18 months ASD symptoms, Very scared about the future....

[monkey2010]

My DS was born at 30 weeks & had meningitus. He's never liked hugs, has really poor attention, tantrums really easily, has some words but not mummy & daddy. More recently he has become obsessed with switches, buttons and doors. He isn't really interested in toys.

I know a lot about ASD through my job (maybe too much!)and it seems really clear to me but our paed is being annoyingly cautious. DH won't talk about it.

I find my DS really hard to manage and be with and I'm terrified that this will only get worse as he gets older. I'm really scared about how much our life could be dominated by him. Other people, including my mum, already find it hard to look after him. He does attend nursery while i work part-time which has kept me just about sane but some days I feel so sad / angry.

Any advice / help really welcome xxxx

Can you afford to see a private ASD specialist Paed?

In the US the average age for ds is around 14months ish, so the tools are there. Children are identified and immediately referred to an early intervention programme.

They don't diagnose so early in this country because there isn't many places to refer them for 'treatment' and also we don't have as much expertise. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't seek out a dx (if appropriate) and research early intervention yourself to implement or fight for.

Quality Early intervention can alter the path of development and help them NOT to get worse as they get older.

My DS is 7 and has a dx of ASD. He had some speech at around 2 but would not use it to communicate. He carried around a piece of lego at this age and then became obsessed with postman pat. His world was governed by routine and rigid behaviour. I tried so hard to access his world but just couldn't reach him. I felt something was was wrong and took him to the GP several times but was fobbed off. Eventually he started preschool who were fantastic and he was the diagnosed with ASD at age 5,(there was a 6 month wait for a dx in my area.)

When my DS was younger, I too was scared of what the future held for my DS. I just didn't know what would happen or how severe the ASD was in my sons case. Maybe you know too much about ASD?!! Remember its a huge spectrum and everyone is different.

My son is now in mainstream school and has a statement. He has made fantastic progress - he talks non stop, has a few friends, is keen to learn and is making good progress in school, he can swim and last term he did a reading in assembly in front of the whole of his school and parents. He has loving relationship with me and DH and DD.

Obviously, we still have many problems with DS (but I now know how to manage him) and who knows what the future holds. However, I would never have thought he would have made such amazing progress when he was younger but it is an evolving situation and with the right support and early intervention huge strides can be made.

Hi monkey,

We are only in the early stages of (possible) diagnosis, but I also worry that I know too much through my work. In fact when we had our 1st appt with the paed, she took one look at my list (which had headings like gross motor skills, sensory issues, joint attention) and asked me what kind of psychologist I was!

However, she said she thought it was a good thing that I was aware of behaviours associated with ASD that other parents might not be because I would report things that others might think were irrelevant. I do sometimes worry that I'm being paranoid and imaginging things, but I think lots of parents do initially (from what I've read on here)

Asking for a specialist in ASD sounds like a good idea - do you have another appt set up? Maybe you could ask then