My 7 year old son is a 1st grader and was recently given this diagnosis. The doctor said has she seen him earlier she would have labeled him autistic. I've known all along that he fell somewhere in the spectrum. He started speech therapy at age 2. It was his speech therapist that noticed his sensory integration dysfunction. His only diagnosis until recently was communication disorder because that qualified him for the services he needed until now. He has made a lot of progress in therapy. Two months ago we started him on Zoloft 25 mg for his anxiety. He is just out of sync with his body. He still has great difficulty putting on his socks and with other fine motor skills. For the longest time I just did things for him because it was easier. It is so hard to see him struggle so much over things I take for granted! The medicine has helped a little with the anxiety. My current frustration is with his school. I was so pleased that he did so well in preschool that they decided he could attend a "regular" kindergarten class. I could tell that he was starting to struggle half way through the year. The teacher assured me he was doing fine and only needed the speech therapy. So at the beginning of first grade this year I expressed my concern with his teacher. I told her that I wanted to let him try to stay in a regular classroom, but was afraid to wait too long because I know it can take forever to get back into special ed. And now that is exactly what has happened! He is falling further and further behind in school and is even having discipline problems. He has never been a discipline problem at school!!! In my state they have 60 days to evaluate him. I went in to sign the authorization for testing and was told there were 11 kids in front of him! Does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do to help him until he is tested? He is having trouble with phonics and is a non reader. He does better with whole word recognition(sp?) He is also struggling with math. My son has a half brother by his dad. He is 12 and has ADD/OCD/ and ODD. He was also tested as mildly mentally handicapped. For awhile I was hoping that my son was going to be better off because we got him help sooner and he was responding better with therapy, but now I am really worried. I am worried that my son could have the same difficulties that his brother has. His brother is a sweet kid and it breaks my heart to see him struggle. Stephanie

We don't take vites transdermally, however, we are pursuing other biomedical interventions like chelation and methylcobalimin transdermally with great success. My son is 8, in 2nd grade, and has improved so dramatically that he has lost his educational diagnosis through the school system, and is on the verge of losing his medical diagnosis as well. (For the record, he was diagnosed at age 2-1/2 as moderate autism.) I would LOVE to share stories with other autie-moms on what has and hasn't worked during this journey! -BJ

My son is going to be 18, May, 2, 2006 and I've not been able to get him to take any pills , if he starts , he'll take them for a day or two , then refuse. He is in high school , he is very smart , but does not test well, I can't see him holding a job. He is also in Boy Scouts and it looks like he could make Eagle , he is cuting it close. I just took him to see if he could work at BS Camp, this summer. Having him in Scouts for 12 years has made him a better person, he would not do anything in school. I've not had him in to see where he is on the AS scale how can I do that? Indiana University is the school around here that is doing alot of study on this I got alot of info from them. Kim

Hi Kristen. I have a 9-year old who is severe, on the low end of the spectrum, and has no language. His name is Sam. Sam has done the poop thing off and on for years. However, I think these past few months we finally got through it. We strongly scold him when he poops outside the br and when he plays in it. Then, because he is so kinesthetic, we give him a cold shower to wash him off. He does NOT like cold--he is a comfort kid. While in the shower we talk to him constantly about appropriate behavior (because we KNOW he understands when he cares to listen). He has gotten the message. He doesn't like those cold showers. Brett 363/230/190

Thanks for all the support Jenna, you were right. The worker called me back the next am after I left a message, and she said she knew after talking with my son that it was probably nothing at all. She went over to my toddler's preschool also to check on him. Luckily, I have a daycare provider who has a lot of special children, has 1 semester untill her PhD in child phsychology, and has worked with social services many times. Today, my 10 year old pushed and hurt my toddler, so I sat him down and had a discussion with him about whether we should call social services, or if things like swats, picking up so that you make eye contact, or even loosing your temper with your little brother really happens in families, and whether or not families should learn to work these things out on their own. I think he got the point. My husband knew within 1/2 hour after our argument how monumentally wrong he was for getting defensive, he was just hurt emotionally. I know most of my child's AS symptoms come from him. The social worker made it a point to let me know spanking is not considered illegal, but I told her, the funny part is, we rarely punish physically. Xbox, tv, timeouts-these always work so much better, and I've always been far more prone to give a little swat than a spank. My toddler just started his tantrums about 2 weeks ago, and I just ride them out-I am adament that no punishment happen during those, I don't feel he's rational, so he's not going to get the point-I just keep telling him the same short explanation for "no" over and over til he calms, and it works. THANKS, THANKS, THANKS......