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

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Now I"ve looked the alphablocks up I realise we did see them on TV last year when we were in the UK - I just didn't know what they were called. They were on 'between programmes' - quite fun but my son wasn't that interested at the time. We're heading over to the UK again in a couple of weeks though (wish us luck with the travelling!) so I expect we'll see them again.

I have no idea if they're still on, I'm in the US and found them online by chance so I was able to watch them all back to back. Have a safe trip!

Here's another good resource we found.

http://www.wearebusybeavers.com/

We found this on YouTube, my son likes their ABC song. In addition to ABC's and 123's, there are songs utilizing basic grammar patterns.

According to the web site, "Originally We are Busy Beavers was created for ESL students. Now it is used to teach children with special needs such as autism."

I'll warn you, it's a bit corny and it's obviously the same guy doing all the voices, but it holds my son's attention.

I don't know that it's very educational, but I found this site yesterday http://www.fungooms.com/ that's full of mouse based games (we used a tablet and stylus) my son can understand, he especially liked the one where a man is walking on a windy day and the wind blows his hat off and he had to catch the hat, every time he caught the hat he'd say thank you along with the game.

Hi!
When you say: "Moderate" or "Low" functioning children ... .......

What would be your description of "Low-functioning"?

I am sorry if I sound ignorant

From what I understand a child has to be severely impaired and have a low IQ for a doctor to use that label. Typical milestones like walking and and eating solid foods would be very delayed or never met, spoken language would likely be non-existent or only ever consist of a few words, seizures are common ... I think kids are given that label when doctors think they're too profoundly affected to learn to communicate effectively, and when inevitably some of those kids prove them wrong they lose the "low functioning" label.

I'm sure someone else could explain it better than me.

Your explanation makes sense. I do question the new ordinal scale DSM are coming up with as there are people with very high IQs trapped in physically impaired bodies with stimming. Functionality is ultimately how physcially able the person is and if their IQ is sufficiently high enough to cope the stim and overcome developmental delays.

What is the ordinal scale they are proposing? All I an find is this, which has no scale.

http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/P ... spx?rid=94

And I'm not even sure if my kid would quality for a diagnosis based on that.

Your on the right website wreck-gar - just a different page
http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/P ... px?rid=94#

Severity Level for ASD

Social Communication

Restricted interests & repetitive behaviors

Level 3

‘Requiring very substantial support’

Severe deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills cause severe impairments in functioning; very limited initiation of social interactions and minimal response to social overtures from others.

Preoccupations, fixated rituals and/or repetitive behaviors markedly interfere with functioning in all spheres. Marked distress when rituals or routines are interrupted; very difficult to redirect from fixated interest or returns to it quickly.

Level 2

‘Requiring substantial support’

Marked deficits in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills; social impairments apparent even with supports in place; limited initiation of social interactions and reduced or abnormal response to social overtures from others.

RRBs and/or preoccupations or fixated interests appear frequently enough to be obvious to the casual observer and interfere with functioning in a variety of contexts. Distress or frustration is apparent when RRB’s are interrupted; difficult to redirect from fixated interest.

Level 1

‘Requiring support’

Without supports in place, deficits in social communication cause noticeable impairments. Has difficulty initiating social interactions and demonstrates clear examples of atypical or unsuccessful responses to social overtures of others. May appear to have decreased interest in social interactions.

Rituals and repetitive behaviors (RRB’s) cause significant interference with functioning in one or more contexts. Resists attempts by others to interrupt RRB’s or to be redirected from fixated interest.

Thanks, Cyberdad. I must say, those seem awfully subjective.

Hmm, I wonder about that scale as well. I think my son would be a level 1 on there, at the moment, but only probably because he is still young. My understanding from the Yale researchers into autism in young kids is that there is a lot of movement within the spectrum as kids grow older. That makes me question how useful it is to assign kids to levels when they may well change with age.

In fact they are not assigned. In Italy doctors are so uncertaint that often say "Autistic spectrum disorder" to remain vague. Kids move within the spectrum and the right therapy can make the difference.

That was my thought, as well. The scale doesn't really seem to apply to toddlers.

Here in Japan they just said they don't know what's going on but he has "autistic-like symptoms." I don't know what age they give a formal diagnosis.

My son was watching Toy Story with me, and started pulling faces when Buzz and woody get taken to the bad boys house, then he ran off with looks of anguish on his face and was hiding down the hall. I cuddled him and brought him back and then in the part in the movie when the dog started chasing after Buzz and Woody my son screwed his face up and had silent tears rolling down his face and was clutching on to my wife, so I stopped the movie and put Wiggles on!
Clearly my son identifies with what is going on, he must understand the expressions and the situation.

That's great that you know he identifies with the feelings, I'm sorry the movie upset him though! Sometimes my son lifts his arms behind him and runs off saying "To infinity and beyond!" (Buzz Lightyear). New good things for us is he said "I'm hungry" for the first time today and recently he started saying "poopy potty?" and he willingly sits on the kiddie potty, he hasn't gone in it yet though.