I wonder will my daughter follow in his footsteps

[Nikki30]

After posting various posts re. my son Daniel, aged 4...diagnosed with ASD High Functioning Autism, which will probably present as Aspergers...I am now wondering about my daughter as I know there is a 50% chance of siblings having the same condition or traits.

 

Cara was 2 in July and as of yet, is not talking. Daniel was different in that he talked at the appropriate age. She attempts to say words but it's almost as if she has a hearing problem with the way things come out (but she doesn't as this was checked in the past) No would be naaoo...Daniel would be anoo...Paul would be bao..Granda would be ande...it's almost as if she misses out the first and last letter of the word. There are words she can say very clearly, such as no (of course! lol), Daddy, Mummy, hiya, bye, away and a LOT of the time she screams (piercing!) and cries...probably due to frustration. She can follow instructions and tries to tell me what she wants by making a noise or touching me. Her eye contact is good and she is very affectionate and has a brilliant sense of humour.

 

A few things that bother her are marks/scuffs/pieces of fluff on things...like if there was a dirty mark on a wall or on her leg or something, she would get really upset, almost crying. If trucks pass her outside she will put her hand up to her head as if to protect herself. If her brother comes running anywhere near her she will run screaming into my arms, if I come into the living room to hoover she cowers and blinks almost as if I am going to hit her with it..she scares quite easily. She refuses to share and will huff if she feels threatened that someone will take her toys or play on something that she is on. She does seem to love people...she waves and shouts halo to everybody from a distance and gets very excited when she sees other children, but when people (adults usually) get close up she gets shy and goes quite and doesn't interact very much...i sometimes joke that a stranger is the best thing to calm her down! I did say her eye contact is great but if I was to prolong my gaze she would put her hand up to say no, away.

 

I know she is very young and that a lot of these things are what all children go through but I'm also wondering if any of you guys see anything that stands out to alert us to Autism...or traits of it. I mentioned briefly to Daniel's Consultant that she wasn't talking yet and because of this and Daniel's history etc, she sent an email onto our health visitor (who is usally quite blaise about the whole thing and told us to wait until Cara was 2&1/2) so she came out to see Cara..she said at the moment speech therapy would be a waste of time and in 2 months if her speech hasn't improved, she will refer her to Community Paediatrics and told me that this was only because of Daniel's history..I do think that the Health Visitor feels that her speech will come on ok and things will be fine, or maybe she is beng optimistic for our sakes. I haven't really told anybody of my other concerns with her just yet...maybe I'm afraid to :/ I really don't know

 

Any advice welcome...many many thanks, Nicola

[madme]

WE had some concerns about our daughter but I ignored them. It was the paediatrician who had seen my son picked up on the clues and eventually we sought out an assessment. Its not too long to wait. In the meantime in some areas it is possible to self refer for SALT. In our area there is a drop in SALT clinic these days which would have been fantastic when we had concerns. Keep a note of all concerns. I hope that you soon get answers.

[chris54]

Hi

 

Owe son (Now 8 with AS) had speech problems and went to speech therapy aged about 3. he was only just speaking by the time he started school. He had other problems which were all looked at in isolation and it was not until he was 7 that any question of ASD was asked. Having recently moved to a new council area we now realise how poor the services were where we lived before.

 

Keep raising your concerns with anyone that will listen.

 

Good luck.

[MichelleW]

Hi,

 

I had a similar situation - my eldest is diagnosed ASD. then along comes DS2 who wasn't speaking by the age of 2, so I self referred him to SALT, and also informed my Health visitor who insisted on doing a developmental check - and she also refered him for a more in depth pediatric assessment.

 

I guess it depends on where you live, but I haven't had much in the way of support or provision.

 

Nearly 2 years later and at the age of nearly 4, I have had to fight to get a statement to get him into special school as the special pre-schools were closed and he has had about 2 hours of speech therapy in 2 years!

 

He also has bizarre anxieties and reactions to changes in routine, he has obsessions with cars and trains and lacks the ability to play imaginatively, and has poor social skills etc. but pediatrician would not "label" him as ASD because he does not fit all the boxes. He has ADD, and dyspraxia and severe speech and language disorder - but she informed me this may not indicate ASD, even though his brother is autistic.

 

The good news is that at nearly 4 he has just started talking - he said Mummy for the first time 2 weeks ago, and hasn't stopped since. It is as if it is all finally slotting into place! And this was without speech therapy and before starting special school. All he has had is as much Makaton that I and Nursery could use - and lots of pictures.

 

So I would say don't worry too much, but do try to push as much as you can for SALT provision and work with nursery to encourage the use of visual timetables, now- next-later boards and makaton as much as possible to reduce frustration.

[Nikki30]

Hi and thanks for the replies, very much appreciated and all advice taken on board xx I will deffinately push for SALT! Also another thing I have to do is stop looking for traits....does anybody else find they do this? I have started doing it with a lot of people I know lol. It's interesting though and would explain a lot with certain members of my family.

 

Nicola x

[Zosmum]

Hi Nikki30

I'm always on the look out for traits with C. She's 5 and I'm constantly being told "No way, nothing like Z"

She also goes very quiet and shy, backing away and hiding behind me when being spoken to by adults

She also covers her ears if lorries come past us on the road or if there are any loud noises

But she's definately NOT on the spectrum or so they say but it doesn't stop you from worrying or watching for traits

 

Hope all goes well for you

 

Good Luck with the SaLT

[hedders]

Yes im always looking for traits. I started the process when 1st dd was 4yrs old followed by 2nd dd a yr later.

At one stage i nearly got youngest assessed at 2.5yrs as she is under slt but pead has all the power and said i was making it up nothing was wrong.

 

Spent 3yrs telling professionals that i was right inregards to older dd ony for them to tell me im not also her school.

 

 

Younger dd has all the symptoms of a language disorder but slt wont diagnoise as the pead feels differently.

 

 

Recently found out older dd primary school had her on SEN resigester all these years without our kowledge and even the professionals as she is suspected of l.diffculties and is nearly 8yrs old, pead now regets what she done.

 

Pead wont see my younger dd as she has messed up big time !! So another battle goes on.