{"id":831,"date":"2010-10-26T16:01:04","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T20:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noelfigart.com\/blog\/?p=831"},"modified":"2010-10-26T16:01:04","modified_gmt":"2010-10-26T20:01:04","slug":"autism-awareness-and-developmental-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/2010\/10\/26\/autism-awareness-and-developmental-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Autism Awareness and Developmental Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had to get my son\u2019s permission to talk about this, but he said he was okay with me talking about it. <\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a quiz running around Facebook right now that\u2019s supposed to give your \u201cAutism Quotient\u201d.\u00a0 While the quiz does say it\u2019s not a diagnosis, a lot of the discussion I\u2019ve seen shows that people probably aren\u2019t clear on what a confusing and complex condition autism can be.<\/p>\n

We spent somewhere around six years, for instance, getting a solid diagnosis for my son, who clearly had developmental issues growing up.\u00a0 They were very quick to jump on the High-Functioning Autistic bandwagon among the laymen.\u00a0 I foot-stomped on the Asperger\u2019s diagnosis, because Asperger\u2019s kids are hyperverbal \u2013one of the things that makes an early diagnosis extremely difficult[1]<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0If a kid\u2019s talking obsessively about Thomas the Tank Engine at two or three, why\u2019s that\u2019s kind of normal.\u00a0 So what if he\u2019s memorized trivia to an extreme level of detail.\u00a0 Just shows she\u2019s bright, right?<\/p>\n

My son was not hyperverbal. In fact, one of the first clear indications that there was something wrong was the fact that he wasn\u2019t talking<\/em>.\u00a0 He said a few words as a toddler, but he was at least six before he had progressed to being fluently verbal.\u00a0 Oddly enough, his verbal development exploded with his teaching himself to read.<\/p>\n

The testing process was intensive, going to several specialists in the process.\u00a0 We were lucky enough to speak to an autism specialist at CHaD (Children\u2019s Hospital at Dartmouth) and got this response:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he\u2019s eccentric, but he\u2019s not autistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, a doctor ACTUALLY SAID THAT.<\/p>\n

We did eventually get a diagnosis that would get him the help he needed in school, mind.\u00a0 And he did<\/em> (does) need that help. \u00a0\u00a0But it took about six years to get a clear and definitive answer on whether or not Autism was the issue or not.\u00a0 And we\u2019re hardly unusual.<\/p>\n

Autism is referred to as a spectrum disorder for a reason.\u00a0 Yes, there are times when autism is pretty easy for a professional to diagnose. \u00a0\u00a0But I can promise you that it can\u2019t be diagnosed from a 100 question test online, okay.\u00a0 It takes extensive clinical observation and ruling out of other (often similar or overlapping) issues.<\/p>\n

If you suspect you might be autistic and think you need help, yes yes yes, go to your doctor and get some referrals to some really good professionals who can help you with this.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0There is help available to you.\u00a0\u00a0 If you have a sympathetic friend or family member who would be willing to help you, ask for help.\u00a0 If you suspect you are autistic, it is probable that many of the things you will have to do to get a diagnosis and help will be confusing and overwhelming to you.\u00a0\u00a0 An advocate can help you.\u00a0 (Though this is a Universal Principle of Life, I think.\u00a0 My son is folding the laundry right now to give me time to write this\u2026)<\/p>\n

If you have a child with developmental issues, you are that child\u2019s advocate.\u00a0 Take it seriously.\u00a0 Follow up, follow up, follow up.\u00a0 \u00a0Talk to teachers.\u00a0 \u00a0Follow up at home with coping strategies.\u00a0 \u00a0Go online.\u00a0 Learn about it.<\/p>\n

Oh, and don\u2019t forget to have fun with your child.<\/p>\n

NIH Fact Sheet on Autism<\/a> \u2013contains many solid links at the end for extensive follow-up.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> I did a LOT of research on the subject when we started to suspect our son was autistic.\u00a0 This made me less than eager to accept a diagnosis from a nursery school teacher who seemed pretty definite, since I knew that specialists in the field were often stumped. \u00a0If a specialist told me I was full of shit and the nursery school teacher was right, fair enough. \u00a0Early childhood educators OFTEN spot problems that need following up on, so DO that if encouraged to. \u00a0They’re just not qualified to diagnose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had to get my son\u2019s permission to talk about this, but he said he was okay with me talking about it. There\u2019s a quiz running around Facebook right now that\u2019s supposed to give your \u201cAutism Quotient\u201d.\u00a0 While the quiz does say it\u2019s not a diagnosis, a lot of the discussion I\u2019ve seen shows that … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Autism Awareness and Developmental Issues”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids","category-rant"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelfigart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}