How many of you have more than one child with ASD?

[lisad123wantsherquoteinDM]

As Im sure you know by now DD1 has an informal dx of ASD this year at the age of 6. (we are now pushing for formal but thats another battle and another thread).
I beat myself up about not spotting it earlier and getting her help before it got to this point. However DD2 is 2 years and 3 months now and shows some signs of ASD, and Im just not sure if/when to raise it with HV. She falls over reguarly but rarely cried about it, takes hand to show you what she wants, (never points) spins around but looks odd as she put her eyes in the corner in the direction she is going, hand flaps, licks carpet (dont ask!) lines things up, hates noises such as hoover, hairdryer, handdryrs ect, and doesnt much like cuddles or being picked up.
We tried pre school, it was a terible time and her behaviour was terrible with hitting and pushing others who came near her, hating changes in rooms and she doesnt play with anyone, only ever beside. She will play att he same activity for 45mins to an hour.

I guess what Im asking is, if I went to HV and explained all this would she look at me like i was crazy off my rocker mother who has a need to label my girls??

oh and havent seen my HV in 2 years apart from 2 year check doneby someone else where she promotly lined all the bricks up in colour order

Nope you're NOT off your rocker, it is possible to have more than one child with asd. . DD was dxd asd when she was 4yo, I was told that it wouldn't happen again. So I had DS1, and he is/was NT, so I had DS2...lo and behold, at 3.9 HE was dxd asd. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but yes it IS possible. Doesn't mean your HV won't THINK you're off your rocker though, mine did until DS2 had a concrete dx.

and to the licking carpets thing, DS2 (6yo) STILL does this!! (good job he's a boy, the 'rug muncher' jokes would be unbearable!!)

i sound so much in denial but i thought girls were less likely than boys?
Well I guess a call to the Hv might be worth while in new year along with CDC, CAMHS and GP

just re-read and realised you were talking about a girl....OOPS No offence meant!!

Its a new thing for her, but OMG its awful, she even takes out her dummy to do it at the church hall

Yeah, girls ARE less likely, but it doesn't mean it won't happen. Just as an aside, it wouldn't be 'learnt' behaviors from watching your DD1 would it??

trust me loudlass Im thick skinned and it takes a lot to offend me , but you know im going to be thinking that everytime now!!
We dont have carpet downstairs, she guess she does it where she can! but whhyyy!

At least she's young, DS2 does this at 'carpet time' at school! .

ulp! sorry!! (I know it sounds awful, but for a while, DS2 SLEPT with a carpet sample he'd filched from the carpet shop!!)

I wish it was but DD1 is a teeth grinding, hand twirling, heading hitting type. Is not a hitter at all towards others, and never was a spinner. She is a melt on the spot ype, where as DD2 is a stand there and scream type, there is 5 years between them, so most of her stimming is fairly controled now so not likely.

LOL @ carpet sample! sorry

Tis ok, have developed a bit of a black sense of humour over the years anyway!! (DD is almost 12 now, DS1 (the NT one) is 7yo and DS2 is 6yo)....it gets me through the day!! Was clutching at straws really with the 'learned' thing, but have seen it with one of my friends DC's.

AND there's NOTHING worse than prising a soggy square of carpet out of a child's hand in the mornings.....

Do you think HV s way to go? Weirdly enough I know the preschool ausitic advisory teacher, but think she would need dx first.

Not sure about HV, might be worth 'testing the waters' to see what she says, and maybe speak to the preschool advisor, DS2 actually got his dx through my DD's pediatrician...

I have 2 girls on the spectrum (one with ASD and one with AS), i also have a step son who maybe on the spectrum and a step daughter who shows AS traits.

Dd2 was refered to the pead very quickly as her sister had already been diagnosed with AS. We took dd2 to our GP for a check up and he showed concerns as dd2 had no eye contact and did not respond to him. Dd2 was diagnosed within a year after seeing the GP.

Dd2's traits were so much different than dd1's, dd2 could handle big changes (but not small ones, dd1 could not handle any change, dd2 is easy going, dd1 is hard work, dd2 was non-verbal, dd1 never shuts up. We thought dd2 was the NT child but it turned out her Autism is more severe than dd1's.

how does everyone get a pediatrician? We dont have anyone, its a real pain

It depends, sometimes if your child has a condition that requires a specialist they may be under the care of a specialist paed. ds2 is under the overall care of the local Community paed (she is wondeful).
Locally the HV/GP can refer to the community paed if the have any concerns, as can SALT, OT or Physio. The community paed is also the named school doctor so there is good continuity of care when reaching school age as she is very good at going in to school & kicking arse!
Generally if a child is to have input from more than one agency they should have a consulatant paed to oversee everything.

Also CDC's have developmental paeds, so sometimes a child may stay on their books, but here the CDC tends to discharge at 5.

DS2' was handed over to the community paed when discharged by the hospital at about 18mths as he was medically OK but had on going developmental problems (very prem).

I hope my ramble has helped. What Health authority do you come under? It may be worth ringning childrens services at your local hospital & finding out what your local set up is?

Yes it is possible

When ds1 was diagnosed at 23 months ds2 was only 8 months and I was terrified that he would regress too. Fortunately he didn't.

When I got pregnant again I saw a genetic counselor at Guy's who told us we had a 1 in 4 chance of having another ASD child together (exh is very probably AS). I ended up having a miscarriage. Am now pg again but by a new partner so the risk is apparently considerably less.

I really hope you get the help you need for dd2. I would go straight to your GP and insist on a referral to a developmental paed. Good luck

Me. I have 2 children, both boys and both have autism.

That's the main reason we stopped at 2! Before we had any children, we planned to have 3 (god willing), but (leaving aside ds1 traumatic and near fatal birth!!) finding out both children had autism changed things.

If the 3rd child had autism - how would we cope? How severely would it be affected? But - and this was the main one - what if it DIDN'T have autism? We felt we wouldn't have a clue how to parent a child without autism. Autism is normal to us. nt kids seem weird and hard work!! I suppose that sounds stupid.

Did I say normal? Ds2 is sitting here singing

"wee wee poo poo weeeeeeeeeee poooooooo wee wee wee wee poo poo poo poo weeeeeeeeee brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr oohh oohhhh arr laaa arr laaa f-fuuuuuuuuuuutuuuuuuurrrr ooh hoo ohhhh uh uh"

etc.