Opinions/experience needed please

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Thank you.
Your daughter sounds very much like mine and I really admire her for that. It is surprising for me to learn that that can be part of aspergers because as a child, I barely spoke at all except to talk about reptiles and prefered to stay in my room and play legos instead of going anywhere or talking to anyone lol. She is totally opposite of me.

She does have an incredible memory, though. She can sight read, memorize entire books, songs, long dialogs and spell some long words like 'difficultly'. She doesn't understand the sounds letters make, animal sounds, and does not usually identify colors correctly when asked so she is a little bit behind in some things and very ahead in others..

darisey, All of the things you say about her not wanting to wear clothes, not liking to get messy, wearing socks on the hands etc... those definitely sound like sensory issues to me.

That combined with Echolalia and her ability to memorize sight words so well.... Definitely have her assessed.

Let me tell you, my son was assessed at age three and I am so happy we did it then. it is really good to have a handle on things before they enter kindergarten/grade school. He has had an IEP since he was in 3 yo kindergarten. Getting OT for sensory issues was invaluable for us. A whole new world opened for us once we understood the sensory piece to it all. Not to mention that OT is supposedly most useful before the age of 5 when neurological pathways are still pretty malleable.

My daughter is being assessed right now.. she's three... for sensory issues. So, I'm going through it all again.

My thought is that it is always good to just go through the process. If they find nothing, then great, but when they do find something, often it takes a while to get services started. I think it's good to get things rolling early.

Good luck to you!!

Interesting. What kinds of therapies can they do for sensory issues and echolalia?

It's actually kind of hard to describe what they do in OT. They do all this stuff like swinging them, practicing handwriting, having them push and pull things around, brushing therapy... it really depends on the child and what they are working on. It's all stuff to help calm the nervous system. A lot of what they do, though, depends on the particular sensory issues your child has. My son is sensory seeking... meaning, he likes lots of firm pressure, swinging, etc.... sounds like your daughter has some sensory avoidance, which would probably require some different therapies. When they first came to do OT at my house with my son, I really thought it was hokey. But then, when they put a vibrating toy on his arms and it revved him up more than I'd ever seen him before (it had the opposite effect they were hoping) I was convinced that there was something to this idea that his nervous system was processing stimuli differently than other people.

Two books I recommend looking at for Sensory issues:

"Raising a Sensory Smart Child"
"Out of Sync Child"

As far as Echolalia is concerned.... my son gets Pragmatic Language Speech Therapy.. He has always tested really well in his language and speech skills, but Pragmatic Language is about social language. So, when you say your daughter will run up to a stranger on the playground to initiate play and start quoting from The Lorax... they teach them how to initiate conversation/play and sustain a conversation/play. This is stuff NT kids pick up naturally, but Aspies need more direct instruction.

A book that is great for just getting your head wrapped around all of it:

"Quirky Kids: Understanding and Helping Your Child Who Doesn't Fit In. When to worry and When Not to Worry"

I hope this is helpful... not alarming.

Thank you for the detailed information. Yes, that is very helpful!

Darisey, I'd have her assessed. My daughter actually has the more "serious" diagnosis of autism, whereas my son has ADHD and NVLD, which presents as spectrummy. She got therapy from a young age. He didn't. I actually worry more about his future than her's, and his issues seem to pose more problems for him in daily life than hers do for her. Of course, I have no way of knowing that it is because of the early intervention, but my mommy heart believes that it certainly didn't hurt.

I commend you for being open to the feedback because it conflicts with what you originally thought and that isn't always easy. That sort of openness is going to go a long way in helping you help your daughter.

My son was always friendly and social, and super affectionate. He still is, he just doesnt get social cues, social rules, and most of it is all about how he feels and wants things. With that, he still wants to be with kids and people, MUST be with people. He will cry if he is alone in the room, when we sit on the couch he has to sit in the same spot with us, or he says he is lonely. Even if we are holding his hand, he needs to be ON us. He sleeps in our bed at night casue he cant stand to be alone. He ALWAYS made eye contact and socially interacted, his interactions were just off. He always preferred adults and babies over peers. He is JUST now starting to appreciate kids his age if they share the same interests as he does (mainly, video games),

My huge error was assuming when he was younger, that because he was so social, he absolutely couldnt be on the spectrum...yet he is!

My son also had delayed echolalia, and would quote tv shows and movies, but use them in correct context. His speech teacher at the time told me that was a great skill and not to worry. Oh, I should note my son got speech due to artic issues stemming from his cleft lip and palate. He was followed by EI since he was 3 weeks old, and NONE of the professionals whoknew him were concerned with his developent. He was always happy to see them, smiling, saying HI and giving hugs.

It can be very hard when they are high functioning and have some skills, usually it takes a few more years to really notice the differences, as in the case of my son, who got diagnosed Aspergers a few months before he turned 6.

Go for the eval, it is much better to know, the earlier the better. I wish I had answers back then!

OP, I see you've had loads of responses already. But, I just wanted to say that my daughter is VERY social too, to an extreme. This is actually red flag for autism. Most people think there's no way she can have Aspergers, because she is so outgoing and friendly. However, she's actually sometimes 'in your face' and doesn't appear to understand boundaries. She'll talk to anyone at all and would go into people's houses, if I wasn't there to stop her. I'd advise getting an assessment done. It won't do any harm and can only do good, to get your child daignosed early (if you daughter does have an ASD). Good luck