Your child can't be autistic because ...

[BlaqueKatt]

Also, what bugs me is that Jenny McCarthy "cured" her son of Autism. All she did was change his diet. I've talked to parents of Autistic children, they've tried the diet, and others like the one Ms. McCarthy used, but it didn't work for them.

since we necrobumped this thread to add information, Jenny McMarthy's son WAS NOT EVER AUTISTIC.

He had Landau-Kleffner syndrome, which is sometimes self limiting, you can "grow out of it", she tortured her child with vitamin and chelation therapy when doing nothing would've worked just as well. Also many of the "my kid got shots and spontaneously regressed to autism, is actually the misdiagnosis of Landau–Kleffner syndrome as autism, because autism is "easily recognizable" while LKS has similar symptomolgy but isn't as well known.

[Dreamstalker]

School just wasn't very interesting for me. After I'd taught myself to read, having to deal with Dick, Jane, and Spot...was a bit annoying.

Ditto. I was reading the Washington Post at age 2; didn't understand exactly what I was reading, but I was sounding out the words on my own. I'm told mom wanted to coach me, but the au pair wanted to see how far I would get.

In high school I was dumped into a 'special ed' English class...what a mess. The teacher wanted us to read young-adult sports novels and write book reports, I was reading Lovecraft, Poe, etc and she was trying to discourage me with "Come on now, those books look too hard, let's read what the rest of the class is reading"...when I could finish the week's assigned reading in 10 minutes and answer almost any questions about it (which, considering the material, wasn't as impressive as it sounds).

[Eisa]

That can sometimes backfire. Once my parents had me take one of those tests...it did more harm than good. I'd get screamed at for being lazy. Never mind that my mental issues (which at that point were somewhat of an unknown) made it damn near impossible to study...or even concentrate in class. Yep, I took heat for that too.

School just wasn't very interesting for me. After I'd taught myself to read, having to deal with Dick, Jane, and Spot...was a bit annoying. Plus from then on, most of the material tended to repeat itself. Didn't help either that I tended to do a lot of reading.

As far as I know, I didn't get early tests, but I totally know what you mean about the last paragraph. I learned how to read when I was 4 and was reading "adult" books by 6 (stuff by Janette Oke, and that sort of thing.)

So having to go back to "See Spot run" in first grade was beyond boring. I'd finish all of my reading super quick and have to just sit around because my teacher wouldn't let me read the stuff I wanted to (if I recall correctly).


I'm not autistic as far as I know, but I do almost certainly have this. Which...interestingly can be confused with Asperger's.

[fireheart17]

Admittedly it wasn't my mother who noticed my gifted side, it was actually my year 1 teacher. I hold a LOT of respect for her and she's actually the woman who inspired me to study special education. I wound up telescoping year 1 and 2 together and then moved straight through to year 3 after that.
Luckily that teacher is still teaching...she works at one of the schools near my house. If I go to that school, I want her as my mentor teacher as I have a junior primary block next year. (Long story short, for me to be able to teach primary school and special needs, I do two teaching practicals. This one I'm doing now is my primary placement. Next year, I will be teaching a junior primary block instead but I will also have some kids with special needs.)

[AmbrosiaWriter]

That can sometimes backfire. Once my parents had me take one of those tests...it did more harm than good. I'd get screamed at for being lazy. Never mind that my mental issues (which at that point were somewhat of an unknown) made it damn near impossible to study...or even concentrate in class. Yep, I took heat for that too.

An early IQ test backfired for my friend as well (I don't see her much anymore.) Her parents had the mindset of "Well she's just so SMART, she should know all these kinds of things already." So they gave her pretty much no structure at all.

"M (friend) don't you think you should eat you vegetables?"
"No!"
"M, don't you think you should go to bed now?"
"NO!"

Another friend's mom was like, "It doesn't matter how smart you think your child is, or the child tested to be. You don't give them the option of going to bed or not, you tell them it's time for bed then give them the option of blue or red jammies."

So as she grew she basically did what she wanted, had no motivation to do any homework (which although she tested well, hurt her grade very badly) and just kind of set her up for failure. Which is sad. I think she's doing better at this point, but seriously. High IQ does NOT a magical instant mini-adult make.

[protege]

Mum of course freaked, had me evaluated for autism. It wasn't until year 1 that we determined that I was actually gifted and talented.

My last IQ test (when I was 14) showed my IQ at around 135.

That can sometimes backfire. Once my parents had me take one of those tests...it did more harm than good. I'd get screamed at for being lazy. Never mind that my mental issues (which at that point were somewhat of an unknown) made it damn near impossible to study...or even concentrate in class. Yep, I took heat for that too.

School just wasn't very interesting for me. After I'd taught myself to read, having to deal with Dick, Jane, and Spot...was a bit annoying. Plus from then on, most of the material tended to repeat itself. Didn't help either that I tended to do a lot of reading.

[fireheart17]

More necrobumping, especially to add some information that I've picked up from various sources (also studying Special needs)

2.) She can talk. Not all Autistic people are mute. There are all forms of communication that Autistic people can use. The most prevelant are PECS which help children communicate quite effectively. After a year of using these Child Rum literally woke up one morning and started talking exactly 1 week before her 4th birthday.

I've heard of PECS, another one I've heard of is Makaton, which involves a combination of hand signs, pictures and some speech (IIRC). It can be taught to most people with intellectual disabilites too.

People have some serious preconceived notions about things like Autism, various learning disabilities, dyslexia, dyscalculia, etc. I wish I had a nickle for every time I've heard "You have a LEARNING disability? But....but...you seem so...smart!!!"

As if any sort of cognitive dysfunction automatically means you have a low IQ. Makes me absolutley cringe.

My tutor for the topic on literacy difficulties did explain to us very early on that you could actually be gifted and have a learning disorder. Then we looked at the different types of "literacy" disorders. Specifically, dyslexia refers to reading, dysgraphia refers to writing and dysorthographia refers to spelling. I'm working with a student at the moment who appears to have a combination of the reading and spelling difficulties. (her reading is getting much better)

Holy crap. I just looked it up, based on your post here. Dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia are all on the Autism spectrum. I did not know that.

That is very, very interesting. I got to learn more about that.


It actually kind of annoys me that I didn't know that.

Admittedly that is one thing we WEREN'T told at uni.

Please excuse my ignorance here, but is one able to be diagnoses with Autism in their adult years, or is thing something that is always diagnosed in childhood? Just curious.

I've never heard the autism only happens to boys thing...that just seems foolish to say.

I've heard of both autism AND ADHD being diagnosed in adulthood. In fact, one of my classmates (who is now 21/22) was diagnosed when she was 18.

I am an assistant Beaver Scout Leader (I know this varies around the world, we have boys and girls age 6 - 8).

For those in Australia, while the minimum age is 5, we call that "Joeys". (we then go Cubs, Scouts, Venturers and Rovers-my sister is the latter)

Depression does go away for many people. There are drugs available that do effectively cure depression in episodic sufferers. Depression is not always a chronic condition.

It seems to be chronic for you, though, and that sucks. I'm sorry you haven't found any medications that work for you.

It's more episodic than chronic.

Me too. I've also felt phantom limbs (usually tail and ears). That's aura-manipulation; the book I mentioned covers it in a fair amount of detail (once when I was consciously doing it on the train, one person looked at me and did a doubletake...hmm). I'll often start walking on the balls (pads) of my feet...I've been told that's an autism "trait"

I've sometimes had this sensation of "wings" across my back...usually around my shoulder blades.

Dreamstalker - walking on the balls of the feet is a common trait among autistic people. My daughter does it constantly. I was talking to the mother of another autistic child who was in the same summer speech camp as Child Rum & she got her son shoe weights to help him learn how to walk "normally" on his feet.

I also believe it's listed as one of the "symptoms" or "things to look for" in determining if your child is autistic.

It is. I also did the "walking on your tiptoes" thing when I was a kid, from aroud the time I started at Kindy (age 4), to when I finished reception (age six. Long story short, in my state, if you started primary school in any other term apart from Term 1, you did 1-3 terms of Reception in your first year, before repeating reception for a full year, THEN moving up to year 1)

Mum of course freaked, had me evaluated for autism. It wasn't until year 1 that we determined that I was actually gifted and talented.

My last IQ test (when I was 14) showed my IQ at around 135.

As it turned out, my social skills WERE delayed, but I wasn't showing any other signs of autism or Aspergers at all. Since that last assessment my social skills improved steadily. Kids love me.

[violetyoshi]

I'd think that it would be relatively easy to distinguish between a birthmark and a bruise by looking at it...but as we all know most people don't actually look.

We also know most people tend to react, before thinking or looking. I think she did the best she could, under a difficult situation.

[violetyoshi]

Well, with the "I'm not rude, hyper, or spoiled, I'm autistic", the basic assumptions (which I've heard "whispered" behind me) is that my daughter (when obsessing about a toy/game/candy bar/whatever) must be used to getting her own way or she wouldn't act like it. So it's really to put the whisperers into their place.

Yup, I hate those whisperers. It's like, I want to say, "Get your own damn life, and stay out of mine! Please?"

[Dreamstalker]

I once saw in a magazine a baby that had a birthmark on her face that looked like a bruise and her mother had gotten her clothes that had "It's a birthmark" cuz of strangers thinking that she'd hit her child.

I'd think that it would be relatively easy to distinguish between a birthmark and a bruise by looking at it...but as we all know most people don't actually look.

I know one or two people who seem to use their Aspergers as a free pass to act like dicks (I think I've posted about them at some point)

My acting experience is limited to small high school productions and a few untitled Ghostbusters fan films that never made it to postproduction for various reasons. My nature as a geek and tinkerer prefers behind the scenes anyway.

[Hyena Dandy]

The few injuries I sustained in my stage career tended to be general stupidity (somebody ignoring the fact that I was working at floor level and kicking an unsecured 2x4 which then hit me in the head, for example).

As far as stageness goes, I prefer to act. I'm a born thespian.


And sometimes I find myself walking on the balls of my feet when I need to get somewhere very fast. Or when climbing stairs.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once saw in a magazine a baby that had a birthmark on her face that looked like a bruise and her mother had gotten her clothes that had "It's a birthmark" cuz of strangers thinking that she'd hit her child. Sounds like a good idea.

[IDrinkaRum]

Well, with the "I'm not rude, hyper, or spoiled, I'm autistic", the basic assumptions (which I've heard "whispered" behind me) is that my daughter (when obsessing about a toy/game/candy bar/whatever) must be used to getting her own way or she wouldn't act like it. So it's really to put the whisperers into their place.

[violetyoshi]

Either those or I found one that reads: "I'm not spoiled, rude, or hyper, I'm autistic" and "Autistic Princess".

Autistic Princess sounds cute. I mean, I don't know if I'm missing something insinuated by the shirt, like if it's sarcastic somehow, without seeing it.

[Dreamstalker]

Uh, yeah, I was eventually consigned to costume/prop strike only in undergrad.

The ex--this is in the college theater dept--was banished to painting duty (I recall the TD's exact words: "If I see you driving anything more complex than a paintbrush for the rest of the year, you're out.") after a few incidents--one involving the table saw From what I heard, nobody actually got hurt, but he tried to be "helpful" by pulling the wood through from the side--that could have gotten ugly. Before that he stapled my shoe to a flat, and there was an incident with the genie lift that according to all accounts involved him trying to use it to transport counterweights (Bad Idea).

Worst thing I did in high school was almost give myself a concussion on the catwalk (there was an a/c duct cutting across the catwalk so one had to crawl under, I somehow forgot it was there while I was under the damn thing)