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Any Explanations BESIDES Autism?
A MyAutismTeam Member asked a question 💭

My son is overseas and I can't get a formal diagnosis for a few months, so I'm of course sitting here and fretting behind the computer. Here goes... My son is almost 2. Babbles a ton, knows about 4 words (Yeah, Uh-oh, Star) but can say the whole alphabet. When you hand him a toy, he inspects it while rotating it, drops it, does the same rotation again, drops it, etc.... He also spins while looking out the corner of his eyes. My question is.....could there be any explanations for this besides… read more

posted November 25, 2014
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A MyAutismTeam Member

It's important to avoid thinking of autism as a yes-or-no question or an explanation, and then you'll have more clarity. Autism is simply a description. Oversimplified, if we observe in a child a certain number of things on a checklist, then we would describe that as autism. But the exact things checked vary wildly, and if the threshold is say checking 7 things, there are kids who get 5,6,7,8,9 and those kids are sort of ambiguous. When we check 7 things and say "autism" in a 2-4 year old preschooler, we're saying "there's enough risk of personal and educational problems to take action," but some of those kids turn out to have no big issues, and perhaps some who get 5 or 6 checks (and thus no autism label) do have big issues.

The younger the child the more guesswork. In an older person, we can just ask or observe whether they have functional issues in life that bother them. In a preschooler, we're making guesses about the future that can't be completely reliable.

So back to your question - if you see some "autism flags" then it's a matter of whether there are enough of them to meet the overall diagnostic criteria. You might try the M-CHAT which is available free online as a screener. If that says to get a further assessment then you would go get one.

If there are enough "autism flags" to cross the threshold then your explanation is autism, if there aren't enough then your explanation is that your child just happens to do those things. But in neither case is there actually a known cause, which is why I say it's just description and not explanation.

"Autism yes or no" mostly just tells you whether you qualify for school services and insurance coverage. What actually matters is what a person needs from parents and teachers and friends. Do they need to learn better coping skills? Social skills? Speech? Other means of communication? Motor skills? As far as helping your child, specifics are the key, whether they qualify for the autism label or not.

A question to ask yourself often: What are the specific struggles your child or your family would like help with?

posted November 26, 2014
A MyAutismTeam Member

From my perspective, ASD is not a good explanation either, just a label for more serious development delays. It would be hard for anyone to guess whether ASD or not without more detailed clinical assessment of the symptoms. Whether ASD or some other development delay, I believe the intervention is the same - start early interventions now to narrow the gap regardless of what kind of delay.

In comparison, our son when he turned 2 had about 200 words or so, knew all his alphabets, shapes, colors, numbers (1-10) and even the phonetic sounds of alphabets (all thanks to the ipad), could recite entire nursery rhymes (all labels) but he didn't use his words much to communicate (would hold hand and point) and couldn't do two word sentences which was a red flag for us. We thought he was social. He also did the spin while looking out corner of the eyes and would sometimes flap when excited. Removing milk and giving cod liver oil (with Vitamin A) took care of these two stims for us, but he was still diagnosed on the spectrum. We did informal assessments online and all of them come up with PDD-NOS which is now under ASD. Each child is different and there is no one single thing. Hopefully within this decade, there will be blood/urine tests available with high sensitivity/specificity that can be done much sooner but these are still under research.

Good luck.

posted November 26, 2014
A MyAutismTeam Member

The only way to really know that a child is Autistic is to have them tested. I always recommend medical testing rather than just school based educational testing. Often a child will actually have multiple diagnoses such as anxiety disorders, ADHD stomach issues and so on so have a doctor do it is best. Not to mention the schools evaluation is not a legal and true medical diagnosis so it is not going to help you if you apply for Medicaid or SSI, only the medical diagnosis will do that.

We got the RX from the PCP, a Neurologist and a psychiatrist as well. All of this has helped tremendously when it comes to getting services, SSI and Medicaid.

posted November 27, 2014
A MyAutismTeam Member

On other possible explanations, aside from general development delay and speech delay, there is a whole spectrum of symptoms / disorders under DSM criteria (SCD, SPD, GDD, ADD, ADHD, ASD, etc.) that simply says your child has specific challenges or delays. Again, these are subjective and just a label to described common symptoms and challenges, which I think you already appreciate.

We didn't see any regression, but we knew the development trajectory was not the same and cognitively different than our older NT son who only couple of years older (our NT son made his first ten word sentence at 26 months or so). We have done a lot of interventions (traditional therapies and biomed) to change trajectories and minimize any development gaps.

We initially started with Nordic Natural brand fish oil with Vitamin A (there are a number of them, including many for kids). This helped a lot with the eye stim/squint and better eye contact. We also supplemented vitamin D as our son tested low for both Vit A and Vit D in blood test (these should be supplemented separately as they compete for absorption). Our son responded within a week of removing milk - he became more connected to the world, and we found it was directly correlated to spinning stim (which went away). One can switch to goat's milk or camel's milk or even cow's milk from A2 cows (that's hard to find though) as these have different type of casein proteins that are less problematic. Our son later tested high on casein peptides as well.

On the positive note, up to 20% of high functioning ASD kids are able to lose ASD diagnosis and become indistinguishable from peers according to three studies.

posted November 26, 2014
A MyAutismTeam Member

Regression in language and eating, lack of eye contact. Tantrums because of lack of communication, sensory issues.... Doesn't like getting dressed, or taking baths/ water on head. Tippy toe walking, arm flapping.... Obsessive nature with something like buttons or electronics. Lots of things... But I have 3 with ASD so I have seen a lot of variations.

posted November 26, 2014

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