What to Expect? - Rolling Meadows,IL

There is a book, Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm. If you child is Autistic you with have that OMG moment when reading this book. My son is Autistic and it changed out lives for the better.

S.

Hi H.,
My name is D. and I have a son with autism who is 6. There are many signs of autism depending how old your daughter is. Autism is a spectrum disorder meaning there is a very mild side and a very severe side and all shades of gray inbetween. My advise is to start with your peditrician and if he/she isn't supportive or won't help you then seek out a developmental pediatrician or a neurologist. If you would like to email me off of mamasource it's ____@____.com

Good for you to be so proactive and insightful of your child's needs!! I will help you all I can, so please contact me if you want to. I run a parent support group and have many resources if you need them. Good luck!

D. L.

Hi H.,
My son, who is 5 has autism. Here is how I found out:
I knew something was different at about 18 months. He had been a slow talker and only developed a few words. Then all of a sudden there were no words. He didn't talk at all. He made noises, but no real words. We also had a game we would play with each other and that just disapeared. When I tried to initiate the game with him, he would look the other way. He wouldn't respond to his name either. I kinda seemed like he was deaf. So we thought there was something wrong with his ears, he had a ton of ear infections. So he got tubes and we were sure he would start talking after that, but he didn't. When he was 2, we got the diagnosis. He is doing great now. He just started kindergarten.
My 7 year old daughter had high functioning autism. We didn't realize she had it till she was 6. She seems so normal. She just had a hard time playing with other kids. And she plays kinda strangely with her toys.
Feel free to send me message. I will be happy to answer any questions!
A.

My son was recently diagnosed as autistic. We wanted an evaluation and took him to see Priti Singh at Hope Children's hospital (By Christ) in OakLawn. I was not happy with they way she diagnosed him- it was quick, blunt and did not seem to do a full evaluation. I WOULD NOT reccomend going to see her. She left me feeling really low and depressed. No support at all.

If you are looking to get him evaluated I would consider going through Early Intervention/Easter Seals (if he younger than 3)and the session at Illinois Masonic. It is wonderful. Your child would be evaluated by a whole team of specialists (developmental, physical, speech, and occupational).

My son has has delays throughout his entire development. I am noticing this more and more as he gets older. He is 4 now, but acts as though he is 2.5. When he was a baby he rolled at about 5 months, but then didn't continue to do it often. He sat up at 6 mo and didn't crawl until 10 mo. He walked at 14mo. He clapped at about a year. He never learned to waved bye-bye until after 2. He also was babbling a lot but never went through a word explotion until we started him at a developmental preschool (in our district-140).
Some ASD symptoms he shows are lining up toys, tapping his hands to a beat on things, obsession with turning on/off lights, spinning or running in circles and delayed speech. He also has poor eye contact even if you hold his face close to yours.

Please feel free to contact me if you need someone to talk to. His whole diagnosis was overwhelming and hard to process even though I had suspicions. I know what you are going through and it is a tough situation to be in. Hugs!

I want to say that every post so far seems to be helpful. My son's recently been diagnosed on the autism spectrum - he had been in Early Intervention with the state since he was 16 months - it was them who paid for a diagnostic evaluation and it is there that we received the diagnosis.
Good luck and let us know how everything turns out.

Ask the school to have an occupational therapist evaluation, or another specialist within the school system.

Usually your pediatrician is NOT the one to diagnose your child with autism...they don't spend enough quality time to make that determination. (My nephew's pediatrician said he was fine because he made eye contact. He was NOT.)

You need to research the signs/symptoms of autism (start with the internet), and know that there is a broad spectrum of severity. Next, get your daughter evaluated by an expert in the field. Your ped or your school district can refer you if needed.

After your research, if you are convinced that your daughter needs treatment for this issue, don't let the school or your regular pediatrician tell you to ignore it. Keep plugging away until you've dealt with the experts.

Hi H. - Take your daughter (provided she is 3 or older) to your local school district. They will evaluate her. Some common signs limited eye contact, speech delays and other sensory problems. Also have your pediatrician take a look at her. The earlier you get her help the better. I'm a mom to 3 austistic kids and am so excited to see how many strides they've made since I got them the appropriate help they need. Good luck to you!

I am a special ed aide. I worked with autism kids and went to an autism seminar. So, perhaps I will help with this. A little anyway. One of the things they seem to have is an inability to connect eyes with others like we do. They almost have to be trained to look at you. We do it naturally. They also need to be cued to do something and do not always understand that they are cued even the second time.They could do some things five times and it might need to be reintroduced. Of course my kids don't understand it either, such as pick up your clothes when they fall on the floor, lol.And I don't think they are autistic. But anyway, there are a lot of things that can be similar to kids that are labeled something else, so of course to be sure you might want to contact organizations that serve the needs of autistic people.

H.,
I have 3 kids and 2 have Autism. My 6 year old is severe. I would love to help you out. PM me anytime you want, and I will help you. Where do you live? I am in Aurora. Can you give me some info too on what your child is doing? some signs are low tone, lining things up, slow in being verbal or not verbal. Flapping hands and rocking and other things that are called stimming. OCD behaviors. Aggression in some kids and self injurious behaviors, eye cotact is poor in some. There is so much, and not all of them have every one of the signs. Let me know what you child does. I would love to help.
S.

I assume your child is a girl, and roughly 7 yrs old. If your pediatrian has not suggested that there is anything "unusual" about your child's behavior by now, I suspect that autism is NOT a factor. Autistic children are generally unable to make social interaction. There are MANY types of autism. Some are mild, others quite severe and disabling. The milder forms sometimes manifest in extreme sensitivity to things like light, touch and noise. I believe that the school will test your child to determine what grade to place her in since she has been home schooled and at that time, if they see a problem, I'm sure they will talk to you about what they believe is wrong, what additional tests they feel should be done, and what can be done to help your child. Look for them to suggest and "IEP"...this is an Individual Education Plan. Every child can be eligible for this provided they require additional help in one or more areas of study. As a single parent I'm sure you are worried because your child clings to you since you are her ONLY support. As she grows and you provide her with outside activities she should be able to handle separation and become more independent.

First of all, arrange to have your daughter evaluated by a developmental specialist. Our HMO is one of the worst on the planet and yet I still ferreted out a professional or two with whom I was comfortable. You can also have an eval done through her school, although it isn't the same as gettiing a solid medical diagnosis (if one is needed). Do NOT rely on your pediatrician for anything other than a referral to someone who can evaluate your kid. It's hard to assess a pervasive development disorder within the short window of a well-child appointment.

Secondly, RUN, do not walk. If there's something up, you want to get your daughter help as soon as possible.

Third, go here:
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/asd.cfm

Facing my fears and having my daughter evaluated was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it was worth it. While she is far from being "caught up", I cannot imagine what she would be like had I not sought early intervention. Good luck.

Hi H. take your daughter to her pediatrican so he/she can determine if she has autism.

Hi H.,
I would recommend getting her tested by the school psychologist if you have concerns. If you're in Chicago, the public schools can assess her and see if she's eligible for services. We went through this process with our son because I felt like he was inching towards the autistic spectum, and while the IEP Staffing did find him eligible for servies, it was due to his social and emotional difficulties than it was anything else.
I also had him evaluated by Dr. Dana Bradzimus (I think is how its spelled), at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. We waited a long time to get in there, and in the mean time sought out services at Tuesday's Child for his behavior, and also a socialization therapy group that met once a week through Illinois Massionic Hospital. They are all awesome places with awesome, knowledgable people.
If you're anything like me and currently doing your own research via the internet, I would urge you to just have her evaluated professionally- cause all the information out there can drive you crazy! :)
If her eval comes back and she is considered to be even mildly autistic, don't worry. You can help her recover through diet. At that point, I would highly recommend checking out the Body Ecology Diet. www.bodyecology.com and joining the Bedrok messageboard. The Mommas on the board are supporting one another as they work to heal their kids of autism, ADHD and so on. They are extremely helpful and offer alot of hope and strength!
blessings,
J.

Hi H.!
Your daughter would need to be evaluated. How old is she? By all means speak with the school Social Worker and Psychologist. Our son was diagnosed with other things at the age of 2 and then with PDD-NOS in January of 2008. He was in the early childhood program in Lisle public school system. Signs we saw - delays in speech, social issues with peers, space issues, didn't know his own strength, had problems reading facial cues, doesn't do well with change in routine, hates transitions, poor motor planning. The biggest help has been behavioral intervention and OT and a restricted diet (Feingold.org) as well as going gluten and dairy free. It has made a huge difference. This year he is being mainstreamed into the kindergarten class with an aide.
Good luck!
S. in Lisle

Hi H.,

Autism Spectrum Disorder encompasses a wide range of symptoms. I would recommend that you speak to your school social worker or pediatrician if you are concerned. They should have screening tools available to them.

All the best,
R., M.S.W.