Autism diagnosis with CP, help I don't understand!

[laumiere]

DS1 was dxed with cerebral palsy at 19mo and last week was dxed as autistic (at 3.5y). but when I look at the recommended support sites (NAS etc) their descriptions of autism just don't sound like DS1 at all! He doesn't have any problems with change, is very empathic, tries to talk (but can't get the sounds) and is aware of social norms/rules. He can't deal very well with chaotic environments (but then we only just found out that he's very short sighted and the CP makes hima bit unstable)and does like Lego a lot but nothing else fits! We don't know about the imaginative play as it's hard to tell when he doesn't talk!

Am I just being really deeply in denial or do i just not get it?

You don't appear to be in denial, as you haven't insisted that they must be wrong. Sounds as if you are being logical and rational to me, just looking for evidence.
Have you had the report yet, with the key areas that they picked out for the dx? Have you had discussions with the individuals responsible for the dx? If not, it's time to start digging.

Hi Laumiere - Am in a similar situation with DD (3.6) diagnosed with ASD a couple of weeks ago. How are your DS social skills with his peers. I know with our DD this was probably the deciding factor as she does not interact with her peers - she does not seem to have a clue about what is expected Also was it Autism that was specified as a diagnosis or ASD. ASD is a wide spectrum so it could be that your DS is at the high end of the spectrum or borderline. Like Goblinchild advises it would be interesting to see what the reports say. I was surprised when DD's report mentioned that she was unable to follow a one step direction at playgroup. This is certainly not the case at home. If they had mentioned this to me at the diagnosis session I certainly would have queried it with them but I did not receive their written report until after they had given us verbal feedback. Maybe I am in denial myself but I still have high hopes for the future. DD's nursery school have told me she is bright so with the right social skills help I am hoping she will cope with this world.
Also, 3.6 is so young even NT children change so much between 3-5 so anything is possible (through my rose tinted specs anyway)!

Eveiebaby, mine found a lot of things more difficult or impossible in the world rather than at home, including following one step directions.
Instructions needed to be tagged with his name first, then given. If he was in a 'noisy' environment, visual or auditory, that made it more difficult. He has a dx of Aspergers, is now 15 and managing well in mainstream.

Laumiere.. me again
ds2 asd dx was only given after lots of wait & see type assessments because like your ds his he didn't seem to quite fit the typical ASD DX & triad of impairment.
Most of his problems at an early age seemed to be sensory, he also struggled with busy environmants but how much of this was down to his CP & crap visual perception who knows?

As he has got older the ASD dx fits him better, he still has an awareness of social norms & rules BUT to teh extreme.. if we try to change the rules, its like the end of the world to him.

It is possible for you to "sit on" this dx, do nothing with it/say nothing & see how he develops, if however you need additional input it is something to pull out of your back pocket iykwim.

IME ds2 having the additional ASD dx has only ever helped & never been a hinderance.

Going on the ASD help programme also helped a few things make sense to me.
You can contact your local ASD branch (although not sure if your ds is too young, you would have to check) & they do an initial home visit. It may be useful to talk through your doubts with somebody else.

Thanks guys, we're going to ask for them to review to ASD rather than autism as most of DS's problems are language related (his receptive is fab, his expressive non-existent)and a lot of his social issues have improved hugely since nursery and the birth of his little brother, so it seems counter-productive to us to produce the label now. We would agree that he has some autistic tendencies but 'typical' things (changes, large family events etc) don't faze him at all.

evie his keyworker at nursery is also adamant that an autism diagnosis doesn't fit, and he does react well socially with other kids, but prefers to play alone if it's a complex game.

anon thanks as always, we'll def look into pushing for ASD.

riven it really pisses me off that the CP is ignored in all of this! I would have though the brain damage would be a more likely explanation. We haven't had an MRI done yet so will ask for that to be arranged, I suspect it will show up some damage in DS's language centres (we know he had a right hemisphere bleed after birth).

riven I've been told that ASD is also when the brain simply wires differently to an NT brain so it would be logical that a damaged brain would have similar issues.

I was also interested to read that the man they based Rain Man off (who died recently) WASN'T autistic but had massive damage to his corpus callosum.