Getting a Diagnosis

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How were you first diagnosed? I am asking for myself and on behalf of my toddler son.

My son was a micro-preemie so I have been hypervigilant in watching for any problems. I have noticed many things that have not added up. Small things, but accumulating. He is 17 months adjusted, 21 actual. I had hoped as he grew older, he would grow out of it, but instead it is becoming worse.

He will learn something and then forget and not get it back. It is as if he never learned it in the first place.

I will say his name and he will not look at me. I clap near his face to get his attention and he doesn't so much as acknowledge it. We had his hearing tested before he left NICU and it is fine. I can also call his name when he is in another room and he will come.

He is very advanced in some areas and very low in others.

His behavior is not consistent. He has always followed his own rules, much to the dismay of his therapists. We had an appointment today with his eating therapist and dietitian and we brought up our concerns for our son. They were also concerned with what we were seeing and we will also be talking to his speech therapist tomorrow. We do not have a developmental therapist since our state has gotten rid of many Early Intervention programs. Our family is pretty much on our own.

While researching for him, I found many of the symptoms in myself. Someone here had posted a link to a checklist for women and girls with autism and I had sat down with my husband to see what he thought. He felt that I have 90% of the symptoms as well. I thought I just had ADD.

I would most appreciate others sharing their stories. I'm at a loss on where to go from here.

You think with the poor memory he could be ADD too? He does sound autistic. I had my own rules too. It included sleeping during the day and staying awake at night. I didn't eat unless someone gave me something to eat as well.
He still sounds a bit young to speak. I was around 2 years old and even then I didn't speak much.

Autism and ADD have similar symptoms. My take on it is that ADD have social problems but autistics are more inward, have no interest in being social. Some do want to be more social but I think it's after they see that their behaviour isn't normal and after being forced by their parents they try to fit in. Then when they realise it's no good they give up.
Autistics have a much better long term memory than people with ADD, at least in my case. Autistics can spend hours on a special interest, while in my experience after an hour I'm exhausted.

Yes, it most definitely could be both. DS could do signs, but now has forgotten them. We are pretty consistent with him and at first he picked up the sign language up fairly quickly. He played with crayons one day and did well with them. He hasn't been able to play with them since. Simple commands are difficult for him to follow.

He is also on a feeding tube and will not try to eat at all at this point. I think certain textures squick him out. He only likes crunchy foods, nothing mushy.

Are you both? How did you figure it out?

I'm not officially ADD yet, but my low grades in school and my inability to focus on things that I like doing for more than an hour got me thinking. But my social problems seem to be disinterest instead of anxiety. I've had social anxiety before and it feels different from what I experience.
It's quite funny; on the ADD forum they doubt I have AS, and on the AS forum they doubt I have ADD.
When I start working and I have that concentration difficulty I'll have to get evaluated for ADD.

OIC - I was diagnosed with ADD a long time ago. I'm in the middle of getting another eval so that I can go on meds. It is not good to be a highly distracted mother. My therapist has assigned a questionnaire that I and my DH fill out. Then he evaluates it and gives the diagnosis. Best case scenario - I talk to my primary doctor and he prescribes the meds based on my therapist's opinion. Worst case - I have to go see a psychiatrist to get the meds. This might help for you as well.

Welcome to WP!