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As my wife and I have suspected for a while now, it turns out my son Ethan very likely has a less severe type of autism. There were several types of behaviour that made us suspect that there was something not quite right.
-He easily gets fixated on something. He can be sitting watching TV, and if I call his name, he doesn't respond. I can stand right next to him, and say his name very loudly, and it's as if he doesn't hear me. I have to stand in front of him and wave my hands in front of his face to get his attention.
-Rocking/jumping. He does this a lot if he's watching TV, playing video games, or listening to a story.
-Obsessing. We were walking on the beach one day, and he falls, and scrapes his knee. It was nothing, and didn't even draw blood. He started screaming bloody murder, and rubbing his knee. He was rubbing his knee for close to half an hour, before I finally got him to stop. Like all kids, he gets bumps and bruises quite frequently, and for the past couple of months he's been doing this every time.
-Poor attention span. His attention span has always been very short. We enrolled him in soccer last year, and he spent the bulk of his time staring at the clouds and running around waving his arms around. No big deal, that's what 4 year olds are like. Soccer just started again this year, and not only has he not improved, but it seems he has gotten worse. The other kids are starting to get the idea of the game, while my son COMPLETELY ignores the game, and walks around staring off into the distance.
His pediatrician told us that he likely has a form of autism, and ADD, and possibly even OCD. I understand they are all closely related, and often come hand in hand.
Now, other than seeing the movie Rainman, I don't really know much about autism. Every case you see in movies and on TV is much more severe than what we are dealing with. He is actually a very smart kid, is pretty good at math, and reads and writes quite well.
So if anyone has any insight or experience with autism, I'd love to hear it.
-He easily gets fixated on something. He can be sitting watching TV, and if I call his name, he doesn't respond. I can stand right next to him, and say his name very loudly, and it's as if he doesn't hear me. I have to stand in front of him and wave my hands in front of his face to get his attention.
-Rocking/jumping. He does this a lot if he's watching TV, playing video games, or listening to a story.
-Obsessing. We were walking on the beach one day, and he falls, and scrapes his knee. It was nothing, and didn't even draw blood. He started screaming bloody murder, and rubbing his knee. He was rubbing his knee for close to half an hour, before I finally got him to stop. Like all kids, he gets bumps and bruises quite frequently, and for the past couple of months he's been doing this every time.
-Poor attention span. His attention span has always been very short. We enrolled him in soccer last year, and he spent the bulk of his time staring at the clouds and running around waving his arms around. No big deal, that's what 4 year olds are like. Soccer just started again this year, and not only has he not improved, but it seems he has gotten worse. The other kids are starting to get the idea of the game, while my son COMPLETELY ignores the game, and walks around staring off into the distance.
His pediatrician told us that he likely has a form of autism, and ADD, and possibly even OCD. I understand they are all closely related, and often come hand in hand.
Now, other than seeing the movie Rainman, I don't really know much about autism. Every case you see in movies and on TV is much more severe than what we are dealing with. He is actually a very smart kid, is pretty good at math, and reads and writes quite well.
So if anyone has any insight or experience with autism, I'd love to hear it.
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