RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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I just wanted anyone who is interested that I have a free public website, www.freevideosforautistickids.com, with links to five free YouTube channels and links to free sources of ebooks for kids/read alongs. My YouTube usernames are charityrsmith (links to a channel containing a mixed collection of autism, language, and special needs materials) vids4autkids1 (links to my Autistic Kids Channel), vids4autkids2 (links to my Math Channel), vids4autkids3 (links to my Speech and Vocabulary Channel), and vids4autistickids (links to my Reading Channel).

My older son, who is almost 7, has classic autism, but has made lots of improvements due to intensive tutoring. I taught him to speak and read myself by making loads of flashcards and books and using any resource I could find on the net and teacher supply stores.

Me? I have a history of seizure disorder cured via surgery and selective mutism. I was certified to teach English ages ago, have a law degree not currently being used, and spend most of my time nowadays helping my kids and being involved in the local Autism Society.
My husband? bipolar disorder
I also have a younger son with OCD who probably has Asperger's Syndrome.

Thank you, thats great, I have bookmarked it.

Does anyone else's child have a unusually bad reaction to mosquito bites (Asian Tiger Mosquitoes most specifically)? My son needs steroid cream and allergy meds to deal with the extreme over-reaction he can have to just one bite. Going outside during mosquito season is an ordeal and somewhat terrifying. If so, did they outgrow it and when?

cyberdad, thanks for your tips. My son doesn't seem to have that resistance to change/love of routine that is seems to be a trait of most ASD kids, but that isn't to say that a consistent 'your sister is going to sleep, this is what you're going to do' routine wouldn't be beneficial. Good idea! And I'll work a song into it, too, they always seem to go down well.

Washi, nice to "meet" someone with a child the same age! Congrats on figuring out 'piop' ! I'm pretty sure my boy could say 'helicopter' and use the associated sign language as well before he ever called me Mummy (or anything at all). He used to say 'dada' HEAPS when he was small - which actually meant 'help me', as I was forever explaining to strangers in the park. I nearly cried yesterday - he told me he loved me at bedtime, for the first time ever. He was only repeating what I had prompted him to say to his father earlier, but it is still a start. Maybe one day he'll have some idea what it means too!

I won't lie and say having two is easy, but the older they get the more we all seem to settle into it. I only gated him out of the upstairs (which is all boring bedrooms and no toys), so he had the run of the house downstairs for the 2 minutes it took me to get bubs to sleep, but I think some of my son's hanging around at naptime this week has actually been a second burst of jealousy, so he was really wanting my attention. Anyway - I joined our local autism support group on Friday, and borrowed 'The Transporters' DVD, so now I can leave him watching something he enjoys and I consider educational at naptime! hoorah.

Oh, and edited to add - no experience of mosquito bites here yet, so can't comment. I hope someone else can help though!

Awwww cute to asking his stuffed animals if they are alright! And saying it to you too! My boy told me to cheer up yesterday (which gave me an opportunity to point out the restorative power of hugs), which was new.

Our sons sounds rather similar in their interests - C's first strung together words were one-two-three-four-five, and it seems like he has always known his shapes, colours and numbers. Knowing that, I can't believe it took a special needs assessment for me to realise how visual he is!! ! But C is more likely to drop cars on the floor and ask them if they are alright. He treats them just like friends.

Need to go and eat chocolate. I just finished writing a two page 'feedback' (ie complaint) letter to my son's early childhood centre association, on the myriad ways their special needs assessment failed us. If they can't provide a proper special needs assessment then they shouldn't offer it, don't you think? All I got was some person, whose qualifications and experience are still unknown to me, play with my child at his fave activity for 15 mins, and then two weeks later I got a short story she wrote about the play. Nothing at all mentioning whether she thought there were special needs, or where I could go for a proper assessment. Thank heavens someone else pointed me in the direction of our local child development service or I still wouldn't have a clue what was going on with my son. Sorry, excuse the rant, I just wanted to vent to some people who might appreciate the importance of such things!

My speech delayed son (age 3) suddenly started asking "where" questions out of the blue! We never even practiced it with him, we were still working on "what"!

First he said, "Where candy?"
Later was, "Where Daddy?"

My older son with classic autism never spoke spontaneously. His first words came from watching speech videos from BabyBumbleBee.com over and over again (the TV was kept constantly running, whether he seemed to be watching or not) and me doing flashcards with words and pictures with him at every meal and during every bath (whether he responded or not, whether he looked at me or not). I wouldn't stop showing him flashcards and very simple picture books unless he tried to push them away.

We also showed him very simple videos over and over again, such as "Where's Spot?" and Blues Clues with the close captioning on.

I had to make lots and lots and lots of flashcards, after he established a basic vocabulary, to get him to learn how to form sentences. He started out with just echolalia (repeating what I said), but we kept at it, and he learned what to do.

Some examples of the flashcards that I made for him are on my speech channel on youtube. I'm user vids4autkids3. You can also google Speech for Autistic Kids, and some free short slide shows featuring my flashcards may come up.

He is almost 7 now, and he speaks very well.

He got on Prozac at just under 4 to help him with comorbid selective mutism, and received extensive home-based speech therapy.

He was featured in a local news story (an interview about the local school system) about a year ago, and you can see him if you look in the favorites on my other youtube channel, which has username charityrsmith. (The local school system was of very little help, incidentally).

Blondeambition, it's good to hear that your son is speaking well at 7, it gives me hope. I also did flash cards constantly when my son was a bit younger before I realized he was autistic, I had to because they were his stim of choice during meal times and it was the only way I could distract him enough to get him to eat, that's how he learned his letters and numbers so early. I really need to start using them again but he gets too grabby with them and scatters them all over the floor, drives me crazy. My son also got most of his language from TV shows, thank goodness the TV never gets tired or loses it's patience.

With a child who has a whole lot of difficulty sitting still and making eye-contact, I would seriously try specialized speech videos and beginner English as a second language videos and alway use the close captioning whenever the TV is on so that he can learn to read via sight (versus just by phonics).

My older son's favorite speech series were the BabyBumbleBee.com series and The Standard Deviants ESL series. (Really cheap if you buy them used off of Amazon.com). He also loved alphabet, counting, and other preschool learning videos. (He eventually learned to read and speak at the same time.)

Whenever I wasn't working with him, the educational videos were playing in his playroom. I just let them run while he played, drew pictures, etc.

My younger son, who had milder speech issues, preferred the SpecialKids series and the Teach2Talk series. (Also available used off of Amazon.com).

Between my speech and reading channels on Youtube (user names vids4autkids3 and vids4autistickids) you will find about 1500 speech, vocabulary, reading, and grammar video clips. My three-year-old knows how to use my YouTube channels, and my free website, freevideosforautistickids.com. It's very easy.) Check out the links page for links to free read along picture books that your child can access over the net.

(My kids have very cheap used computers hooked up to my computer via Wi-Fi).

I haven't heard my son speak in 2.5 years. I'm sure he will one day, I must be an optimist.