I just found out that my 19 month old has this variation (through a chromosome microarray). There seems to be more information related to 16p11.2 deletion over the duplication. Anyone else's child have this? Can I hear from your experiences? We are slated to see a geneticist in September. Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone
We are at the very beginning of our journey... Since testing takes time, I wanted to be proactive and do as much as I can on my own and with help of our family and friends. How do I introduce them to the issue? How do I ask for appropriate help and support? What is the right thing to say and what is not? Is it ok to ask for monetary help (costs of therapy, dietary supplements, therapeutic accessories, etc) if yes, how to do so in a delicate manner
Thank you for all of your… read more

My daughter is 3 almost 4 she’s non verbal and has asd and developmental delayed she won’t keep clothes or pull ups on and loves to smear poop on windows and walls I’ve tried to sit her on the toilet she just cries once she reached down and grabbed poop before it hit the toilet water and smeared it on the bathroom walls how can i potty train her?

He is 8 years old and is getting obese. He only eats fries and chicken nuggets

Never though I’d be writing this but my almost 4yo son with ASD never used to care to much about the dogs but lately he’s been really into them, he likes to lick them then rubs against them, proceeds to remove his nappy and he’s clearly excited by the dogs. Any idea why he’s doing this ? The dogs our beautifully natured and they are never alone. I’d ideally Love to stop the behaviour.

My daughter will be up all day with no nap and then stay up all night till 5am or so. She will wake at 11am and do it all again. She will not take melatonin, we have tried all forms. She has to be tired. She is more grumpy and gets frustrated easily!

I've read that stealing is not something that goes along with autism. However, I've researched this a little bit and have found that many people ask questions about it. My grandson doesn't "steal" in the truest sense of the word, but he does take things that aren't his, like pencils, scissors, and other random items. When asked, he as no real answer about why he does it.

His school provides bare minimum with therapy. Our kids (only) were once on Medicaid and it seemed to provide pretty decent therapy throughout the week, however, with a pay bump at my job, and my wife now going back to work, we are just over the threshold for Medicaid. Private therapy is something that I know is worth it but again cannot simply afford it. Meanwhile our son has gone on 25min tangents in his classroom to the point where the teachers are growing intolerant. What are options for us… read more

My son is 4. He is constantly moving. Climbing, reaching, snacking, jumping, wandering around… he cannot sit or stand still. Even if he watches tv, he is fidgeting. Are all ASD kids this hyper? He is constantly doing things he shouldn’t be doing. He understands, but does it anyway. I feel like I’m on constant watch
When I see him behave this way, I am positive he is severely ADHD. The doctor we saw last week was speechless. She was sympathetic, but offered no solutions. He ran into the middle… read more