4 yr old should be assessed?

[Caroline77]

Hi all.

 

I posted before about my 6 yr old son. Good news a few weeks back we had our diagnosis, and we have now been awarded DLA:)

 

I am now asking another question about my daughter. She just turned 4, and I would just like to point out some things that she does.

 

 

- She will only eat 'perfect food'. No broken bits of pasta, incomplete baked beans, no browned bits of food. Nothing that doesn't look like how it should.

 

- She points out peoples scars and blemishes and is pretty much grossed out by them. If my son has a cut or a mark on him, she asks him at dinner to turn around and face the wall as his cut makes her feel sick. same if anyone has a runny nose, dirty mark...anything like that. A little girl at school had a cut on her hand and my daughter refused to hold her hand, and held her by the wrist instead.

 

- She HAS to take her clothes off if she gets dirt/food/juice on them. She cannot possibly keep them on and gets hysterical.

 

- She exagerates when she falls over, and if she hurts her leg she limps for ages afterwards.

 

- She murmurs and moans in her sleep, often crying for no reason.

 

- She hates cheese, yet eats it in pizza, pasta, dairylea dunkers, yet still insists she hates cheese.

 

 

I know this doesn't seem like alot, but living with an autistic child I can see alot of him, in her. I don't know whether she is just mimicking him on some things but I am worried. Especially as my 14 yr old is now also going through an assessment. She is definitley more sociable than my son, but even recently has had a meltdown if I dare tell her we are going to my friends house. She asks that they dont talk to them, and that she doesnt have to talk to them either.

 

There are other things, but I cant think of them right now. Just need some advice whether I should mention it to my sons doctor.

 

Thanks

 

Caroline x

[Lyndalou]

Hi Caroline

 

If you are worried then it won't hurt to ask for some advice. Remember that girls can be a bit different to boys in how they 'present'; eg. it is thought that girls can appear more social at times than boys and their interests may not be as glaringly 'unusual' as those of boys with ASD.

 

However, some of what you describe is similar to my son. For some time he would refuse to eat broken biscuits and how food 'looks' is still quite a big issue. Also, my son would get upset if he was splashed with water as he descibed it as 'dirty' but in short it was just not meant to be there and often when he was splashed he was taken by surprise and this in itself was upsetting.

 

If she is getting very upset at the prospect of going visiting, can she explain why this is? It does sound quite unusual that she requests they don't speak to her.

 

Maybe bring it up with the Health Visitor?

 

Lynda

[Sally44]

I think it would be wise to suggest your daughter is also assessed. You have two other children on the spectrum, and each child will have different aspects of an ASD.

 

Regarding not wanting people to speak to her, she may find that overloading. Does she ever appear deaf when you call her name?

 

My son often says "I just need peace and quiet". He has an auditory processing problem, as well as sensory integration disorder and ASD. He does not like people talking to him. He often tells me he's had enough of talking and can I shut up now.

 

She maybe getting upset about visiting because she does not know who will be there, what she will be expected to do or say. So giving her as much information as you can could help. Also take something with you that she likes that she can do such as a colouring book, and her Nintendo if she has one. That will ease the anxiety about what is going to happen.

 

I usually tell my son "we are going to xxxxx. We will be there for a short time. XXXX will also be there. You can play your Nintendo while I chat to xxxxx. And that seems to be okay for him.

[cocodrop]

Hi I have a 10 yr old girl who has no probs, my 7yr old boy was diagnosed with Autism/ADHA among other things, at 18mths and I have a little boy at 4yrs old. My 4yr old does things like your little girl, he licks things, has to open the door first, blanket (had since he was born) has to be a certain way, won't eat broken food, tangerines I've had to stop buying cause its so much grief cause they break up! Top changed if one spec of wet, hands washed if not dirty the list is endless with him and half the stuff is not copied behaviour cause his brother doesn't do it. He is seeing people and had an MRI scan which showed a bit of 'white matter' which not got much detail about this until I get his Nuero app through. I'd see a doctor and see what he says if your worried it always helps to get things checked out.