of the others i have come across are based on boys.

One thing to remember is that if it is asperger's that she will be bright enough to be TAUGHT the social cues and how to act in situations. In my daughter's case that is done with speech and language therapists and also by social stories.

It's a long road, but its honestly not the end of the world! The younger the diagnosis, the more help she can get.

Good Luck

littleladybug

Tea-and-cake, I am having some similar concerns with my own daughter at the moment and I flit from thinking all is fine to there's definitely something that isn't quite right. When she started reception in September, it didn't take school long to indicate that she was not where she should be. They were hinting along the linesof a developmental delay. We have since moved house (in December) and her current school seem to just be playing it all down. I think partly because she's one of the younger in the class. I asked for a referral as soon as we had moved in December and we have finally received an appointment for mid May! I was told by the school nurse, who the GP told me to go through, that this was because there were obviously other children with greater need than my daughter! They have never even met her! In terms of what she is like and my concerns, my dd is behind the rest of her class in terms of literacy and numeracy. She does not recognise her full alphabet yet and recognises some numbers 1 -10 but not all. She struggles to interact properly with other children. She wants to play with them but doesn't seem to communicate effectively enough for them to then favour playing with her. She hardly ever plays independently. If she does it tends to be drawing. She has an 'obsession' with lady birds, to the extent that she has to wear something related every day. Even if this means lady bird socks under her school tights. She will have meltdowns over silly little things. Rather than just say what the issue is she will just lose it. Her speech was delayed and she struggles to get out what she wants to say. It's so frustrating as sometimes she is perfectly 'normal' in her behaviour and then other times I just think that surely isn't right. When you don't have older kids to compare to it can be difficult to know what is ttypical of her age.