Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Wyatt's Symptoms

•Not respond to their name by 12 months of age He has responded to his name since he was a baby. I can remember clearly when he was 8 months, but I know he responded before then.

•Not point at objects to show interest (point at an airplane flying over) by 14 months He started pointing when he was a baby too. I *know* he was pointing before his 1st birthday.
•Not play "pretend" games (pretend to "feed" a doll) by 18 months He has always been able to play pretend play. He uses objects correctly and uses them to pretend they are something else.
•Avoid eye contact and want to be alone He does have difficulty with eye contact although it can come and go. There are times he seems more stressed and will have less eye contact. He doesn't like to be alone all of the time,but prefers it when stressed and trying to carry out a pattern. He was a very independent baby and didn't need to be held a lot, but he did like to be held.
•Have trouble understanding other people's feelings or talking about their own feelings He has always been sensitive to people's feelings. When he was about 4, he started expressing how he was feeling with words, but before that he always showed different emotions. He has always tantrumed a lot and over the smallest things.
•Have delayed speech and language skills He has never had trouble with speech. In fact, he started talking earlier then both my other kids. Once he started talking, sentences came very quickly and there was never a regression period. The only thing I have noticed it now he has trouble with which in between words to use. IE: with is a word he doesn't know how to place. Otherwise his language skills are very good and he talks a lot and well. He does speak gibberish a lot now.
•Repeat words or phrases over and over (echolalia) He has never done this.
•Give unrelated answers to questions Sometimes.
•Get upset by minor changes Some days yes and some days no.
•Have obsessive interests This is the one he does have. He is obsessed with anything with wheels, although that bends a little because he recently went crazy over planes. These are what he plays with the most. He drives them around and crashes them and makes them talk to him, to us, and to each other. The one thing he has always done is have patterns. He has always separated toys to like kinds and he will line them up. He lines up anything that is alike and scattered. Food he eats, crayons, toys, shoes..although not always. He can allow things to be scattered and will often line them up so he can scatter them. He will also put a pile of something on one side of him and then slide or *drive* them to the other side and make a new pile until he has done that with all the objects. He will usually get pretty upset if you interrupt these patterns, but is usually pretty easy to redirect.
•Flap their hands, rock their body, or spin in circles He rocks himself to go to sleep. He used to seek out places to bang his head, but he doesn’t anymore most of the time. Now it’s just rolling back and forth on his bed and even that is not every night anymore. His body is always moving and sometimes he swings his arms and such over and over.
•Have unusual reactions to the way things sound, smell, taste, look, or feel He doesn’t like loud noises and he has a slight aversion to slimy/smooshy objects, but he can handle the noises if he is warned and he gets used to the feel of the objects quickly and will play with them. We have never had trouble with him not wanting to eat certain food, because of texture.
•Does not share interests with others He absolutely shares his interests and always has. Has always wanted to show us what he did because he is proud and engages people for conversation and play well.
•Only interacts to achieve a desired goal Not anymore then I typical kid, in my opinion. His main goal is to get people to play with him or talk to him.
•Has flat or inappropriate facial expressions Yes and overly dramatic faces..never flat faces though.
•Does not understand personal space boundaries This is a problem.
•Avoids or resists physical contact This comes and goes. Usually depends on how his day has gone and if he is stressed. Usually the likes affection.
•Is not comforted by others during distress He is comforted. Hugs and kisses usually make everything better.
•Reverses pronouns (e.g., says “me” instead of “I”) Not anymore
•Does not point or respond to pointing He has a hard time knowing where to look when someone else points at something, but he points exactly at what he is trying to show.
•Uses few or no gestures (e.g., does not wave goodbye) Started using gestures as a baby and still does all the time.
•Talks in a flat, robot-like, or sing-song voice Nope..never has.
•Does not understand jokes, sarcasm, or teasing The opposite, he is always making jokes and he laughs at jokes on tv and sometimes when someone else tells one.
•Lines up toys or other objects Yes
•Plays with toys the same way every time A lot of the time, but not always.
•Likes parts of objects (e.g., wheels) He is sometimes very fascinated with wheels and sometimes prefers the wheels over playing with the toy.
•Is very organized NO although he does shows signs of it sometimes, but not obsessively.
•Hyperactivity (very active) YES! He has always been very active. Never stops! He just started being able to sit still and watch a movie in the last year and even that is almost too long for him.
•Impulsivity (acting without thinking) Yes
•Short attention span Depends on what it is. He needs to be actively engaged in something he is interested in or his attention span is minutes. If he is interested, he could do that one thing for hours.
•Aggression Not more then a typical kid.
•Causing self injury Only when he was banging his head to sleep. He caused cuts on his ears and they would bleed. He does sometimes hit himself in the head when frustrated, but I have heard that can be normal. He doesn’t do it hard and it seems to be more for attention than hurting himself.
•Temper tantrums Yes
•Unusual eating and sleeping habits Just that he doesn’t sleep well, wakes often to sing, play, talk gibberish, laugh and the rocking. Gets very loud and wakes us.
•Unusual mood or emotional reactions Very dramatic
•Lack of fear or more fear than expected Depends. He doesn’t fear somethings that he probably should, but he does have a sense of danger. He will try to climb things at the park and get scared and want down.
 
Biggest issues as I see them are OCD, ADHD, and sensory.

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