Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Parent Support Forums
General Parenting
Janna's post has me thinking...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="SRL" data-source="post: 88727" data-attributes="member: 701"><p>I'd like to add a heaping dose of luck (or whatever you want to call it) to that. My pediatrician listened to me the first time without question. He referred us on to a specialist that recognized right off what was going on--even the Hyperlexia which a lot of docs hadn't even heard of, much less would acknowledge on reports at the time. It was a straight shot to a correct diagnosis that just required an addition of Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) later on. Had we been referred to a psychiatrist or therapist for behaviors instead of to a developmental pediatrician to assess for Autism, I'm not so confident the path would have been so smooth since my difficult child was on the fence diagnostically.</p><p></p><p>Totoro, when a parent arrives on the early childhood board describing a child with spectrumy sorts of traits I try and give them some extra help in exploring that aspect first. No doubt at first it looks like I'm trying to push an Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) diagnosis but what I'm really after is for them is to do their homework thoroughly, to challenge Autism from all angles to either recognize it or rule it out in their child, as well as to make sure the first specialist that sees the child has expertise that includes assessing for ASDs. The primary reason for my treating parents in this way is that you don't want to miss Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) the first time around. undiagnosed and untreated Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids frequently look bipolar and let's face facts honestly--what often lies ahead for a young bipolar child is a few years of a medication merry-go-round until the right medication combination is found and/or the child changes enough so that the medications work. For a child whose primary issue is Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), that medication merry-go-round usually further destabilizes them, in essence emphasizing their difficult behaviors even more and minimizing the quirky Autistic behaviors. With Autism treatment is usually a matter of therapeutic interventions first, then medicate later if functioning is severely impaired. With BiPolar (BP), it's nearly always medication first with parallel interventions. The stakes are so high for the child and family in taking the wrong path, that it's well worth the time, effort, and often money to rule out Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) first if a number of traits are present because most of the other diagnosis's that we see here nearly always point to medications. </p><p></p><p>If I remember correctly, you worked the Autism lead over thoroughly first before moving onto BiPolar (BP)? </p><p></p><p>I'm sorry it's been such a tough road for K. Personally I do think that for many families BiPolar (BP) IS tougher to deal with than Autism, mostly because of the medication component. But Autism isn't always a cakewalk either. When we were in the heat of the age 5ish anger problems we were going through the diagnostic process and difficult child was really, really difficult to handle. I remember reading something a mom had written--a dreamy, flowery essay in which she claimed that even if she could she wouldn't change the Autism in her son because it made him who he was. All I could think then was that she surely had a mild mannered Autistic kid because no mother in their right mind wouldn't want to flip a switch and turn off the behaviors I was dealing with 24/7 for months on end without relief! And the reality is that adulthood is often a very rough go for individuals with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) such as Aspergers due to challenges in the social and employment realms.</p><p></p><p>In our situation I have to say that labels have been really helpful. Hyperlexia wasn't well known and the label gave us the direction we needed to research and seek out other parents. It gave us validity with the school staff since it was a total unknown to them. And eventually we did change difficult child's educational label to Autism from speech language because (gasp!) the school has done such a good job in Autism training for their staff that the label helped them to immediately recognize and hopefully understand what to look for and how to help him.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SRL, post: 88727, member: 701"] I'd like to add a heaping dose of luck (or whatever you want to call it) to that. My pediatrician listened to me the first time without question. He referred us on to a specialist that recognized right off what was going on--even the Hyperlexia which a lot of docs hadn't even heard of, much less would acknowledge on reports at the time. It was a straight shot to a correct diagnosis that just required an addition of Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) later on. Had we been referred to a psychiatrist or therapist for behaviors instead of to a developmental pediatrician to assess for Autism, I'm not so confident the path would have been so smooth since my difficult child was on the fence diagnostically. Totoro, when a parent arrives on the early childhood board describing a child with spectrumy sorts of traits I try and give them some extra help in exploring that aspect first. No doubt at first it looks like I'm trying to push an Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) diagnosis but what I'm really after is for them is to do their homework thoroughly, to challenge Autism from all angles to either recognize it or rule it out in their child, as well as to make sure the first specialist that sees the child has expertise that includes assessing for ASDs. The primary reason for my treating parents in this way is that you don't want to miss Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) the first time around. undiagnosed and untreated Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids frequently look bipolar and let's face facts honestly--what often lies ahead for a young bipolar child is a few years of a medication merry-go-round until the right medication combination is found and/or the child changes enough so that the medications work. For a child whose primary issue is Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), that medication merry-go-round usually further destabilizes them, in essence emphasizing their difficult behaviors even more and minimizing the quirky Autistic behaviors. With Autism treatment is usually a matter of therapeutic interventions first, then medicate later if functioning is severely impaired. With BiPolar (BP), it's nearly always medication first with parallel interventions. The stakes are so high for the child and family in taking the wrong path, that it's well worth the time, effort, and often money to rule out Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) first if a number of traits are present because most of the other diagnosis's that we see here nearly always point to medications. If I remember correctly, you worked the Autism lead over thoroughly first before moving onto BiPolar (BP)? I'm sorry it's been such a tough road for K. Personally I do think that for many families BiPolar (BP) IS tougher to deal with than Autism, mostly because of the medication component. But Autism isn't always a cakewalk either. When we were in the heat of the age 5ish anger problems we were going through the diagnostic process and difficult child was really, really difficult to handle. I remember reading something a mom had written--a dreamy, flowery essay in which she claimed that even if she could she wouldn't change the Autism in her son because it made him who he was. All I could think then was that she surely had a mild mannered Autistic kid because no mother in their right mind wouldn't want to flip a switch and turn off the behaviors I was dealing with 24/7 for months on end without relief! And the reality is that adulthood is often a very rough go for individuals with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) such as Aspergers due to challenges in the social and employment realms. In our situation I have to say that labels have been really helpful. Hyperlexia wasn't well known and the label gave us the direction we needed to research and seek out other parents. It gave us validity with the school staff since it was a total unknown to them. And eventually we did change difficult child's educational label to Autism from speech language because (gasp!) the school has done such a good job in Autism training for their staff that the label helped them to immediately recognize and hopefully understand what to look for and how to help him. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Parent Support Forums
General Parenting
Janna's post has me thinking...
Top