Autistic AND with GDDs??

[intheLiffey]

Is this possible? My son had GDDs at his last report, up to 16 months behind for speech and an average of a year for everything else. That was about a year ago.

Now he's just been through ADOS, DISCO and SENCO, so obvioulsy they suspect autism. (and so do I really, mild autism)

But I'm confused. I thought that autistic children were highly intelligent.

its a spectrum, goes from highly dependent to high functioning, high functioning are intellegent ,some have amazing skills.the whole thimg is very confusing for me to...you need AMBER! ....calling amber,alfiemama or another asd parent!

OI ! AMBER! OVER HERE! [GRIN]

Thanks drLove!

oh, i ruined it! Amber! come here!

tclanger knows a lot too!am away 2 find her!

They're probably in bed. Where I need to be. I'm going to bump this tomorrow.

tvm dr.

night then itl!

Total spectrum. Aspergers and high-functioning autism (HFA) children have normal-high intelligence. They may indeed be exceptional in specific areas e.g. J is amazing on a computer, but can't do basic stuff e.g. J can't wash himself.

Children who are classically autistic or 'low-functioning' have learning difficulties, may be non-verbal and function at a very low level with basic life skills and school work.

There's no generalisation. Autism is this massive spectrum but autistic children are not, as a whole, highly intelligent. Some are, some aren't and some are in specific areas.

my son has GDD of aprrox 2 years hes 3, 8 with sli on topof, as wellas
Autistic traits .He never had the ados test by nhs even though he ticks a lot of the boxes on the website

We had him see privatley and been dignoised as pdd-nos but as this was done privaatley the nhs paed wont ccenpt she wants to wait and see

Think a lot of childrn with Ld and sli fit into the asd ctergories

my ds has ASD and is high functioning on alot of things he is way above age computer skills etc numbers , letters.

speech behind age and alot of actions are behind due to lack of social skills and communication

there are so many areas on the spectrum leading from high functioning there is higher than that from what they showed me where ds is and then obviously it moves down so certain skills actions etc will be changing and severity

i know not enough to be exact i only know how it was explained to me but a lot of people believe autism means some amazing skill and it can do but not in every case not even in high functioning mainly it means there good at what interests them if ds wasn't on comp a lot hew wouldn't be good but its his interest its where he focus his time

anything else his not interested in his behind with needs help with washing, dressing , communicating, danger awareness , anything every day needs verbal prompts if not physically having to help but stick a computer in front of him his got skills of a 9 yr old his 4 in april he cant read but can write his full name 12 letters first and last so he has areas he excels and other areas as he has no interest his very behind

my ds also has atypical speech his speech sounds are replaced with easier sounds so having SALT he didnt talk till he was 3.6 properly

now speech is up to age appropriate speech sounds way below age and his been computer literate since 2 can count to over a hundred but these are his obsessions i see now never saw it before but he has to count all the time spots numbers memorises signs with numbers

so depending where on the spectrum you are depends on how the child shows there traits

My son too started off with GDD, but now has a Dx of ASD/ADHD and m/sLD. I think it is very hard to tell in the early years what the future holds (what will cath up,develop in its own good time, need extra support to develop etc) and what is the best description (diagnosis)for the childs delays/unique developmental pattern. Autism - often with comorbid difficulties -can cause a very uneven developmental profile - ie language and play skills may be more delayed than say walking.
The important thing with labels is to get the labels that best help you and the people around your child to understand and support your child.
My son got his autism diagnosis very late ( he was 8) but although I was sad for a while ( I suppose I wished otherwise) it has really helped me understand his way of working/thinking. I think it would have helped access various help if he had got that Dx before starting school.
I hope you are OK?

Did someone call?? I'm not an Expert, honest - I only try to explain what it's like to be me, and what I've read here and there. But I type fast so probably annoy people all over the SN threads by typing loads of things

Many good comments already. Yes, an ASD can mean any level of intelligence at all. The only real difference (at present) between Asperger syndrome and Autism is the age at which they first heard us speak. And you can't be Asperger syndrome if you have a low IQ. All may change in 2010 when they have another go at defining ASDs.

But how to tell what an 'IQ' means? It's SO variable. In my case, in theory I have an IQ of 135. But if faced with a task that doesn't fit with my brain wiring, I perform as if I have a profound learning difficulty. Same with dh (who's ASD as well). He failed the test for Cambridge University because some of his intelligence testing was so low that it failed to register on their scale, yet if you look at the things he does well, he's absolutely fantastic.

Not all of us have identifiable useful skills, either. The RainMan film did a lot of awareness raising, but it left people thinking that we're all like that. Nope.

My eldest has aspergers, and is extremely high functioning. He also had hyperlexia as a child. He learnt to read and talk all together at the age of 2, even though the only word he used and understood at 2.6 was bus. By the age of 4 he could tell anyone which train and bus to catch to get to any destination, and could read at the level of a 10 year old. However he had no social skills or self help skills, I had to cut up his food and feed him, he could not use cutlery until he was8, and could not dress himself until age8. His handwriting is atrocious, and he is obsessed now with computers, and his social skills are still very poor, however he has managed to live independantly, and now you can barely tell that he has an autistic spectrum disorder.
My 6 year old has high functioning autism, and is gifted. He has alot of social and communication problems which are mostly masked by his verbal ability and acedemic skills. He can not dress himself, or wash himself and often soils himself, he finds cutlery difficult, and his handwriting is terrible, although his reading is off the scale and he can read adult text books. He can not understand fiction and can not follow a story. HIs current obsession is the solar system.
My 3 .11 year old has classic autism and learning difficulties. He has some speech, and often forgets words, has alot of regressions, he needs a picture system called pecs to communicate, but does know how to count although can not count objects, he can repeat numbers in order but only because he uses constant echolalia, and has copied what he has heard. He has very little interest in others unless they can get him things.

When ds2 was going through his dx of autism, he was only 2.2 at the start of it and 2.6 when formally dx. Very yound for a dx in some eyes. DH was confused as well, because the EP who was part of the DX team had mentioned GDD. According to EP, there is (often) a fine line between the two, but autism is defined by a few factors, all of which ds2 was showing.

DS2 never started speaking until September last year, he was 3.1. His first clear words only came this year but he is still way off speaking like a NT child his age. He constantly uses echolalia, especially with daily routines like going to bed, going in the bath, having breakfast. I could go on and on, but I'm sure you know most of this anyway

I think DH is still living in the hope that ds2 does not infact have autism, but GDD. I wish he would just face up to it that that will never be the case.

Wow. Thanks for all the replies. I feel less confused now. I almost thought, hang on, my understanding of this must be wrong, they can't be talking about about GDDs AND the AS as well, but it seems as though they can!

Thanks Amber, Magso, FioFio, Sinthebed, bubblagirl, you've all made comments which are helpful. .