I am really frustrated (Appt update)

[mack]

Mar 17, 2015 15:47:45 GMT -5 triplea598 said:

Can I hijack really quick? Because this is all really informative and helping me understand better, but I have a question.

How do you know what's normal and what's not? Like, I'm with my kid everyday (he's not in day care yet), so the only time I notice anything is when he's around other kids his age, sometimes even younger. But then I'm told I'm not supposed to compare DS to other kids.

Honestly, I didn't know what was normal until I started seeing her interact with her peers in Pre-K and then in retrospect, seeing how Addie behaves, I compare what she is like to what Kenz is like.

Like I started being concerned when I went to her pre-K graduation and saw her try and interact with her peers. It was like painfully awkward and she didn't have any friends.

[mack]

And with Kenz it's been a nagging thing since she was a baby. She never hit her milestones on time. Except her cognitive ones. But her social and gross motor milestones were always behind. She didn't smile on time, she didn't laugh, she couldn't hold her head up, she didn't look for me in a room, she crawled late, walked late, jumped late, biked late, etc, etc. She picked her face and organized things as a toddler. It's just kind of been an overall feeling for a long time.

[triplea598]

Mar 17, 2015 15:52:04 GMT -5 mack said:

Mar 17, 2015 15:47:45 GMT -5 triplea598 said:

Can I hijack really quick? Because this is all really informative and helping me understand better, but I have a question.

How do you know what's normal and what's not? Like, I'm with my kid everyday (he's not in day care yet), so the only time I notice anything is when he's around other kids his age, sometimes even younger. But then I'm told I'm not supposed to compare DS to other kids.

Honestly, I didn't know what was normal until I started seeing her interact with her peers in Pre-K and then in retrospect, seeing how Addie behaves, I compare what she is like to what Kenz is like.

Like I started being concerned when I went to her pre-K graduation and saw her try and interact with her peers. It was like painfully awkward and she didn't have any friends.

See, I'm having a hard time because DS is only 18 months old.

But every time we do play dates or I take him to a park, he's overly social...but is that even possible for his age? He has absolutely no sense of "stranger danger" and has gone up to random stranger multiple times as if he's knows them since birth (he's pulled up on their legs, he's laughed hysterically at them, he's tried sitting in their laps, etc). He does the same to other kids but he's more in-their-face and almost on top of them.

[leroybrown]

Mar 17, 2015 15:59:01 GMT -5 triplea598 said:

Mar 17, 2015 15:52:04 GMT -5 mack said:

Honestly, I didn't know what was normal until I started seeing her interact with her peers in Pre-K and then in retrospect, seeing how Addie behaves, I compare what she is like to what Kenz is like.

Like I started being concerned when I went to her pre-K graduation and saw her try and interact with her peers. It was like painfully awkward and she didn't have any friends.

See, I'm having a hard time because DS is only 18 months old.

But every time we do play dates or I take him to a park, he's overly social...but is that even possible for his age? He has absolutely no sense of "stranger danger" and has gone up to random stranger multiple times as if he's knows them since birth (he's pulled up on their legs, he's laughed hysterically at them, he's tried sitting in their laps, etc). He does the same to other kids but he's more in-their-face and almost on top of them.

Tess has always done this, and it is a concern of mine. She has no concept of stranger danger. One time last fall we were walking to the park and she saw some lady walking down the street. She said "hi my name is Tess lastname and I live at ::address::" . DH was like "uhh...that's a methhead that wanders around town."
 

[mack]

Mar 17, 2015 16:03:02 GMT -5 leroybrown said:

Mar 17, 2015 15:59:01 GMT -5 triplea598 said:

See, I'm having a hard time because DS is only 18 months old.

But every time we do play dates or I take him to a park, he's overly social...but is that even possible for his age? He has absolutely no sense of "stranger danger" and has gone up to random stranger multiple times as if he's knows them since birth (he's pulled up on their legs, he's laughed hysterically at them, he's tried sitting in their laps, etc). He does the same to other kids but he's more in-their-face and almost on top of them.

Tess has always done this, and it is a concern of mine. She has no concept of stranger danger. One time last fall we were walking to the park and she saw some lady walking down the street. She said "hi my name is Tess lastname and I live at ::address::" . DH was like "uhh...that's a methhead that wanders around town."
 

Kenz would give out her social security number and address to everyone on the street if she knew it,

[mrsbuttinski]

Mar 17, 2015 11:19:40 GMT -5 mack said:

Mar 17, 2015 11:16:23 GMT -5 olivegoose said:

mack, you just have to fill the paperwork our accurately. If she's hyperactive that doesn't mean she is or isn't ADHD/ASD.

I know, I wasn't going to lie. But it routed us to a clinic where the assumption from the get go was that ADHD is the issue. I think she was diagnosed before she got there.

I am so sorry. How in the hell did that happen? Seriously? 

Could it be that either they or you got in with the wrong clinic when you were enquiring about a cancellation? That said, she may very well have ADHD; a lot of people on spectrum do.

It is possible to get an ASD dx without restricted interests. Section B of the diagnostic criteria is a bit like a Family Style Chinese Menu- you only need 2 of 4 behaviors in this section. IME, sometimes interests are more intense than strictly restricted- DS really, really loves trains and knows pretty much all there is to know about them. But he also enjoys cat memes, political satire, cars, history, astronomy and a host of other topics. He'd make an awesome Jeopardy contestant. 

Special Interests seem more common among those with a more Aspergers presentation, IME. Sometimes younger kids grow into the symptoms.  If you look at my avatar, that's DS on his 2nd Easter- about 19 months old- with his first love. He fell in love with trains, steamers in particular, by the time he was 5 months old. 


Autism Spectrum Disorder 299.00 (F84.0)



Diagnostic Criteria



A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive, see text):



1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.



2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures; to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.



3. Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficulties in sharing imaginative play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.



Specify current severity:



Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2).



B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, as manifested by at least two of the following, currently or by history (examples are illustrative, not exhaustive; see text):



1. Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech (e.g., simple motor stereotypies, lining up toys or flipping objects, echolalia, idiosyncratic phrases).



2. Insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns or verbal nonverbal behavior (e.g., extreme distress at small changes, difficulties with transitions, rigid thinking patterns, greeting rituals, need to take same route or eat food every day).



3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g, strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interest).



4. Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interests in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement).



Specify current severity:



Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2).



C. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life).



D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.



E. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level.



Note: Individuals with a well-established DSM-IV diagnosis of autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified should be given the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Individuals who have marked deficits in social communication, but whose symptoms do not otherwise meet criteria for autism spectrum disorder, should be evaluated for social (pragmatic) communication disorder.

[BostonKisses]

Mar 17, 2015 15:47:45 GMT -5 triplea598 said:

Can I hijack really quick? Because this is all really informative and helping me understand better, but I have a question.

How do you know what's normal and what's not? Like, I'm with my kid everyday (he's not in day care yet), so the only time I notice anything is when he's around other kids his age, sometimes even younger. But then I'm told I'm not supposed to compare DS to other kids.

I'm in a similar situation, so it did take me longer to really see how different her behaviors are. I kept brushing it off as leftover preemie stuff, but watching her interactions on the playground and knowing where she should be developmentally started to tip me off to something that wasn't quite right. One of my IRL besties mentioned something to me as well after she saw how the kid acted at the annual egg hunt last year. She basically confirmed what I was seeing, and I finally felt like I wasn't going crazy or overreacting.

[olivegoose]

I struggle with the "is this normal or not?" question pretty much everyday. DD lines up her cars often, although not as much as she used to. She freaks out if DS messes up her line up, or if she has lined up a car and that's the one he wants to play with. She will give him one she hasn't done yet, though. When she was little (18 months or so) she would only stack wooden blocks that were the same shapes. Squares together, rectangles together, etc. Zippers *must* be zipped, even my zippers and DS's zippers. She won't hug people who are wearing jewelry. I can't tell her if something fun is coming up until it's time to get ready or she fixates on it all day. She rotates through which color of plate, cup, and silverware she wants. And they all must match (we have a rainbow variety). If I give DS the one she wants, all bets are off (which I often do to sabotage her). It doesn't sound like much one thing at a time but when I read them all like this I just think something is off here.

[mack]

Mackenzie just had a total meltdown and we couldn't leave the house because she didn't like the way the new kind of socks we bought felt.

This is typical. And I am feeling so frustrated because this isn't something ADHD therapy or meds will fix. I need help.

[mack]

And last night she was having an echolalia night. Repeating what my husband said verbatim. And then I listened to her mimicking the sounds in a cartoon. There was some warning thing and she was going "alert alert. Alert alert."

And I know that mrsbuttinski isn't a huge fan of this book, but I started AS and Girl's. And I kept reading passages out loud to MH because they are Kenz to a t. And they are confirming what we have been talking about here that girls with AS and HFA do not look like boys. The rate of diagnosis for AS for girls to boys is 1 girl for every 10 boy. When statistically it should be more like 1 to 4. They are out there, they just aren't getting diagnosed.

[funchicken]

Mar 18, 2015 6:32:06 GMT -5 mack said:

Mackenzie just had a total meltdown and we couldn't leave the house because she didn't like the way the new kind of socks we bought felt.

This is typical. And I am feeling so frustrated because this isn't something ADHD therapy or meds will fix. I need help.

My DD1 is very much like this, too. We used a few strategies. We set up rules regarding clothing, like "you can wear rain boots even though it's sunny but you still have to wear socks." We also used deliberate sabotage while scaffolding success. When we were trying to get her to wear other shoes (besides rain boots) I bought her some Ugg knockoffs. They were similar because they were slip-ons but more weather-appropriate. Then I got her high tops with stretch laces, then high tops with real laces. Now she's wearing regular old lace-up sneakers. She's still kind of picky about socks, but it's not too bad.

I just learned to ride out the meltdowns. Last year I reached a point right after she turned six where I had just had it. I got tougher with her. Now, I don't help her until she calms down, and the world keeps moving even if she's freaking out. DH and I have loaded a screaming child on the school bus. It sucks, but she gets better at coping with her anxiety every time she works through it.

We started working on this stuff when she was four, so it's been almost three years, but we have made huge progress. In your example from today, I would probably let her wear socks that she liked, but we wouldn't let the meltdown derail the departure.

[mrsbuttinski]

Mar 18, 2015 6:38:43 GMT -5 mack said:

And last night she was having an echolalia night. Repeating what my husband said verbatim. And then I listened to her mimicking the sounds in a cartoon. There was some warning thing and she was going "alert alert. Alert alert."

And I know that mrsbuttinski isn't a huge fan of this book, but I started AS and Girl's. And I kept reading passages out loud to MH because they are Kenz to a t. And they are confirming what we have been talking about here that girls with AS and HFA do not look like boys. The rate of diagnosis for AS for girls to boys is 1 girl for every 10 boy. When statistically it should be more like 1 to 4. They are out there, they just aren't getting diagnosed.

Not at all what I said. From earlier in this thread-

Not wild about Attwood for reasons I won't go into. His Girls book is pretty much a collection of other writers. It's a good one.

I like this book because he has some other terrific professionals offering their spin- particularly Bollick and Faherty. Boolick's own books, in particular, are very good. This one might be of use to you-

www.amazon.com/Asperger-Syndrome-Young-Children-Building/dp/1592330622

[mack]

Mar 18, 2015 7:04:40 GMT -5 mrsbuttinski said:

Mar 18, 2015 6:38:43 GMT -5 mack said:

And last night she was having an echolalia night. Repeating what my husband said verbatim. And then I listened to her mimicking the sounds in a cartoon. There was some warning thing and she was going "alert alert. Alert alert."

And I know that mrsbuttinski isn't a huge fan of this book, but I started AS and Girl's. And I kept reading passages out loud to MH because they are Kenz to a t. And they are confirming what we have been talking about here that girls with AS and HFA do not look like boys. The rate of diagnosis for AS for girls to boys is 1 girl for every 10 boy. When statistically it should be more like 1 to 4. They are out there, they just aren't getting diagnosed.

Not at all what I said. From earlier in this thread-

Not wild about Attwood for reasons I won't go into. His Girls book is pretty much a collection of other writers. It's a good one.

I like this book because he has some other terrific professionals offering their spin- particularly Bollick and Faherty. Boolick's own books, in particular, are very good. This one might be of use to you-

www.amazon.com/Asperger-Syndrome-Young-Children-Building/dp/1592330622

Sorry I misread!

[KC thepouchh8r]

Mar 18, 2015 6:32:06 GMT -5 mack said:

Mackenzie just had a total meltdown and we couldn't leave the house because she didn't like the way the new kind of socks we bought felt.

This is typical. And I am feeling so frustrated because this isn't something ADHD therapy or meds will fix. I need help.

It isn't entirely true that ADHD therapy won't help. There are a lot of overlapping symptoms between the two that I'm sure therapists and such use similiar strategies. You treat the symptoms not the diagnosis. With that being said of course there's benefit to getting the correct dx and having a developmental pedi looking over classroom placement/treatments. If you have a good team around her that's the most important thing at this moment.

[mack]

If she does have ADHD, that's fine. I will do everything to help her with that. But I need help with coping skills and not just an RX. I guess that's what I am trying to say.

[bubbalicious]

The primary treatment for ADHD is behavioral therapy not medication. Medication is not a fix all for adhd. It allows the child to be accessible.

Behavioral therapy can help with children who may have a different diagnosis.

My daughter has adHd. We started medication at 4 yo after we had behavioral therapy at KKI and cleared by cardiology (b/c of heart defect). She also had OT, speech, and horseback riding for a full year prior to starting medication.

We also had neuropsychological evaluation at KKI at 4 but for most I think it makes more sense to look at this at 6. You can get more information on your little one that could steer your diagnosis. Our younger child most recently had neuropsych testing and neuropsych gave him an ASD diagnosis while his dev pedi disagrees. Time and maturation will ultimately reveal his diagnosis. He is progressing in PK and I have stuff to work on at home.

Neuropsych testing could help you find data for your little one in a process that can be fluid. Frustrating...absolutely.

I also agree with KC.

[mack]

Mar 18, 2015 9:23:48 GMT -5 bubbalicious said:

The primary treatment for ADHD is behavioral therapy not medication. Medication is not a fix all for adhd. It allows the child to be accessible.

Behavioral therapy can help with children who may have a different diagnosis.

My daughter has adHd. We started medication at 4 yo after we had behavioral therapy at KKI and cleared by cardiology (b/c of heart defect). She also had OT, speech, and horseback riding for a full year prior to starting medication.

We also had neuropsychological evaluation at KKI at 4 but for most I think it makes more sense to look at this at 6. You can get more information on your little one that could steer your diagnosis. Our younger child most recently had neuropsych testing and neuropsych gave him an ASD diagnosis while his dev pedi disagrees. Time and maturation will ultimately reveal his diagnosis. He is progressing in PK and I have stuff to work on at home.

Neuropsych testing could help you find data for your little one in a process that can be fluid. Frustrating...absolutely.

I also agree with KC.

Right, like let's say she does have ADHD. At this point she is very accessible according to her teachers. Why not make more recommendations for behavioral therapy? Dietary changes? Etc.

[KC thepouchh8r]

Mar 18, 2015 8:52:47 GMT -5 mack said:

If she does have ADHD, that's fine. I will do everything to help her with that. But I need help with coping skills and not just an RX. I guess that's what I am trying to say.

What does the school say? Have they been helpful with strategies? If your issues are more at home vs school (this is my kid-she's a freaking angel at school and I'll ask her teacher for guidance on something we struggle with at home and she's always like she does that??) have you looked into private therapy?

I think something that might be helpful right now is reach out to a local autism chapter in your area. Mine had a six week parent class which was extremely helpful in finding local resources for private therapy as well as strategies of how to deal with certain behaviors kids on the spectrum often struggle with.

[mack]

Mar 18, 2015 9:41:07 GMT -5 KC thepouchh8r said:

Mar 18, 2015 8:52:47 GMT -5 mack said:

If she does have ADHD, that's fine. I will do everything to help her with that. But I need help with coping skills and not just an RX. I guess that's what I am trying to say.

What does the school say? Have they been helpful with strategies? If your issues are more at home vs school (this is my kid-she's a freaking angel at school and I'll ask her teacher for guidance on something we struggle with at home and she's always like she does that??) have you looked into private therapy?

I think something that might be helpful right now is reach out to a local autism chapter in your area. Mine had a six week parent class which was extremely helpful in finding local resources for private therapy as well as strategies of how to deal with certain behaviors kids on the spectrum often struggle with.

The school does some social therapy with her, so that's good. They have never said anything to us about any attention issues or hyperactivity, which is also why I find this dx weird. We are setting up a meeting with her teachers to talk about everything.

[bubbalicious]

DD was not accessible in any setting. She was for a shorttime in a community based coop (2s) who in hindsight I was extremely blessed that she didn't get shown the door the first day. She left as she transitioned to an inclusion preschool under an IEP.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater in your instance. Adhd meds are a controlled substance. Docs are not as willing to hand out these meds that quickly. It is a bit of urban legend imho. Dealing with a pharmacy is annoying to with these meds.

If you need a doc's referral, call the office, bet he would give you one w/o question for behavioral therapy. Something you can do today. Also a good parent resource of you.

I forgot we did a parent class at 3yo. I brought my newborn, put my daughter in an evening daycare, and persuaded dh who wasn't fully on board the sn train...good times. But it helped.

Dietary changes (we avoid red and yellow dyes, msg, hydrolyzed anything, sodium benzoate) is usually tested by parental reports. It is not given a great rating as a stand alone. I read an abstract years ago from an Australian journal stating (I think) Mediterranean diet is better for adhd. But really these are parent reports and subjective. I don't think it is considered first line and not the forefront for most docs (my dev pedi and I never talk about it). Right now I had to tour a school and I am trying not to freak about a huge COSTCO tub size of skittles in the Reading Specialist's room. I really want to email some people telling them about dietary stuff and adhd but their focus is getting kids to read not dealing with something the FDA won't even deal with. Also let's not get into what happens in public school cafeterias.

Neuropsych could help (please forgive me...I haven't checked your dc's age)after 6 or 7. It can give you a wealth of data on you little and possibly tweak out some areas for diagnosis purposes.

[mrsbuttinski]

Mar 18, 2015 9:29:22 GMT -5 mack said:

Mar 18, 2015 9:23:48 GMT -5 bubbalicious said:

Right, like let's say she does have ADHD. At this point she is very accessible according to her teachers. Why not make more recommendations for behavioral therapy? Dietary changes? Etc.

Like ASD, ADHD can look different in girls. If she doing well academically and not acting out in school, it makes sense that her teachers wouldn't be concerned about attention. They may just see her as quiet or even focused when she's hyperfocused. Often girls with ADHD have deficits become more obvious as they get older- executive function and initiation are more noticeable as the age group becomes more responsible for independence in these areas. A really bright kid can mask it long term which is how my niece finally got a dx at 34. FTR, she made a career of being Student of the Month growing up, is one of the most socially successful people I know and managed to get a masters and earn 6 figures before getting  properly dxd.

Diets are iffy at best. Most clinicians feel the major diet for ADHD, Feingold has been largely discredited as effective. We pretty much eat Feingold here; I grew up on it because of my sister and tend to cook from scratch. Feingold brings nothing to the party here. Strict adherence would only complicate the social piece. Of the small percentage of kids who seem to respond, a large number are also impacted but foods high in phenols and salicylates which take a lot of clean and healthy foods off the table. Diet is something I would only do after I had tried everything else including behavior mods, special schools and medication.

[olivegoose]

mack I was diagnosed with ADHD in December. Never once did I get in trouble in school until I go to college. I was a model student, I got good grades, and I was involved in after school activities. I was just also extremely unorganized, struggled socially, and basically got lucky that a lot of academic stuff came naturally to me. I take medication now and it is not a cure all in any way. My provider won't prescribe stimulants if you immediately stop seeing your therapist (I do group therapy for adults with ADHD) because you really do have to relearn how to do things. The medication just gives me the ability to actually change things I want to change and follow through with it- I still needed help to learn what behaviors were problematic and what healthy solutions were. He has to see me every month right now to write me a new prescription, check my blood pressure, etc. Eventually they will spread out and I will be able to pick up my prescription (they can't do it electronically in WA state because it's a controlled substance).

My point is that even for an adult going through the diagnosis process, I didn't experience the mindset of "Oh ok here's your pills" that it seems like some people think happens with ADHD. It really does need to be medication + therapies to be really efficient IMO.

I've gone off on a tangent now. Sorry.

[mack]

I think medicine can be an extremely important component of treating ADHD. And maybe she does have it. My point is that, for a 5 year old, it's not cut and dry. He encouraged us to start it right away and I felt like that was rushed. Especially, when we haven't evaluated all other options or diagnoses. And I know that she could have ADHD without being hyperactive--except that a large component of his diagnosis was her hyperactivity. Which I am skeptical about.

[dc2london]

Mar 17, 2015 11:57:54 GMT -5 mack said:

Mar 17, 2015 11:56:17 GMT -5 KC thepouchh8r said:

Ugh, sorry you had such a bad experience. My girl doesn't have limited interests but is on the spectrum-that's bs. I hope you are able to get in quick with an asd specialist.

That's what my friend said! Her son doesn't have limited interests either and he was diagnosed (by the CARD there actually) as HFA.

Ditto.  There are a handful of "typical" ASD symptoms that my spectrum kiddo doesn't have, but there is no doubt that he is on the spectrum.

And like you said, age isn't necessarily a factor, but involvement in one's professional community does.  Our dev pedi (from the same organization) is OLDOLDOLD but she's constantly at conferences and making keynote speeches and heading up committees so when she tells me something, I can pretty much accept it as current and factual.

[dc2london]

Mar 17, 2015 15:59:01 GMT -5 triplea598 said:

Mar 17, 2015 15:52:04 GMT -5 mack said:

Honestly, I didn't know what was normal until I started seeing her interact with her peers in Pre-K and then in retrospect, seeing how Addie behaves, I compare what she is like to what Kenz is like.

Like I started being concerned when I went to her pre-K graduation and saw her try and interact with her peers. It was like painfully awkward and she didn't have any friends.

See, I'm having a hard time because DS is only 18 months old.

But every time we do play dates or I take him to a park, he's overly social...but is that even possible for his age? He has absolutely no sense of "stranger danger" and has gone up to random stranger multiple times as if he's knows them since birth (he's pulled up on their legs, he's laughed hysterically at them, he's tried sitting in their laps, etc). He does the same to other kids but he's more in-their-face and almost on top of them.

Have you had his 18 month well visit yet?  I think a very basic autism screening is common practice at 18 and 24 months.

[mack]

The Director of CARD called me. She put Mackenzie in to get the next available slot with their team. She said that girls are tricky and that Mackenzie does need to be evaluated. She said that I was right for pushing and she thanked me for advocating for my child.

[mack]

I FEEL SO VALIDATED

[triplea598]

Mar 18, 2015 13:50:18 GMT -5 dc2london said:

Mar 17, 2015 15:59:01 GMT -5 triplea598 said:

See, I'm having a hard time because DS is only 18 months old.

But every time we do play dates or I take him to a park, he's overly social...but is that even possible for his age? He has absolutely no sense of "stranger danger" and has gone up to random stranger multiple times as if he's knows them since birth (he's pulled up on their legs, he's laughed hysterically at them, he's tried sitting in their laps, etc). He does the same to other kids but he's more in-their-face and almost on top of them.

Have you had his 18 month well visit yet?  I think a very basic autism screening is common practice at 18 and 24 months.

Yeah, he has his check up this Friday so I'll be letting his pedi know my concerns.

[olivegoose]

Mar 18, 2015 15:36:58 GMT -5 mack said:

The Director of CARD called me. She put Mackenzie in to get the next available slot with their team. She said that girls are tricky and that Mackenzie does need to be evaluated. She said that I was right for pushing and she thanked me for advocating for my child.

Woohoo!!

[olivegoose]

Mar 18, 2015 11:42:05 GMT -5 mack said:

I think medicine can be an extremely important component of treating ADHD. And maybe she does have it. My point is that, for a 5 year old, it's not cut and dry. He encouraged us to start it right away and I felt like that was rushed. Especially, when we haven't evaluated all other options or diagnoses. And I know that she could have ADHD without being hyperactive--except that a large component of his diagnosis was her hyperactivity. Which I am skeptical about.

I agree with you! I was just sharing my experience