Need help.

[conuly]

One of my friends (who's neither confirmed nor denied that this is okay, so I'm saying this vaguely) needs a bit of help. She's looking into schooling/therapy options for her young son who is very likely (but not confirmed) autistic. Big issue right now is communication. She understands him to some extent, but he's not talking or signing or anything like that.

I'm hardly the expert on autistic education here, so if people who know more than I could just give a quick rundown of things she wants to look out for because they're Very Very Bad, and provide links on what they think is more useful, that'd be good.

Thanks. Most of my friends who know about this know more than I do, so I'm really counting on youse guys to help.

Comments

[celticess.livejournal.com]

Years ago they didn't look so young. Families would often just brush things off.(my dad for example didn't speak for 3 years and his first words were extreamly echolalic... taught the pet bird the words because of it. He was born 1920) I had my hearing tested at 4 because by then my mom had had enough of my acting deaf. However they didn't put me through the other screening til the school system freaked out when I was about 6(back in the 70's). Then I got the MBD dx because I was verbal and a few other things. I think though by the time I graduated in '86 they knew. They are weird about somethings. They will talk on somethings but not others.(when I told them my adult dx of autism they didn't act suprised or anything)

My son was screened at 18 months then 2, again at 4, another time around 5.5 and last one was at 7 I think. He's not autistic though was screened for it and genetic disorders. He does mimic some of the traits of autism though. He was nonverbal til 2. I took 2 parent training courses(Hanen program) to teach him how to speak, along with using PECS and signs. He had OT and PT too. And he was being watched by a psychologist under a severely behaviourally disabled program. Since about 6 he's been quite mellow and is a good boy. Some typical challanging teen behaviour now though(he's 13). Early intervention can make a heck of a difference and that is labels aside. I have seen kids with many labels benifit from similar methods as far as speech, ot/pt, and working on behaviour type stuff. *shrug*

Local groups covered what insurance or government programs didn't. Alot of non profit groups may provide funds or other help.

Btw my son has articulation disorder, expressive/receptive language disorder, Auditory Processing disorder, and poor auditory memory. I have aphasia, dysnomia, and CAPD myself. So I've been through the oral motor exercises with my son. He's orally hypotonic(actually full body) and lacks some sensation in his mouth he also has thickening of his upper lip. He sounds some what like Elmer Fudd talking but he talks up a storm now(even if it's unclear)... I joke my mom is getting grandparents revenge. ;)

Best place for a kid to go for diagnostics that has "something but I don't know what" is to see a developmental pediatrician. They will do blood tests and other things. It's best if that pediatrician is on a screening team. My son had to wait awhile to get into Sunny Hills program but it was worth it. He'd seen 3 other pediatricans before that. One who just wanted to push pills and treat parents as clueless. Another who believed if there was any issue between parents you couldn't resolve issues with the child... also my son tore appart his office. And a rather nice one my other kid had had but who didn't believe in early intervention programs.(he never said why and he was like that with all patients)