6Yr Old Daughter Nonverbal with Autism

Hi J.,

I'm sorry that I cannot relate, but you live here in San Diego where I live and there used to a local DJ on the radio who had a son with autism. He did a lot of work with Rady Children's Hospital who have an Autism Discovery Institute. He said that it made all the difference in the world for their family and it is here in San Diego. Here is the link, I hope you find some connections: http://www.rchsd.org/programsservices/a-z/a-b/autismdisco...

Best,
S.

Hi J.,

My daughter has Sensory Processing Disorder and is on the high-functioning end of the Autism Spectrum. While she's doing very well now (almost 13, in 7th grade, plays tenor sax in band, takes jazz dance, made the Dean's Honor Roll), we had to go through many years of ploughing through the thickness all by ourselves.

Our daughter didn't actually speak either when she was little. When she was 3 years old, I took her to a school evaluation and had the school district evaluate her; she had a severe speech impediment and took speech through the school district from age 3 until 6th grade. When she was in daycare, they actually taught her a few hand signs/American sign language so that they could communicate with her. That helped us as well. I was the only one who could communicate at all with her, because I was the only one who could understand her.

Is your daughter aware enough that you can teach her some signs/words so you can work on communicating that way with her? I don't know how bad her autism is; does she understand words/commands/is she able to follow directions? Would a talking board help her communicate? I'm just throwing some ideas out there. Is the school district doing anything with her in terms of speech to try to help with her speaking?

My daughter has a boy in her class who has severe autism. He was in speech class with her and in Early Childhood with her. The school district my daughter goes to happens to be THE BEST one around this area we live; in fact, this boy's parents have been driving him 20-30 miles one way to our school since he was three years old so that he can partake in their Special Education class. From severe autism and no expressions, no talking, no eye contact, today he makes eye contact, he has expressions and laughs, and he can talk. His dad has been teaching him about what's mine, how to act around others, how to defend/take care of himself (he'll take his son's baseball cap and put it on his head, and his son will take it back again and say, Mine. That sort of thing.).

I guess you don't give us enough information to really give you a solid answer. My question would be, how severe is your daughter and what has been done up to now to help her learn how to speak?

Contact autismspeaks.org - they are national, and there may be an office in your area. There is also myautismteam.com. Go to meetup.com and type in "autism", within 25 miles, Chula Vista - a few groups will show up for you. Someone should be able to help you. Hugs!

I don't know what your school district is like, but if your daughter has not been evaluated, please have them do that. You may be able to get more help than you expect.

Another link:
http://localmarket.autismsupportnetwork.com/Autism_Advoca...

My niece has a friend whose twins are autistic. I don't really know the mom but I do know she contacted AutismSpeaks.org via the intranet. She was able to contact families near her and from what my niece has said, she is now friends with one mom. My niece is kind of upset about that because she is now misplaced as her friend tries to figure things out and hangs out with the other family all the time.

I don't have a 6 year old daughter but I do have a 6 year old nonverbal autistic son. Does your daughter communicate through other ways? My son uses PECS and minimal signing. Living in CA you should have a ton of resources available to you.

I do not have a situation like yours. Your story reminds me of a story I saw on 20/20 or one of those shows a few months ago. I have found the article below.

http://nhne-pulse.org/carly-fleischmann-autistic-girl-who...

Our youth pastor's son is 7 or so and is just now beginning to speak through lots of therapy, special schooling and major diet changes. They've been on our local news talking about it. I can probably get you in contact with the couple if you private message me.

My granddaughter is autistic, though verbal. Contact autisimspeaks.org and easterseals.com. Also look for a Mom's group on meet-up.com.

Hang in there, I know this is not easy.

Try NFAR.org . There is a meeting once a month for mom's only. At those meetings dinner is provided for free and there is usually a topic of discussion with great speakers from around San Diego County. There are meetings for mom's only and there are meetings for dad's only. There are plenty of mom's to meet and connect with. Someone else mentioned calling Autism Society for referrals of support groups. On the NFAR.org website (San Diego) there is also plenty of info. for local events and support groups. Good luck.