copied behaviour or ASD

[justine1]

Hi everyone

my Sam (6) has AS and for a year has been really close to his brother Dan (3) they are always together and love the same things,Dan seems to understand Sam more than anyone.My problem is,Dan seems to have lots of trouble making friends and seems really shy outside of home,he started preschool in April but seems to ignore the other kids,at home he draws the same pictures over and over and humms alot,when I ask him a question its just simple "yes" or "no" then straight back to huming(dont know how to spell.He has had problems with speech and got his hearing checked two years ago,he kept saying "bad" instead of "dad" and "doat" instead of "boat"mostly got the b's and d's mixed up,well they said his ears are fine.He also has trouble eating and I have taken him three times this year to get advice on this,of course they say just give him what he likes,spag bol and mcdonalds cheeseburgers not exactly healthy.I wanted to know if his behaviour is copied by Sam,Sams behaviour changes I noticed since he was two WEEKS where as Dans I only noticed last year befor ehis second birthday,some of the behaviour is not exactly the same and the food is often opposite ie.Sam likes egg yolk Dan likes egg white.I also split from their father around the same time last year Feb and Dan was really close to him they would eat,bath play together,so not sure if this is the problem,though its been nearly two years and he seems settled otherwise.His behaviour is getting worse,he swears and fights with his brothers,he also is obsessed with germs,everything is dirty in his eyes.I am still going through assesments with Sam so feel at a loss what to do,should I wait until he is at full time school?Any advice please!

[Sally44]

I am not sure I understood your post correctly.

Sam is undergoing assessment. Are you wondering whether Dan should also be assessed?

There is thought to be some genetic link, and families with one child can go onto have another one diagnosed.

And no they don't have to be the 'same'. As long as the difficulties fall within the criteria for a diagnosis two children can be at total opposite ends. For example two children can have problems with social interaction. One child might be withdrawn and not interact, the other might be totally in the face of other children and not be able to read their expressions or join in with success. Both could go on to get a diagnosis of an ASD.

What interested me in your post was his mispronouncing words. You should raise concerns about his speech and have a suitably qualified speech and language therapist assess all aspects of his speech and social interaction. So the SALT should have experience of ASDs and speech disorders. Also google Auditory Processing Disorder and mention it to the SALT. My son has this. It is separate to an ASD although many on the spectrum also have this. It means that he processes auditory information differently and hears it differently. It can lead to problems with reading and writing and can be an indicator of dyslexia. So, for example, my son used to say 'nap' for 'map' or 'globes' for 'gloves' or 'finickly' for 'finally' or 'repair' for 'prepare'. Of course many children can have immature pronunciation. However it needs to be looked at because if he is hearing things differently there are things they can do to help him lay down correct phonetic information in his memory.

Does he use pronouns correctly ie. my, you, she, he, him, her, us, theirs, them, ours etc.

[smiley1590]

for germs this could be ASD/OCD behaviour types coming out so i would suggest just to rule out getting you youngest checking out assessed alot of parents on here say about their NT child copying their ASD child to get attention but how many signs is your youngest son displaying? anything like your other son? or just copying certain bits? ASD can be mistaken for OCD as triats /signs overlap so much and are a big part of ASD main stuff!

 

http://www.anxietycare.org.uk/docs/ocdchild.asp

 

http://psychology.iop.kcl.ac.uk/ocdkids/pa...Under-tens.aspx

 

hope the web links i put on here helps become abit clearer!

 

good luck

take care

XKLX

[smiley1590]

this to justine thought posted with others ovioysly NOT! sorry my mistake hope you read this!

[justine1]

this to justine thought posted with others ovioysly NOT! sorry my mistake hope you read this!

Thank you for this,yeah I will look at the link.My eldest also has some signs of OCD,my eldest brother and mum as well so very possible.He displays alot of AS signs but different to my other son so he may display signs similar to another AS child if I make sense.Then some other things seem copied.He does get angry but doesnt lash out like my Sam,he will rip things or bang his head,saying this Sam was the same at that age.I will definatley speak to a GP just so stressed already how do others cope with more than one ASD or other problems with kids???Thank you.

[Tally]

Just in case anyone's confused about the posts here, I have merged two topics

[justine1]

Thank you Tally.Just to clear things up.Sam has been told by a GP that it IS asperger syndrome(which at the time never heard of) he went for his first assesment one month later,two months ago,the lady who assesed him agreed it is Aspergers,but wants to talk to just him so has said to come for another assesment which I am still waiting for.Sice doing all the research Sam is classic case really,maybe not as "serious" case as others,his vocab/speech is fine in fact advanced and academically he is slightly above average.Dan on the other hand does not pronounce things correctly he has also always had a problem with spit,he sort of foams at the mouth when he talks and often spits when saying certain words,we try encourage him to swallow which works at times,I thought he would have grown out of this by now,he will be four in Feb.He also has certain cups/plates/forks like Sam does,he likes kit kat but has to be broken along the "line" and I cant touch it must be in silver paper.He wont pick anything off the floor and put it in his mouth didnt even do this as a baby when trying to explore things.He complains if the house is "dirty" and goes through five outfits in a day (Sam was not like this at all.)Thank you for your comments.

[JsMum]

 

 

Defo ask for an assessment, there is high anxieties with your youngest son, and like its been suggested already speech and language, though my son rarely talked at three, but as he developed he did the same missed prenounced words, still does, he has pragmatic, expressive and articulation lanugage disorders, J recieved inadequate support and services for his speech and lanugage needs and only recieved it after private assessments, a lot of children with speech and language needs are slipping throw the net especially those higher on the ASD.

 

I would say that the need for the same plate, cup ect is another sign of ASD as that they need it to predictable and the sameness, the undressing again my son didnt have this problem because he was just taking off his clothes, rather go starkers, but he did insist on his buzzlight year outfit, so the fact he see's dirt and has to change his clothes frequently I would say possibly OCD that gets triggered by high levels of anxiety, which could be related to a undx ASD, with co morbids.

 

Put everything in writing to your gp and request an assessments in SALT and Autism.

 

JsMumxxxxx