How young is too young for a diagnosis???

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Wow, I am an new member as of last night, I have a 6 year old son who is already diagnosed with Asperger's and just today I have been told that my 3 year old (okay, 3 next month) is probably going to be Asperger's too. He (the almost 3 yr. old) does have a moderate speech delay, he does flap his hands, he is VERY fasicnated with watching the wheels roll on cars, trucks, etc. He seems to have some motor delays (ie. cannot jump, has to hold your hand to go up and down steps), he goes around and shuts all the doors, likes to open and close drawers, will ignore you when you call his name. He has frequent tantrums. He seems to function socially though, as far as sensory concerns, he does not like to have his face and hands washed and he will wear socks but doesn't like them. He is okay with things like dental care and haircuts.

Soooooo....what does anyone/everyone think?????

sounds like he definitely has issues, but i'm no diagnostician.....get him to someone who knows what they're talking about & what they should be looking for

Yeah, I was already pretty sure about having issues, it just puts in to reality for someone else to mention it. I also forgot to mention that he has a TERRIBLE time going to sleep and staying asleep! I really just don't know if he is even old enough to diagnose yet. I was going to talk to my other son's OT and the girl we get behavior therapy from since she is affliated with the psychologist that saw my oldest. We are going to screen him for preschool this summer for the next school year. I was really hoping to keep him home with me since he is my last baby!

hang in there

Sounds as if he is Aspie but best to get a professional diagnosis. Preschool isn't compulsory is it? If not, then why not keep him home for another year or so? He might not be ready to go there yet. Then again, that should be picked up in the screening process.

You may also find that if you get a dx now, when he's 3, he may get a different dx later, when he's older - 10, 12, etc.

I agree wholeheartedly about the school thing. We put our son in Headstart when he was 4 because he loved to learn and thought he'd like it. It was a terror-filled nightmare for him, but here in Texas once you enroll your child in school you can't take them out again until they are 16 (I didn't know about homeschooling back then). We didn't get a dx until he was 10, so we had a lot of tough years!

yeah, that is what I've been told. I talked to the grad student that does behavior therapy for my oldest son and she seems to think we should go ahead and get him evaluated, if for peace of mind alone. She is going to talk to the psychologist that gave our original dx and see if he agrees and we have an appointment this Thursday with OT to do an evaluation there too. so I guess we will know something one way or another. Thanks for your help!

I think its probably good to get used to the idea from an early age, just play by ear and see how it goes.

We did take him to the OT and she has done her evaluation. She has to enter it all into her computer and I mailed the sensory profile back to her but she agrees that he does show some autistic characteristcs. She also agees that he will need some OT and she highly recommends that we get him into Speech ASAP.