Autism Treatment Center of America Forum

[kathitapia]

Hello, I have a son, he is 33 months old and we still do not have a diagnose for him because we are scheduled for an appointment on September or October, but I don't want to waste precious time, so any advise would be great. He is very affectionate with me, my husband, my mother-in-law and any other person that he gets to know a little bit more, and makes great eye-contact with anybody, specially me, but refuses to play with his peers, has become agressive specially with his younger sister and sometimes with us too if we refuse to do what asks us to, plus he stims some of the time, specially when he is stressed, under pressure, anxious, very excited or just completely relaxed. He flips most pages of most books and magazines. He started stimming approximately when he was 10 months old, but about a month ago his stimming increased (he rises his arms, drops his jaw, bends his head and shakes for 2 seconds) and then came back to his "normal" amounts. Then that stimming decreased quite a lot but new ones appeared. He puts his fingers in his mouth, takes his tongue out trying to reach his chin, tries to put his fingers in his ears, tries to eat my hair, moves his head back and forth very strongly. I saw him shaking his hands in front of his eyes only once and the same with the spinning, only once. He used to do it only at home but he has started doing it outside too, although in less amounts that at home. He has a speech delay -he is just starting to put 2 words together-, and had never been exposed to other children until 2 months ago when we started taking him to the park, but he is starting on a daycare on Monday to see if he opens himself to socialize. Besides the stimming movements, he had some repetitive behaviors before but has been able to overcome them -he wanted to take the same route when going out walking, not problem if inside the car though. He overcame it after the third try and after a lot of crying-.

Could this all mean he has autism? How can I help him with his stimming? Will learning to socialize with his peers help him decrease his stimming?

He has a behavior therapist but she uses ABA and I don't want to follow that route. Also, how can I apply Son-Rise for him? He already makes great eye-contact with me and is willing to play with any adult that sits next to him with toys, and would even initiate play with my husband, my mother-in-law and I, but refuses to play with other children, even when they invite him to, he just doesn't want to. We keep pushing him, taking him to the park and trying to create playing opportunities, but it doesn't work at all. He once approached a child with bubbles, we thought he was joining him, but it was just a game between him and the bubbles.

Thank you for your time reading this, I'm sorry it's quite long, but I'm really desperate, every day that passes by my little angel changes more.

[BeckyDamgaard]

Hello,

I thought I had already replied to this post but it doesn't seem to have gone through.

This is by no means a diagnosis, so you would definitely need to wait for your appointment with a medical professional for that. In our experience, it does sound like your son could be on The Autism Spectrum.

The best suggestion we can give is to begin working with him one on one in a quiet room in your home where you can start to use The Son-Rise Program techniques. The environment of this room will be non-distracting (unlike the park) and he will have large amounts of control, helping him to gain predicatbility needed to be able to relate more easily to us.

You can watch the "Getting Started" DVD that will explain how to begin.

http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/co ... /index.php

I also recommend you book a complimnetary 25-minute call with one of our Family Counselors so that you can get your questions answered and learn more about The Son-Rise Program.

We hope to see you soon!

[kathitapia]

Thank you so much for your prompt response. My son got squeezed in on a sooner appointment. He has been diagnosed as PDD-NOS. I already filled out the application online and i'm waiting for someone to call me. He has a very good connection with me, my husband and my mother-in-law, specially with me, he keeps normal eye-contact with me all the time and I can feel he really trusts me, so I'm eager to learn how can I help him better based on this trust he already has. We put him on a daycare but it seems it doesn't work for him. He doesn't even cry, only at the time I leave him and then he stops crying, he is just sitting there, waiting for us to pick him up. It breaks my heart. He doesn't want to play with other kids at the park either. Therapists keep telling us we should expose him to new environments and more children as much as possible and that he will eventually pick it up, but I'm not sure because he shows a lot of anxiety during these ocassions.

Thanks again for the advice.