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Autism and Asperger's
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 200848" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>The repetition - that sounds like echolalia. It will pass, it is probably because he was language-delayed. It is partly Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) but I feel mostly practising his speech. We went through this a lot with difficult child 3.</p><p></p><p>And think about it - if your son is repeating chunks of text or the same phrases, HE knows what he needs to do to learn and is actively doing it. he also is smart enough to remember, and probably remember long strings of sounds. </p><p></p><p>To boost your confidence and recognise that you are right, autistic kids and Aspies ARE wonderful people, read anything you can find by Tony Attwood. He lifts my spirits.</p><p></p><p>From what we've been told in Australia, you can have high-functioning autism rather than Asperger's if you had a HISTORY of language delay. Once the child catches up in the language department, this DOES NOT mean he is no longer autistic (unlike what a school counsellor said to us once). However, other authorities distinguish Asperger's as high-functioning autism. </p><p></p><p>It's tricky - both labels are on the autism spectrum. In our family we refer to autism and label three of our four kids.</p><p></p><p>I see your son as a label of "emotionally disturbed". Who gave him that label? It would be so easy to judge almost all autistic kids that way and often wrongly, simply because if you don't understand the child or know about the autism, it CAN look like emotional disturbance. The behaviour can seem very bizarre - only to the child, it generally is not.</p><p></p><p>The world can be a very confusing place to a child on the spectrum. But it is in their nature to try to find answers for the questions they have. They may not know to ask you; instead, they'll try and work things out for themselves. For example, difficult child 3 was told at school, "It is a school rule - you must not hit other children."</p><p>But his experience told him otherwise - other kids would push and shove and hit, all the time it seemed. And they often would hit him. However, if he hit back, he was in trouble. What he wasn't aware of, was the pushing and shoving was happening when the teachers weren't looking. He didn't know and was often hitting back when the teachers were around. Also, because he was "weird", the other kids would report that he had hit even if they wouldn't report other kids. This sent the first mixed message to difficult child 3 - he had different rules to others.</p><p>Over time with the hitting continuing, difficult child 3 constantly being hounded to not hit back, he learned to not hit back but he also learned other bad rules. We didn't know, because it was all inside his head. But one day at his new school (he was there for one term) a kid jostled him and said roughly, "Get out of my way, you weirdo!"</p><p>difficult child 3 stood there and said to the kid, "Well, come on. Hit me."</p><p>The other kid thought difficult child 3 was trying to start a fight and, to his credit, fetched a teacher. The teacher happened to be the school principal and he recognised the problem - difficult child 3 had been called names and to his mind, this was the first step which always led to the next step - hit difficult child 3. He just wanted it over and done with, he hated the anticipation.</p><p></p><p>We've helped difficult child 3 re-learn the rules here. He's older, he's more mature socially, he now understands that he has rights as well as responsibilities. He also is less fearful because he knows there are other ways to respond, more appropriate ways.</p><p></p><p>What is your son like at reading? And my other question from before - how flexible is he? I don't know why but increasingly I'm hearing of high-functioning autistic kids who are also hypermobile. It is a separate physical problem to watch for, it does severely impact their ability to manage handwriting tasks so you do need to watch out for it.</p><p></p><p>difficult child 3 likes to watch DVDs with subtitles on. He has good hearing, but his understanding is better when he can also read the text. His vocabulary is now in the superior range, after starting school still not verbal. He used to have most of a movie script memorised, even when he was otherwise non-verbal. This was an amazing mental feat, when you think about it. These memory chunks became the basis of his developing language; he used the phrases as his earlier sentences. </p><p></p><p>Language and speech are different - a parrot can have speech but unless they use the words to communicate (to send an intentional message to another individual) then it is not language. A child can have an absence of speech, as in a young friend of ours who was brain-damaged after an accident. But that child can communicate by typing on a keyboard, and so despite being non-verbal, he DOES have language.</p><p>difficult child 3 had language deficits but could recite movie texts and songs, verbatim. He had speech. He did not have language.</p><p></p><p>And he's caught up now, although a speech path assessment which shows absolutely no delays now, does show wide variations in language use capability (from low normal, to superior).</p><p></p><p>With your son, is his father a bit more on board now? It's good that he got him used to taking medications.</p><p></p><p>With difficult child 3 we had a GP in our town who I came to dislike intensely, and to also feel was not a good doctor. A nasty piece of work, in my opinion. But he did one really good thing - he taught difficult child 3 how to cooperate with a medical examination. </p><p></p><p>Our kids are capable of learning, but they often need to be taught a different way. Often the child is the best expert himself on how best he can learn. The child is the most important member of his learning team. You are the next.</p><p></p><p>We found that difficult child 3 did not learn anything of substance while in mainstream. Everything he learned, he learned at home. He began that learning the moment he was born. We have used every opportunity, every method we could, to give him access to learning and educational material. we have posters on the wall, some of which I made myself. </p><p></p><p>The work can be intense but the rewards are amazing. We've also found that love and support are taking us the furthest distance. "Explosive Child" is the best thing I've found to guide us.</p><p></p><p>When your son says he loves you, let him know you love him. Yes, it's probably often inappropriate but he's still very young to teach him what is appropriate.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 200848, member: 1991"] The repetition - that sounds like echolalia. It will pass, it is probably because he was language-delayed. It is partly Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) but I feel mostly practising his speech. We went through this a lot with difficult child 3. And think about it - if your son is repeating chunks of text or the same phrases, HE knows what he needs to do to learn and is actively doing it. he also is smart enough to remember, and probably remember long strings of sounds. To boost your confidence and recognise that you are right, autistic kids and Aspies ARE wonderful people, read anything you can find by Tony Attwood. He lifts my spirits. From what we've been told in Australia, you can have high-functioning autism rather than Asperger's if you had a HISTORY of language delay. Once the child catches up in the language department, this DOES NOT mean he is no longer autistic (unlike what a school counsellor said to us once). However, other authorities distinguish Asperger's as high-functioning autism. It's tricky - both labels are on the autism spectrum. In our family we refer to autism and label three of our four kids. I see your son as a label of "emotionally disturbed". Who gave him that label? It would be so easy to judge almost all autistic kids that way and often wrongly, simply because if you don't understand the child or know about the autism, it CAN look like emotional disturbance. The behaviour can seem very bizarre - only to the child, it generally is not. The world can be a very confusing place to a child on the spectrum. But it is in their nature to try to find answers for the questions they have. They may not know to ask you; instead, they'll try and work things out for themselves. For example, difficult child 3 was told at school, "It is a school rule - you must not hit other children." But his experience told him otherwise - other kids would push and shove and hit, all the time it seemed. And they often would hit him. However, if he hit back, he was in trouble. What he wasn't aware of, was the pushing and shoving was happening when the teachers weren't looking. He didn't know and was often hitting back when the teachers were around. Also, because he was "weird", the other kids would report that he had hit even if they wouldn't report other kids. This sent the first mixed message to difficult child 3 - he had different rules to others. Over time with the hitting continuing, difficult child 3 constantly being hounded to not hit back, he learned to not hit back but he also learned other bad rules. We didn't know, because it was all inside his head. But one day at his new school (he was there for one term) a kid jostled him and said roughly, "Get out of my way, you weirdo!" difficult child 3 stood there and said to the kid, "Well, come on. Hit me." The other kid thought difficult child 3 was trying to start a fight and, to his credit, fetched a teacher. The teacher happened to be the school principal and he recognised the problem - difficult child 3 had been called names and to his mind, this was the first step which always led to the next step - hit difficult child 3. He just wanted it over and done with, he hated the anticipation. We've helped difficult child 3 re-learn the rules here. He's older, he's more mature socially, he now understands that he has rights as well as responsibilities. He also is less fearful because he knows there are other ways to respond, more appropriate ways. What is your son like at reading? And my other question from before - how flexible is he? I don't know why but increasingly I'm hearing of high-functioning autistic kids who are also hypermobile. It is a separate physical problem to watch for, it does severely impact their ability to manage handwriting tasks so you do need to watch out for it. difficult child 3 likes to watch DVDs with subtitles on. He has good hearing, but his understanding is better when he can also read the text. His vocabulary is now in the superior range, after starting school still not verbal. He used to have most of a movie script memorised, even when he was otherwise non-verbal. This was an amazing mental feat, when you think about it. These memory chunks became the basis of his developing language; he used the phrases as his earlier sentences. Language and speech are different - a parrot can have speech but unless they use the words to communicate (to send an intentional message to another individual) then it is not language. A child can have an absence of speech, as in a young friend of ours who was brain-damaged after an accident. But that child can communicate by typing on a keyboard, and so despite being non-verbal, he DOES have language. difficult child 3 had language deficits but could recite movie texts and songs, verbatim. He had speech. He did not have language. And he's caught up now, although a speech path assessment which shows absolutely no delays now, does show wide variations in language use capability (from low normal, to superior). With your son, is his father a bit more on board now? It's good that he got him used to taking medications. With difficult child 3 we had a GP in our town who I came to dislike intensely, and to also feel was not a good doctor. A nasty piece of work, in my opinion. But he did one really good thing - he taught difficult child 3 how to cooperate with a medical examination. Our kids are capable of learning, but they often need to be taught a different way. Often the child is the best expert himself on how best he can learn. The child is the most important member of his learning team. You are the next. We found that difficult child 3 did not learn anything of substance while in mainstream. Everything he learned, he learned at home. He began that learning the moment he was born. We have used every opportunity, every method we could, to give him access to learning and educational material. we have posters on the wall, some of which I made myself. The work can be intense but the rewards are amazing. We've also found that love and support are taking us the furthest distance. "Explosive Child" is the best thing I've found to guide us. When your son says he loves you, let him know you love him. Yes, it's probably often inappropriate but he's still very young to teach him what is appropriate. Marg [/QUOTE]
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