autistic spectrum disorder ?? how severe??

[logi]

Hi my son was diagnosed last week and i asked how severe/bad was it and the doctor said you cant put a level on this as different areas like communication,repetitiveness etc are at different severities,i have read some people have described dc as mild,severe etc. was this what the doctor had dx.Is it just that ds doctor doesnt believe in doing this.

It is true that they can be mild/moderate or severe in all the 3 different areas - eg my DS is very speech delayed, but not too bad when it comes to the routine/repetitive stuff. My paediatrician said moderate to severe for my ASD son, but only when absolutely pushed. I got the impression that they say "mild" to mean high functioning and "moderate to severe" to mean everything else, but I'm not sure there is any accuracy or medical thoroughness about it all. This same guy also said that the best predictors for a "good" outcome in an ASD child are useful speech by 5 and a decent IQ (which, though, is v hard to measure in an autistic kid). I guess that's my longwinded way of saying - the docs haven't really got a clue how any autistic kid is going to turn out, so the labels are pretty useless. Early intervention though is key - getting going with some work to get your DS speaking/learning to behave around other kids etc. Are you doing any particular program?

hi sosce,my son is 5 he is at a child developement/assessment unit, he has just started going 4 days a week for 5 hours a day.He is home educated because when we put him in a school he was extremely anxious.His speech is excellent and he has been able to read since he was 3,but his doctor said he does seem bright but they want to check how clever he is or if its his good memory.He makes words up and quotes things off the tv ,she said his social skills are bad although he will talk to anyone he is very controlling he doesnt always fit in iykwim.IM not sure how long he will attend this unit a few weeks i think,im not sure if other children assessed do this.

thankyou all for your replies,not sure if i put it down right his doctor gave us the dx of autistim ,just not any indication of severity,i guess im worried for his future i do tend to look into lots of "what ifs" He is lovely but sometimes when he does his funny little things he does i have to stop myself crying and cant help but think what if he does that at 10 or more. Its nice to be able to come on here and see different/positive stories .

Hi logi.

In some ways I think it's easier when your child's key problem is language (like my kids) because there are so many resources helping you to unpick the problem and help them progress.

But I guess you have to analyse, understand and unpick the social difficulties, get right, right down to the level he's at with them, and then build them up very slowly - just as if you had to teach him to talk.

The Hanen "Talkability" book is good for verbal children. It's very optimistic like all their books. For example, on the "Theory of Mind" chapter (ie understanding what other people think) it just says that NT kids reach a certain level at about age 6 and your child may take till age 10 or so to get to that level but you can help. Then it breaks it all down into little steps you can work on. Makes it all seem so much less overwhelming ......

thankyou i will look at this book.

Hi logi, my daughter was diagnosed with ASD a few months ago, like you we were told that it was too early to put a level on but they suspect she is closer to the HFA end of the spectrum. Because of dd's age (3) they cant really say where she is as her speech may improve in the next year. We have to go back to see the paed in 6 months time to see how dd is getting on.

My other dd was diagnosed with clear Aspergers when she was 4.5, she didn't have the language problems that her sister has.

I think after my son has finished attending the child development centre we will be getting a written report...when we collect him today we have an appointmentment with the doctor to ask any questions.Marne,my sons language is good but he does copy a lot.

When my son was diagnosed aged 3 we were told that they wouldn't specify where he was on the spectrum as so much can change in the pre-school years. IME this is correct. Now he is 10 it is clear he is severely autistic (he's still non-verbal for starters) and so the word severe (or the favourite - 'complex') started to creep into reports a few years ago.