After finally getting the mri and going to st louis only to find the neuro didn't have the images, so really couldn't tell me much. But after an extensive interview, she told me my son exhibits autistic traits. So tonight he has his weekly meeting with his psychologist and she to said something similar. That she felt he might have aspergers. That I should consider having him tested.
So here is where ya'll come in. I can read and read all day long about it, but can anyone here give me any insight? How do they test? Will he outgrow it? I have so many questions.
Hi- One second oldest son has high functioning aspergers. We were involved in a study many years ago on asbergers. The high functioning type is usually a male, nonstop talking and questioning- so much so that they are called "little professors". I used to have people come up to me when he was 4 y/o and ask me what was wrong with him. He is so bright and so unable to deal with things like money and planning for the future. He has always gotten along very very well with people either older or much younger than himself.
There are other forms of aspergers also. There is a national aspergers at http://www.aspergers.com/ where a lot of your questions will be answered.
Let us know.
Randy
Yes please if you could. Thank you I greatly appreciate it. I just fear giving him another mmr and it getting worse. Maybe its all coincidence, but i don't know. At least he has a while before he will have to have anymore, I think. But my daughter will be due for her kindergarten ones in april so i have to decide something by then.
Thank you. I bookmarked it and will look at it after I get the kids off to school.
I did read a small bit on it and so much of it sounds like Trent and explains alot.
According to his teacher he can't make or wont make eye contact with her or the other kids in class. We hadn't really noticed that before. He has been fixated on Thomas the Tank Engine since he was 3, but he finally started playing with other things this last year. Wrestlers, etc.
When the school does their evaluation of him, will they test him for that? Or is that something I need to do on my own? I know the school is testing him for auditory processing disorder.
I'm worried I know there is debates about if the mmr has anything to do with children who are diagnosed autistic. But my nephew was 18 months, got very ill and then all the sudden was a totally different child. They had him tested and he was then autistic. He never smiled again, talked, or anything else. It was so sad. So now i'm terrified because I realized that right before trents head injury last year he had his kindergarten immunizations. so i've been focusing on the head injury and makes me wonder if it could have been the mmr. and my dd is due to have hers this coming up april.
so now i don't know if i should just refuse my children to receive the mmr shot. because i don't want to risk it. what are you thoughts?
I'm not trying to start a debate or arguement. Just wondering what other people think.
I really don't know much about autism and immunizations other than there is cotroversy over it so my next comments my be meaningless. I have been doing lots of reading in the last 6 months and it seems I read somewhere that if you are concerned about immunizations, you can ask to get each one seperately (ie. mumps, at a different time from the measles, etc.). The doctors don't like to give it that way (inconvenient ) but it is possible and apparently less "stressful" to the body than giving a bunch of vaccines at once. If you want more info I will dig around through my books and see if I can find who recommended that approach. I think it might have been Healing the Childhood Epidemics (or something like that) but I'm not sure. My kids are older and so I'm past the heavy immunization stage. I really feel for you. It is such a tough decision. Since you have one family member that has had a negative reaction to the immunizations and your own son possibly being affected, I would really be looking at this hard. I do believe there can be some genetic tendencies in all of this "stuff" all of us deal with. Also, have you heard of DAN doctors? I think they deal with autism and maybe could help you with theimmunization dilema. I am on another board and people mention talk about their DAN doctors in dealing with a lot of the things that come up on this board. My ADHD son hasn't been diagnosed with aspergers but he does seem to have a few mild things that make me wonder sometimes. Good luck and if you want me to tryu and find where I read about breaking up the immunizations, let me know.The book I read all of the vaccination stuff in is called Healing the New Childhood Epidemics (Autism,ADHD, Asthma and Allergies) by Kenneth Bock, MD and Cameron Stauth. When you find the book, go to the index and look up vaccinations - there are many places in the book he references them. I was glad to see that there was a good index so you don't have to read the whole book to get the info you are lookng for. Also look at Appendix #1. It is titled "A Safer Vaccination Schedule" and has several pages with info on vaccines. He isn't anti-vaccine but he is all about giving vaccines in a safe manner. I looked up the mmr specifically, since that seems to be your immediate concern and he recommends giving the vaccines separately (measles at 15 months, rubella 6 -12 months AFTER the measles vaccine, mumps 6-12 months after rubella vaccine). Boosters should be given separately as well from ages 4-5 and titres of measles, mumps, rubella should be done prior to receiving the boosters. If the child still shows evidence of immunity then the booster doesn't need to be given. Of course that is his opinion.
On a more general note, I did find the book interesting overall with good info. It is one of those books that you "take" what you can use and just "leave" the rest behind. My frustration with the book is that a lot of the info really requires having a doctor on board with his approach. That said, I did find things I could use and do myself. Also, since it sounds like you might have a child with autism, there is an appendix with a list of resources for help - support groups, websites, national organizations and books.
I hope all of this helps with your research. I do really feel for you and your situation. Good luck and keep us posted!
Thank you. I will be looking for that book this weekend at barnes and noble. Thanks again. I contacted the autism center at the university here and they are sending me a packet to fill out, and once i get it filled out as well as with papers from dr's, school, psychologist/psychiatrist they will set me up an appt to get him tested.
She said but its possible depending on the school , that they may test him for it themselves.