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Pervasive Developmental Disorder/Atypical Autism


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I've seen threads on these or similar subjects here before, so I'm assuming some of you have experience with this and/or have researched it.

I was wondering if you would share what you have learned.

To every man his own truth and his own God within.

[This message was edited by Abigail on November 15, 2003 at 14:43.]

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Back when I took my break from the cafe in April, a major reason was that I became a caretaker for an autistic 7-year-old named Samuel (aka, my Little Bug).

Samuel loved to push my buttons (that is, the buttons on my VCR. It seems watching a video from beginning to end is so passe). Like many autistics, he thrives on routine and is disturbed when that routine is thrown off. Like many children, his desire for routine does not apply to the need to get to school every morning. (No school! No school!).

Different autistics have different levels of awareness of the world around them. Samuel was capable of conversation, but not a normal one. When he answered a question, it was hard to tell whether he was truly replying to you or just responding according to what he thought he was supposed to say.

When I used to ask, "Who's my Little Bug?" he would respond "Loves me."

I have no idea how my question was processed by his brain.

Ultimately he learned to answer "I am!"

And he was.

He's with his mom now, in Utah.

And I still cry when I think of him.

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Abi,

I know this is not the focus of your question but I have reams of paper, printed material, etc. on the connection between infant/child vaccinations and autism.

The staggering amount of research studying the connection between the two is worth anyone's time to review, especially new parents or people considering becoming parents.

There is also a proven connection between flu shots and dementia in the elderly.

I would be glad to chat with you about this sometime.

Love,

Radar

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I have two autistic boys, aged 8, and 13. Raf is right: routine rules. That movie 'Mercury rising' is very accurate. Whoever put that together did their homework well, at least on the kid's behavior.

I remember the term 'pervasive developmental disorder' coming up from social workers during my kids' early years. My 13 yr old's overall communication skills improved dramatically after he was put into an autistic classroom. He's in elementary school now; part of his day is in a regular ed class/part in an autistic class. Next yr they're planning to put him in middle school. Watching that movie 'Mercury rising' makes me cry, too.

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catcute.gif

I have an autistic student in my class who?s a junior that is accompanied to classes by a paraprofessional, although, he has no need for her assistance. The school district is contemplating in removing the paraprofessional. He has a passion for computers and in some level he?s a genius quite capable to quote specific dates (year, month, and day) for events dating back many generations ago as well as to provide a synopsis of such occurrence. His shortcomings are in the realm of socializing and understanding figure of speeches/idioms. He likes girls and in some instances will boldly and tactless ask a girl out. Other than that, he?s a great kid and it?s a pleasure to work with him. He?s neither aggressive nor violent and has much respect toward his teachers, although, I heard that he wouldn?t hesitate to challenge a teacher if he thinks the information given is inaccurate. If I was a betting man, I?ll put my money on him because he?s able to record precise events in his mind. He is extremely motivated to succeed academically and so far, he?s doing fine in my computer programming class, which is a yearlong course. He does reasonably good work on the computer but he?s a lousy test taker. I wonder if he?s going to be able to grasp the more advance concepts once we get into creating programs/applications with complex specifications/algorithms and pseudocode. I will certainly do my best to assist him to succeed in my class.

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It does seem like a public school teacher needs to know a lot to be able to teach today.

There are just so many dis-orders that effect children. Often requiring a slightly different way of teaching.

Dealing with the teachers with our kids (dyslexic, FAS, ADHD, ODD, RAD, and sexually abused), it does seem over-whelming at times.

My prayers are that all parents and teachers of special needs children will take the time to learn about the problems; and try.

Bless you, May our Heavenly Father bless you in everyway, in the wonderful name of His son and our brother Jesus.

Galen

ET1 SS - USN Retired,

Pilgrim of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the mystic shrine.

and

'University of Life' Alumni

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"I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk, when I lie down, and when I rise. And the answers are always coming. Tens of thousands of times have my prayers been answered. When once I am persuaded that a thing is right, I go on praying for it. the great point is never to give up till the answer comes. The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer, they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God's glory, they should pray until they get it." - George Mueller

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Johniam, would you email me at Abigail0900@yahoo.com?

Brady,

". His shortcomings are in the realm of socializing and understanding figure of speeches/idioms."

This would be one of Aaron's problematic areas as well. He is extremely intelligent, gifted perhaps. But he does not socialize well at all and he can be very aggressive and antagonistic.

"He does reasonably good work on the computer but he?s a lousy test taker. I wonder if he?s going to be able to grasp the more advance concepts once we get into creating programs/applications with complex specifications/algorithms and pseudocode"

Have you ever had anyone read the test out loud to him instead of having him read them for himself? Just a thought, but Aaron scored in the 99th percintile for word definitions and 91st for oral arithmetic, but he has a hell of a time doing it on paper.

Another aspect is anxiety. We found some interesting discrepencies in some of his test scores which the doctor thinks may be attributed to a high anxiety level. The first time he would take a test he would be anxious and not score well at all. But once he knew what was expected and what was going to happen you tested well.

Radar,

I have read some about the possible link between the MMR and autism, but my understanding is there is no conclusive information. They do not know if the MMR causes autism or if it is simply that autism often manifests iteself right around the same age the MMR is generally given. Another theory is a possible allergic reaction to the MMR.

There is still much that is just not known. Aaron is in many ways highly functional, but he is doing horrible in school because he can't seem to lock in and focus. Also he has a lot of tantrums and can be very antagonistic and aggressive. My main focus right now is figuring out how to deal with the tangrums and aggression, to teach him how to communicate more effectively or regulate himself to prevent this from occuring. If he/we can get that under control it would be a great thing.

To every man his own truth and his own God within.

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catcute.gif

Abigail,

Thank you for your recommendation. It?s certainly appreciated. His shortcomings are doing bookwork and tasks on paper, but he doesn?t want help unless he asks for it, which is rare. He doesn?t let the paraprofessional seat beside him and I learned to give him space, thus, allowing him to reach his optimum potential in class. Reading aloud to him would be unwise and detrimental to his self-esteem because he wants to be treated like the others. In fact, without a doubt, he would throw a fit. He considers an open book test, cheating. That?s the way he is and he?s very protective of his space. He takes pride in his academia and wants to do the work by himself. Every individual is different as you know. I hope this helps.

Galen,

Yes, teachers do indeed need to know a little bit about everything. In my case, since I have an autistic student in my class, I had to attend a workshop that certainly enlightened me on the subject. Also, throughout the school year, administrators, teachers, and parents of ESE students meet for feedback purposes as well as to seek for ways to better serve the exceptional learner. Moreover, during college, I had to take a class dealing with exceptional learners (special education).

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Abigail,

I have a daughter that suffers from bipolar and anxiety disorders but one of the things they are looking at also is aspergers. She has a problem with doing things on paper and she does not do well socially.

Ok!! I will not try to be a nice person...ok? I will not!!

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Radar, in all of that information do have any of the work done by Dr. Stephanie Cave? She is our former pediatrician and a casual friend. It is our understanding that she has become a national authority on the topic. Her practice involves therapies & treatments for this kind of autism.

Oh wow, I just did a google search. Too many hits. Very big field! It looks like Stephanie and her partner are treating over 1900 autistics. Couldn't get a handle on the regimen, but it involves cleansing from heavy metals among other things.

My heart goes out to parents of autistics.

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There is something called Asperger's Syndrome it is in the Autism spectrum. I believe I might have a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome.

I have been having trouble finding anyone who could help me with a diagnosis, but I'm still hopeful.

One of my biggest pet peaves is one person I know and I trust is a real a$$ hole about it, he thinks I can just learn to be normal. Well I hold many of my symptoms back, it takes alot of energy to do this, it's hard to read facial expressions, and body language.

My symptoms come and go, but when is bad I have real trouble.

More info: http://www.asperger.org/

Seth

**This post protected by: Thornton's Anti-Thread-Derail v4.7**

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Seth,

It looks like you are starting in the right direction as you have posted a link explaining what aspergers and aspergers spectrum in.

Is the person that can help you a professional? If not there are people out there that can. I don't know much for adults though. I just am finding out more for children.

Ok!! I will not try to be a nice person...ok? I will not!!

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Seth,

You may want to take some standarized IQ tests which would compare your verbal and nonverbal skills. If there is a large discrepancy in your abilities in these two areas it can be an indicator for the autism spectrum disorders.

From what I've read and am learning there is a lot of contraversy and debate over the labelling. I've found these so far: Asperger's; PDD; atypical autism; nonverbal learning disorder (NLD); high functioning autism and autism spectrum disorder. There is a lot of debate as to whether these are all the same disorder or not. I find the term autism spectrum disorder sort of covers it all and is less confusing.

People with this/these disorder(s) are often misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD. The symptoms can vary greatly, but the common denominator seems to be this discrepency between the verbal and nonverbal skills. Beyond that I think the different terms sort of described different problems which can be a result of this learning disorder and different degrees of difficulty or severety of the disorder.

Some of the problems include difficulty in organizational and planning skills, difficulty with self-regulation (ex. sensory integration problems), a need for people to communicate very precisely due to the inability to distinguish figurative speaking (sarcasm, jokes, etc.) from literal speaking. An extreme need for routine and structure, which when broken results in extreme stress or frustration and high anxiety.

Well, that's a summation of what I've come up with so far.

Oh yeah, so far I've found the websites on "nonverbal learning disorders" to be the most useful.

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