can someone please explain Autism to me please.

[fairydust]

dd is 3 1/3 yrs old and goes to a mainstream nursery she has CP and is mentally about 1 yr behind but is doing fantsticlly.

She's struck up a friendship with a little boy who has Autism - "A" seems to be totally hooked with our dd and his parents have invited dd for a playdate over the xmas holiday - of course we've said yes

with out sounding too ignorant can anyone please expalin to me what Autism is i've looked on the net and like most things it all seems gooblie gook to me and seeing as his parents made the effort to find out about dd's condition (was told thid by a good friend) it seems only right i do the same.

Playdates are a hole new experience dd has a few friends we meet regualrly but they've know her from date dot.

I hsvn't wrote this thread to offend anyone i generally want to know.

Fingers crossed, eh? Shall we compare notes?

who dx? has nursery (does he go?) picked up on anything? you need to go back to paed if he is still under the hospital, if not bacto the GP to ger referred back to paed.

joint attention is things like pointing to share interest, but it starts by reaching for things whilst looking at you, sharing attention with another person basically. Of course I am hyper-critical (poor child), but with hawk like watching it 'aint great.

Aloha dyspraxia and AS do overalp (as you know). The stimmy eye conrner stuff is just sensory, you could try giving (high quality) cod liver oil and see if that makes a difference. All ds1's visual stimmy stuff went with that (although he won't take it now so its back with a vengence).

However if you suspect AS then you do need to have a proper assessment done. Starting school without appropriate support in place is a complete recipe for disaster. And its much easier to choose the right school/ right support if you know what you are dealing with.

Jimjams/Baka etc ( ) - are you worried about ds3?

I know dd is Ok, she crawls away from me, cackling, while looking over her shoulder to see what I think, and points at everything.

Ds definitely getting worse. the eye contact thing really shook me today. How do I get cod liver oil down him? he doesn't like the IQ stuff and takes it in return for chocolate!

Think maybe I should see the paed again. sigh. The school is famously good with special needs though. The Senco (only spoken on the phone so far) sounds lovely.

well yes I am worried about ds3, but I was in tears about ds2 at this age so I'm not I'm just taking it as a rite really. Ds3crawls away cackling at ds2 and jumps on him (which makes me think hoorah).

I tried hiding the oils in various drinks/cakes etc. DS1 can sniff it out in anything.

good that the SENCOs good though

dd3 also crawls away cackling, and looking to see if i am watching. then she also crawls upto to dd2 pulls her hair and laughs, little monkey.

I'm getting a bit confused now, sorry. So what about a child who never pointed and yet seems NT but a little odd.

What's the significance of pointing ?

i think dd2 did point (or at least make at fist at things of interest) as iremember being in the flat and her saying 'wha dat' at things and pointing/makeing a fist i nbthe direction. but i cant remember if she used her finger if that makes sense. i left the flat before she was 18months old and moved to the masionette.

I think the crawling/cackling combo has to be a good one, eh?
She's so naughty! Ds was never like this.

As I understand it pointing indicates joint interest, that is the child pointing out something to you to share it with you. It also shows theory of mind - ie a grasp that you cannot know what they are thinking or seeing and so need it pointing out to you. Autistic children don't develop this early or at all sometimes.

Ds2 has dyspraxic type symptons and pointed late and rarely points at anything in the distance. He does point in books but sometimes uses his thumb and may miss the picture or point next to it. I have never heard any explanation given for not pointing other than autism or language disorder and it is one of the reasons Ds2 is suspected to be autistic. However I think he points with a thumb because he has big problems with fine motor skills and can't isolate a finger easily. I have also felt that he has problems with visual perception and can't line up a point in the distance.

Interestingly Ds2 got referred to the opthalmogists because I keep going on about his visual perception and they diagnosed him with Ocualar Motor Apraxia which is to do with not being able to quickly move the eyes from one point to another horizontally. I wonder if this has affected his ability to point to things in the distance also.

Whatever the reason, Ds2 does have a lot of developmental problems so not pointing was an early indication of something even if it was not autism.

Aloha, sorry you are worried about DS. There can be a big overlap between dyspraxia and AS though. We use Eskimo oil which isn't very nice but you only need one spoon so it's less to get down. Amazingly Ds2 takes it without question every night in the bath!

pointing with the index finger is particularly human, very fixed developmentally. It doesn't indicate the presence of TOM (that doesn't develop fully unti 4ish).

Ds1 can point now, he's pointed from an early age- but used my finger. He still does and I often have to remind him to use his.

But IDAAC do you not think that if a child had trouble with their fine motor skills they might find other ways of pointing than with the index finger?

(In fact I realised recently that although I would always use my index finger to point in the distance, when I point to something on a book I often use the third or little finger. I don't know why, just because it's nearer I think.)

The older that Ds2 gets the less I feel he is autistic and I really don't think that is why he doesn't point. The other thing I have noticed is that the children I know who have been diagnosed autistic seem to have learned to point especially for things they want. He never points for what he wants and I think he just doesn't know how to.

I have tried to teach Ds2 but he just says "No I don't want to point" .

dd2 will often use my hand to point as well.

I thought the theory of mind thing was partly related to pointing. Charlotte Moore says that she knew Jake wasn't autistic when he ran to her and told her how he had lost his biscuit when he was quite young, less than 2 I think. She said the other two would have just assumed she knew.

i'm misdee.

My DD9 is going through the assesment process now after the EP (educational physycologist) thought daughter had aspergers tendencies.

Looking back she always had these tendencies.. but we never recognised them.

You know.. I can't remember if daughter pointed..
but as a baby she did this crazy spinning thing, then she loved her swing, (we could never get her off it) and now she is always doing handstands and cartwheels.. tesco's.. clarks... we have to remind her to stop.. I will add that she is fantastic at doing these
Daughter hated loud noises as a child.. she is better now..
Daughter shows little affection,
I was concerned she had dyspraxic tendencies and I didn't realise there was a big overlap in difficulties...

The whole thing is such a grey area that I think even the pros get stumped tbh.
My dd is a very complex child and it still isn't clear exactly what her difficulties are (except for 100% she has a language disorder).
Autism is a very complex disorder and each child presents very differently.
I met my bil's daughter (from a previous marriage) and she is 9. She was firstly dx with dyspraxia and now they are saying it is more AS. If I didn't know what I was looking for I really would not have known as it was so subtle, but there iykwim. I think my dd's difficulties are mre noticable because she is so hyper and bouncy and obv. the language is disordered.
Rummum - your dd sounds so similar to my little girl!