Worried/Aspergers?

[hmb]

I am a little worried about Ds, and I was hoping that Mumsnet might be able to give me some advice. Ds is almost 3. He has some problems with speech development, but it putting together 4-5 word sentences, and 2-3 related sentences. He points at things that interest him, and shouts look! His gross motor skills are fine, he runs, jumps, kicks a ball and climbs very well. He is not interested in colouring, but can hold a pen and scribble. He taks part in imaginative play, but likes to play alone. He is very, very affectionate, and loves to hug, cuddle and be kissed, and he makes excellent eye contact. So far so good. However, he has mild obsessions about trains, cars and planes (these seem to be getting better), eats his food in order, has a massive tantrum in the shoe shop or having his hair cut, sometimes finds it difficult to take part in activities at nursery, doesn't like change (but will go along with it), and likes a routine.

His nursery has flagged up the language problems as a possible reason for his frustration and tantrums, and we are working on them, with some success. However, I am worried that there might be something else that is a problemie the milder side of aspergers. I am on my own at the moment, and all my worries get blown up, out of proportion. I'd be greatful for any feedback

Thanks

Thanks so much everyone. You know jimjams it was just that point you made about not coping that was in my mind about my friend. She just doesn?t have a clue and yet she claims to know about ?these things? being dyslexic. However I think she uses this as an excuse for being lazy. I really don?t feel that she would fall into a category of being a good friend lost. I mentioned the incident to another couple of friends yesterday and they have been very supportive.

Ds is very active which makes it all the more difficult to manage him. Today at the Under 5?s Group he was running around with a little trolley which seems to be a favourite and a child of about 15 months turned and tripped over it. Not his fault as such but I feel that maybe I shouldn?t let him play with these toys. I am constantly not knowing where to draw the line. Indeed his aggression is not like that you would normally expect ? it is more him being annoyed at things ( thanks for your story Maryz on this) Other times he is bored and just throws his toys about. I do feel like at times he behaves like a big 2 year old and I think others looking from the outside it must just look like he is a naughty boy. Yesterday there were 2 main incidents other than the trolly incident. Firstly he was playing with a toy kitchen and another girl was there too and she had her hand in the cupboard and ds was just banging it to get the door shut. Obviously cries arose and I whipped him away but the way he was doing it was more like he was thinking ? ?I can?t get this door closed because there is something in the way? and the fact that it was a hand that was actually connected to another human being seemed to be incidental. The aggression certainly isn?t personal. Again later he accidentally ran into another girl and she fell over and was lying on the ground and he started hitting her face. But this was because only minutes earlier some boys were lying on the ground wrestling and hitting I think he connected lying down with behaving like this. Other times I saw him being gentle and handing over toys and patting the head of a crying toddler ? so you can see I am in a bit of a quandary as to how I should approach things! I don?t feel I should take him out of the group unless I feel he may hurt someone but am I risking it and asking for trouble? There are quite a few other boys there that are aggressive and no-one seems to mind them ? at the moment I am playing it by ear and am just vigilant. Anyway as I say he is very active and tends to run off if we are in the supermarket or just out generally. Any tips on how to deal with this? He is getting too big to sit in those child seats in the trolleys. I feel I have a million questions but maybe I shouldn?t be labelling him too soon, after all a lot of 3year olds engage in rough and tumble. I sometimes feel that nowadays people expect too much of young children. I will have a look at those sites you mentioned jimjams but it is hard to find time!

Thanks again. By the way jimjams ? does your ds go to a mainstream or specialist nursery? When was he diagnosed? Let me know if there is another thread here explaining your story if you don?t want to be endlessly repeating things. Thanks.

It sounds as if your ds derives a lot of pleasure and interest from his under 5s group, Eulalia, and you are keeping a careful eye on him for situations he has difficulty coping with. If you can keep taking him, do - it can't be easy for you at times but I would hope plenty of the parents there are understanding as they must see you most weeks. Is there a co-ordinator/playleader you can approach to discuss the matter with?
Agree with you that too much is expected of preschool children. Some weeks our church creche looks like all-in wrestling as far as the 3-5s, especially the boys, are concerned.

Oh Eulalia - you could be me at playgroup. DS1 gets very possessive over a particular pink car. If he arrives and it is free he will have a quick scoot around and then he is happy. Doens't moan if someone else uses it. If he arrives and someone is in it- he goes absolutely ballistic. He'll stand and scream shouting "can" (car) whilst hitting himself (here I am lucky- he tends to take out aggression on himself for well known adults). Luckily it is a small playgroup where the other Mum's are very tolerant. usually they'll offer to remove their children- but I always say "no he has to learn"- so they tend to leave it a bit and then make sure he gets a go. (By which time all the other children are staring at him in awe anyway). Ds1 has a door obsession (not so bad now)- and doors have to be shut. We too have had an unfortunate incident with another child's hand! If other parents are understanding it isn't really a problem. they know you are doing the best you can. If they are unsupportive then it becomes almost impossible.

He is currently at a mainstream nursery. They are fantastic. He started there a year ago when he was almost three. I had put him in nursery briefly at 18 months but they were useless and used to leave him sitting alone in one room while the other children played next door. For a long time we thought we were going to home ed him, and I suspect we will for some of his school career. HOwever, we have now been offered a place at a primary that I know is very good with special needs. The head is lovely and doesn't see him as a problem- she seems keen to find a way to integrate him, so I think we're going to take the plunge. He will start there part time in September- maybe one morning a week, with the rest of the time at nursery.

Running off is still a problem for us. But it is getting better. He is a big almost 4 and I can still squeeze him into a trolley- I was really worrying about him outgrowing them but he suddenly seems to have improved in shops so I'm not so worried now.

He was diagnosed just after he turned 3, although I had suspicions from 17 months. Most of his problems lie in the language area- in fact I suspect his main problem is some sort of language disorder, but they tend to be very related to autism anyway so I'm not really fussed what it is called.

I have droned on a lot about autism on this site. I think some of it is becuase I get very little contact with parents of normal children now and so I get a bit crusading on here. I think it's therapy for me- I say things to parents on here that I would never say to real-life friends with "normal" children! If you do a search on "autism" you'll find me droning on

One arena is can be worth looking at is the gluten casein free diet. It can make a HUGE difference (not for all - but if it does make a difference it is quick and obvious). A child doesn't have to be "autistic" to benefit- having autistic type tendencies is enough to ring alarm bells. We had ds1 on the diet 8 months before he was diagnosed (gluten free only though). Have a look at the autism research unit- they do urine tests, and allergy induced autism- they run a helpline. Marilyn le Bretons book is worth getting as well. A frined of a friends child has just come off milk- 2 days later he started speaking again! Lovely. If you feel that you can't tackle the diet then it could be worth using enzymes (kirkmans- enzymeaid- you can get them nutricentre). We've done this for milk- as we can't remove that from ds1's diet- again they have very quickly made a fairly dramatic difference.

The aut-UK list I mentioned the other day is broken at the moment. Chatters is nice as it talks about lots of things other than autism and its small so everyone gets to know each other. But if you've had a really hard day because of autism you can moan about it to people who understand!

Hopefully you'll get an appointment soon. Don't worry too much about a diagnosis as such- different people give different ones anyway. It's far more important that you have recognised and deal with his problems. The diagnosis supposedly helps to access service but I remain to be convinced

And as for your friend. I would bin her. If she thinks dyslexia is as hard to deal with as autism type problems then she's never going to get it!

Good luck and keep us posted.

Hi jimjams. I got the card in today - he's being seen on 13th May.

Thanks for telling me about your son - it sounds like you've manage to balance everything well.

Not sure about altering his diet as he is quite fussy as it is. His diet could be better but by no means bad. He always has the same breakfast - hot oat cereal mixed with pureed fruit (pear, apricot or peach) and glass of fruit juice (apple, orange etc). Lunch/dinner could be anything from the following - tomato soup (likes the tinned variety - a bit sugary), rice, pasta, toast, breaded fish, egg bread (will eat whole eggs but not the yolk), peanut butter on toast, cheese, haricot beans, peas, sweetcorn, advocado, banana (has one of these every day), melon, mandarin and yoghurt/fromaige frias. Generally he has to eat everything separately. To drink he has water or milk but isn't a big milk drinker. Snacks are biscuits or dry cereal and occsionaly chocolate.

I feel his protien levels are a little lacking and did give him multivitamins for awhile in the winter when he'd had a few colds and not eating much. However it was a pain as I had to mix it in his food and sometimes he'd not eat it and I'd throw it away and the damn tablets were very difficult to crush. I'd prefer it if he ate more oily fish and sometimes I can hide some in soup but it is a faff. I may look into supplements though if it could make a difference.

Would like to chat more but children are intervening!!

OOOhhhhh Eulalia- his diet is a classic example of a child limiting himself to gluten......well not limiting - but favouring- It's very similar to my son's chosen diet.

I didn't feel I could experiment with my son's diet without good reason - so I had a urine sample analysed at the Autism Research Unit (50 pounds- or free for low income families). That came back as showing a problem with guten - although they recommed removing casein as well. I tool a deep breath and removed the gluten. And wow - what a difference. I can't explain what a huge change it made.

I didn't feel able to remove casein as ds1 won't eat meat or fish so is very low on protein (won't eat pulses). I did try peanut butter but it turned him into a headbanging lunatic (not joking- he had massive bruises accross his forehead from wgere he was whacking his head agianst the wall and floor- he was even headbanging on concrete -stopped within 2 days of removing the peanut butter). Anyway about 6 weeks ago I started enzymes (they break down gluten and casein- obviously he isn't getting gluten anyway- but I thought that would reduce the casein). We had a hideous 10 days (always a good sign- it's withdrawal) and then a different child. I'm going to post on proud later- he's suddenly started doing so many things he wasn't before.

So I'd recommend the test at Sunderland (all you have to do is collect wee, freeze it and send- they send you the kit), and maybe trying enzymes (I do understand the problems of changing what they eat- really I do). The enzymes would give you and idea of whether the diet would work anyway. Having seen ds1's reaction to them I do want to take him off milk for a trial period. Luckily one side effect if the removal does work is that they start to eat more widely (this has been true of the enzymes- suddenly ds1 has eaten new foods- eg chips - which he's refused to go near for 2 years- and he isn't even fussy about shape- and cranberry juice.)

I know it's really hard but the difference if it works is so amazing that I do think it's worth a trial- especially if you get a positive result from Sunderland. The good thing as well is that if it works you see an improvement within days (the ARU say it can take longer- but the people I know who saw an improvement generally saw it immediately).

Anyway good luck- and glad the appointment is soon!

Oh one word of warning though- if you do decide to try the diet avoid MSG and aspartame as well. MSG is a pain as it is some "gluten free" foods- such as hoola hoops- but children who are affected by gluten are usually affected by MSG and aspartame as well. It sounds as if his diet is too healthy to be getting any of those anyway.

Sorry I've been a bit over-enthusiastic- it's just the difference is so staggering I think it's worth a go (and enzymes- mean that its easy to have a go as you don't have to change the diet at all).

Jimjams - Good news on your ds!

I forgot to add ham on the list. And he likes those horrible hot dog sausages too.

I didn?t think his diet was too overloaded with gluten. I thought oats were very low in gluten. He?ll only have maybe a couple of pieces of toast/bread per day. Biscuits maybe 3 small ones. I was offering dry cereal as I thought it was healthier than biscuits.. I do try to offer a variety of food at each meal. However if he has an intolerance anyway and (he does have rashes on his legs) who knows? I thought the rashes were from milk but he doesn?t have a lot milk products or maybe washing powder. It is a daunting thought changing his diet though as he will just push food away unless it is on the list of his likes ? should I maybe just offer the fish with the vegs and no starch? I?d worry about him getting hungry. He?s been a bit picky with vegs too recently and I can?t see him getting by on one small piece of fish. What do you give your ds instead of the usual pasta/bread etc?

Also he is a bit hyperactive but this isn?t down to additives I don?t think as he really doesn?t have that kind of diet ? would the gluten make him like that? He seems bored too but whatever we do he ends up being silly or getting frustrated or losing attention ? also he?s not very good at amusing himself not playing imaginary games. Anyway I could witter on here for hours ....

I?ll certainly give it some thought and see how things go at the appointment. Thanks again jimjams. Oh, and my ?friend? ? she?s currently about half way down the waste disposal unit and I really don?t care.

In the light of the rashes I didn?t give dd any food at all till she was 6 months and didn?t introduce gluten till she was around 8 months and she?s only just started eating a little dairy (she?s 12 months) - her skin is perfect. I?ve to decide what to do about her MMR soon ? another quandary.

Maryz ? can you get those supplements in Boots or similar?

The diet just reminded me of my son's- he used to eat little bowls of dry cheerios- loved them I wouldn't cut out all starches-the brain needs glucose!

The intolerance isn't quite the same as a normal food intolerance. Some children with a list of symptoms that could be described as autistic (and also dyslexics and gulf war vets) have a compound in their urine called IAG. This is what the urine test at Sunderland looks for. It is an abnormal breakdown product of the amino-acid tryptophan. The process that produces IAG produces another molecule that actually damages the gut wall. It makes the gut leaky - so larger molecules than usual pass through. The problem with gluten and casein is that if they are not totally broken down the molecules that will pass through the gut have a morphine like effect. It only has to be tiny tiny amounts to have an effect. The molecules wouldn't get into the bloodstream of a "normal" person as they would be too large to pass into the gut- and would remain in the gut until properly broken down.

Just to show how sensitive these children can be. Before starting the diet ds1 used to insist on counting every set of stairs or steps he walked up or down. He would say the number and you had to repeat it. If you didn't he would go ape! This had been going on for months. He couldn't speak- only count. Three days after starting the diet he stopped counting stairs. There were other positive changes as well. About 2 weeks later suddenly he was counting stairs again, and was screaming again. I was depresed- the diet didn't work. Then the next day I received a newsletter about the diet- and it mentioned to be careful fo baking powder- some brands contained flour. I checked- and sure enough the buns I had made a few days previously contained 1 teaspoon of baking powder. I binned the buns and the baking powder and stair counting stopped again.

The enzymes are good because they break down the gluten and casein so you don't the morphine type molecules crossing the gut wall - they've been broken down. And of course you don't have to change the diet, which as you've said can be almost impossible. The other problem with messing around with diet is if you remove something from the diet for a month then it can be almost impossible to get them to eat it again if you find they don't have a reaction. That's why the urine test and enzymes are good.

Not sure about hyperactivity- although that can often be helped by fishoils. As well as the EyeQ mentioned there is also a brand called efalex. They have slightly different formulas and children canrespond differently. it can be worth trying both if one doesn't work. Eye Q is less fishy and easier to hide ime although we use efalex as I saw a definite improvement with the dyspraxia with that (and efalex is recommended for dyspraxia).

It's all so daunting. Some children have problems with apples (ds1 didn't), some banana's - don't know he won't eat them anyway.

And the lovely MMR....... Always a nightmare that one. I'm not the person to ask really as I've ended up pretty anti mass vaccination in general. If you dare look at the MMR thread I've posted links there. Again the autism research unit at sunderland has useful stuff on its website re MMR. If you do give it- don't give if there's any chance of exposure to chickenpox and don't give during an eczema flare-up.

Hope this all helps.

Eulalia, just caught up with this thread. Sorry to hear you have friend problems. It sounds like she's being very tactless and agree with jimjams that it's best to give her a wide berth. Perhaps when her own child is a strapping three and a half year old, she'll feel differently. You know I am sure the difference in speed, strength and size of a 2 year old and a nearly 4 year old.

Having two loud, active, full on boys, I have got so used to people who don't have loud active children making snap judgements about us. OK perhaps I am being oversensitive. But I think the looks and imagined comments will only stop when my sons leave home and perhaps not even then - one of the joys of being a parent

sorry, got to go!

oh just one thing- having IAG in your urine doesn't make you autistic- it just means you have a leaky gut and are therefore prone to the problems that can go with it. There are ways to heal it.

jimjams - dh works at the hospital and knows a biochemist - if he chats him up nicely we may get some help with analysis. Thanks.

thanks tigermoth - the support means a lot to me

maryz - ds didn't get the MMR till he was 21 months. I had a few suspicions about him before then but he seemed to be doing fine. There was no sudden reaction and the problems have only developed slowly. I don't think there was any link with him but there could be with some. good luck with your ds.

glad it helps eulalia - I do hesitate to add to threads when they get slightly medical or scientific because my knowledge and experience are paltry compared to people like you and jimjams. If you want to see what's happening with my three year old, I've just posted a message on the 'should I trust my own judgement' thread.

beetroot, I've met adults with Aspergers, and I know that Jimjams has, from conversation we have had in the past). I have met quite a few while working in Labs. One of my friends from university days has 3 sons with Autism, and he was taken to see the GP as a child with Aspergers traits. At the time no diagnosis was made, but he is convinced that he has aspergers (and so are most of his friends and family). He is happily married, has a highly responsible job which he love, and earns him a lot of money. Which is just as well as they have to pay for the support that their sons need. Sounds familiar Jimjams?

All too familiar hmb.....

beetroot- Asperger's in adults- I know a few. Personally I wouldn't bother with a diagnosis unless your db was having real problems. There's very little support out there anyway- so unless he needed to access help from say social services I woudn't bother.

We all have a few Asperger's traits- it's only if it starts to interfere with life that I would bother diagnosisng. I do know some people find it helpful to have an official diagnosis as they can then understand why they have felt the way they have. In those cases though I suspect you could just self-diagnose.

A lot of musical or maths type families can have a spot of autism in the family. DS1 is incredibly musical. We hope that he will be able to learn to play an instrument later. I've never seen a child as moved by music as him. Do you remeber the theme tune to the last olympics? He was 16 months old then- when it came on he used to stop and shke- really wierd. Some pieces of music seem to do that to him. I have heard adult autistics describe how it kind of takes over. He was able to sing Twinkle twinkle perfectly in tune from the age of about 15 months (as he stopped talking).

jimjams - looked at the Autism Research Unit and read some of the research papers. Very interesting.

I didn't realise that diet could affect autistic people so strongly.

One thing that we can rule out is that ds doesn't fall into the category of having a difficult birth or childhood illnesses and he's never been on a course of antibiotics. His birth weight was a little on the low side for gestational age (6lbs 2oz at 41+1weeks) Anyway it has made me more aware of possible causes, effects and treatments...

...but don't want to get ahead of myself... dh has told me not to start obsessing and reading too much on the Internet. I wish I had time to!

Anyway just to go back to basics I am not going to label him yet but I know that things are not right in several areas:

1. Toilet training - a 'normal' child of his age should be using the potty/toilet by now.

2. Running off - when out he is always wandering away and sometimes running. Yesterday in a huge garden centre he attached himself to another family and followed them. It took me 20 mins to find him. He wouldn't tell the family his name. He's generally just not very cooperative in shops and out and about and doesn't seem aware of what is expected of him. His road sense is a lot better but he's not to be trusted.

3. Speech - this is a lot better in that he is using more words and communicating in asking for things (except the toilet) but still a bit odd. A fair bit of echolalia. Also repeating things over and over, ie "I want a yoghurt mummy" repeatedly till I give him it. Adding bits onto the end of sentences - "isn't it?" is the latest because he's heard me saying that in a conversational tone. He also adds on his own made up word (rube) onto sentences which apparently means nothing (to anyone else anyway).

4. Classification - he seems to know numbers, colours and so on fairly well but then doesn't always report his knowledge. eg today when checking shapes he said "iron" for a triangle and "window" for a square but other times he'll say it correctly. He seems to get mixed up with cows and horses for example and I feel he should recognise objects a bit better by now.

5. Eating habits - he still wears a bib as he is hopeless with a spoon - tips it at the wrong angle to go in his mouth. However he can do up zips and is in many other eways is quite dexterous (eg passed the 'Rice Crispie' test at 8 months). He also has to eat all his food separately and won't eat anything if he can't identify its constituents, such as stew for example, no bits in yoghurt and so on. He'll only eat one type of sausage and won't eat a biscuit if it is broken or a banana if it breaks while peeling it.

6. Obsessions - certain rituals, but can come and go a bit with these. He has a spinning obsession - any toy that spins he will play with (loves dd's baby toys). Also likes to go round in a circle himself and will run round objects. Spins the wheels of cars (but other times does play normally with them).

7. General Demenour - a bit hyper - running around the room, bouncing on the sofa. Doesn't speak to other children but will imitate their actions and speech. Can be a bit aggressive with toddlers. Doesn't answer adults. Doesn't smile much. Sense of humour a bit odd - likes strange noises. He's got a little bit of a nodding habit at the moment too.

8. Play - will rarely engage in imaginative play unless I do it with him. At his groups he either mostly pushes around on a toy tractor (can't pedal) or runs around with a trolley. He quite likes his toy piano, books and jigsaws but often needs encouragement and won't play on his own. In fact he generally just follows me around the house a lot of the time.

Sorry to go on - it just helps me to write everything down. I think I'll just cool off for a bit thinking about him till the appointment.

Thanks again for the help.

Hi Eulalia

I think the children affected by diet are majorly affected by it, but there are children for whom it makes no difference (my friend's ds is like this). My ds1 was a classic case really- stacks of antibiotics in the first 2 years of his life (actually I believe these were a major major factor for him- I don't believe he was born autistic), loads of autoimmunity and allergies in the family, the positive Sunderland result and red ears(!!) He is very sensitive to food. Seeing him on peanut butter (and it was ground organic peanuts- nothing else added) made me realise this!

It certainly sounds like you need to get some answers from the assessment. Don't think of it as labelling. It can useful to say - my son has these tendencies- as then you can react appropriately. I thought about my son like that for a long time- still do really. You know they may say that he's just a bit slow to mature (often children seem to grow out of these problems), or they could say semantic pragmatic, or PDD, or come back and see us again in 6 months! He sounds like he has some mild dyspraxia - that in itself can cause problems (including slow speech development)- and can co-exist with other problems. A great book- usually available in libraries is Madelaine Portwood- developmental dyspraxia. I think she has a web site. There is also the dyscovery centre in cardiff ( correct spelling- it has a website- but I don't have the address)- they have loads of info on dyspraxia. Dypraxic children have problems with things like classification and toilet training as well. Fish oils would help a lot if he does have some dyspraxia. Dyspraxic children can often appear a bit autistic- the conditions kind of overlap. They are rigid etc as well.

I know what you mean about spoons btw. My 16 month old ds2 finds it easier to use a spoon that 4 year old ds1.

Anyway dh is hassling me to go and watch celebrity! Good luck again. May be worth having a read of some dyspraxia info before the assessment (I like to know why they're asking me certain questions- but then I'm a control freak!)

Sounds like my ds would be OK regarding the food side. Also he doesn't eat a lot of one particular thing - he has small quantities of lots of different food each day. I don't really think his gluten/dairy intake is excessive.

It must make you angry in some ways to have gone through all that without realising the effects that antibiotics would have on your son or was it a case of the lesser of two evils? Sorry don't know the background. I have a friend who despite b/feeding both her children are often ill as there is a history of asthma and general weakness in the chest. One of them kept on getting antibiotics and got oral thrush - it was a nightmare for her and her poor wee boy.

I had a quick look at dyspraxia. Not sure about this - is it possible to just have it related to speech only? He just doesn't fit in with the other things - not being clumsy or slow (in fact he often runs everywhere). I think the cycling thing could be won't rather than can't and maybe the spoon thing is just imaturity.

Sorry I won't go on asking loads of questions or speculating. Thanks again for your help and all the information. It has saved me a lot of time doing research myself and it is great to have the support.

Is your ds still showing signs of improvement BTW?

Yes definitely possible to have it realting to just speech- verbal dyspraxia - or apraxia in America. Often not recogonised in the UK. DS1 has it!

Oh I think a long chain of events made ds1 autistic. Genetic predisposition to autoimmue disease (from family history), vaccinations push that type of immune system further into autoimmunity (he developed eczema after dtp), repeated ear infections treated with antibiotics (ear infections also linked to dtp), then eczema herpeticum- wihich in itself is nasty- coupled with strong antibiotics for the resulting infection and anti-virals and steroids too. Do I think he was born autistic? No. When I see videos of him I don't think he was autistic at 10 months either (just before the eczema herpeticum). By the time he was ds2's current age- 16 months he was though. I don't really feel angry about it- just sad. As a freind who's known him since birth says "what happened to him?". He is doing well though- and understanding the chain of events has allowed ds2 to escape!

Good luck with the appointment. Hope they give you some answers.

Wow jimjams you've been through it all haven't you. Your ds sounds like a lovely boy and must be brave to have gone through all those illnesess. I hope that doesn't sound patronising.

I wonder though about the causes of autism. Isn't it generally thought that it is a condition that tends to heriditary and is also a 'fault' in the way that the baby is formed in the womb, ie maybe your ds had very mild autistic tendencies at birth but all the other things have just exacerbated it? Or are there different types of autism related to different causes? Sorry just thinking aloud really. I will read up on it more... I have been put onto someone who lives nearby who has an autistic daughter aged 6 and I spoke to her on the phone today. She was very helpful and offered me her books and said I could visit any time. I will get back to her after Tuesday. Will also let you know how things go jimjams (and others). thanks again.

back soon.

This thread would now appear to be the right one for us. Ds1 (will be 6 in Sep) was at the 'Communication Clinic' this morning and has been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. (They felt semantic praqgmatic disorder was an unhelpful label usually, and he has lots of Aspergers features, and did not do very well on the more specific comprehension tests)
Oh. Felt strangely unaffected by the news, I suppose because I had been wondering about it for some time anyway. At least now we have a 'reason' for some of our difficulties, and it should be easier to get him the extra help he needs at school. And we'll have something to say to all those people out there who look at him and assume we're doing it all wrong - all he needs is a good smack/they should be harder on him/what a little monster etc etc.
But what will the future hold? Don't really dare to think far beyond next week at the moment. Will just go and give him a secret midnight cuddle before bed :-) - hope to sleep better than I did last night, worrying about it all.

Hi jmb1964 - that is good news that you have a diagnosis. I can well appreciate your feelings about others attitudes. This is a good place to come and moan.

Well to answer my own question I checked the autism research unit which states-

"What causes it?
The exact causes of autism have not yet been fully established. It is however evident from research that autism can be caused by a variety of conditions affecting brain development and which occur before, during or after birth. They include for example maternal rubella, tuberous sclerosis, lack of oxygen at birth and complications of childhood illnesses such as whooping cough and measles. In many instances, genetic traits appear to be important though the sites of the relevant genes have yet to be identified."

Hi all.

Hope the diagnosis gets you the help you need jmb- good luck. And I know those secret midnight cuddles!

Ahh causes Eulalia. I read something very interesting this week (and i know the ARU buys into this as well). Children with ASD have a Th2 biased immune system- this is the type of immune system which is biased towards allergies and autoimmune conditions (of which autism is one type). So you can be born with an immune system that is out of balance (Th2 biased). Other environmental factors can then increase this imbalance. I suspect in my son's case the factors were vaccinations, the eczema herpeticum, and antibiotics. Funnily enough ds1 developed eczema directly after receiving his dtp and started having ear infections (which I have now discovered are linked to dtp- not sure officially - but have read it in many different sources now). Of course ear infections= antibiotics. etc

As ds2 was born quite possibly sharing a genetic predisposition (and quite probably with a Th2 biased immune system) I decided to delay vaccinating him (he hasn't had any yet at 16 months). I do find it somewhat intersting that he doesn't have eczema and hasn't had a single ear infection. Of course one case is hardly evidence.

The rise in Th2 biased immune systems is also supposedly to blame for the increase in asthma, eczema, allergies and diabetes.

Food for though. I don't get too tied up in the "what caused it" scenarios though- it's too easy tp end up feeling guilty.