Aa
My Granddaughter
Hi everyone i am new here. I came across your forum this morning and saw several posts about autisum. My granddaughter started showing signs of delayed development at 1 1/2 . befor then she was quite normal. said momma... staarted potty training..ect... Then something happend when my daughter moved to indiana.. all of a sudden she quit talking.. withdrew.. this last may my daughter moved in with me with my granddaughter and my first signs of sometihng wrong was when i tried to talkto her she acted like she couldnt hear me.. even if i clapped loud .. shes 3 now and cannot talk..she babbles loudly all the time. eats only chicken nuggets,, french fries.. fish sticks.. fried chicken and cereal like captain crunch. she organizes things in her room or in my room.. shoes.. books.. shes very adept to getting everyting perfect.. and she does a super job. she likes movies.. she will watch barney tapes for hours and when its over she gets upset.. puts her hands over her ears and crys.. she doesnt like noise.. loud commotion bothers her.say if my husban andi argue .. she will instantly start to cry.
My daughter took her to the Mason Clinic in chicago. where they ran all kinds of tests on her.. an entire team worked with her and diagnosed her with contingental autisum. they said at her age if she was worked with ... and cntinued early intervention that she would come out of it......
she still isnt talking. that is one of my greatest fears. and i dont know what i can do to work with her while shes at myhouse every day. i want to help her to talk. so she can communicate with me. i realize shes only 3 and maybe i am impatient. but i love her to death and i only want whats best for her. any suggestions?
My daughter took her to the Mason Clinic in chicago. where they ran all kinds of tests on her.. an entire team worked with her and diagnosed her with contingental autisum. they said at her age if she was worked with ... and cntinued early intervention that she would come out of it......
she still isnt talking. that is one of my greatest fears. and i dont know what i can do to work with her while shes at myhouse every day. i want to help her to talk. so she can communicate with me. i realize shes only 3 and maybe i am impatient. but i love her to death and i only want whats best for her. any suggestions?
P.S. Just thought of other thing to say... Don't worry. Einstein was a late talker himself. He didn't say his first word until he was over 3. Many people say he was autistic. Musicians. Artists. Engineers. Mathematicians. Lots of them out there who have been (deceased) or are autistic. Even a couple actors. So, diagnosis doesn't mean your granddaughter won't be capable of great things in life. You just need patience, perserverance, and a lot of family and friends to help your granddaughter on her way in life, and focusing on the things your granddaughter is really good at. And no, I'm not an expert (just really verbose and babbly), just relaying what everyone else has told me over the last few months. Am goign on this journey with most of the people on the forum. Is nice there are a couple autistic adults on the forum. They are experts and amazingly smart and write so well. I am in no way worried about my daughter... just have to focus on the therapy and the schools and stuff. But have learned that worry is just silly and senseless.
maybe there's something in the water in indiana? that's where i live... so um, that was sort of a joke but i guess shouldn't joke about water supplies...
My daughter is delayed speaking. I have learned from other people's advice and then following it, that you have to learn to communicate how the child can and does. My daughter communicates so subtley even the few words she does say, she whispers them or just mouths them without sound coming out sometimes. But, other ways to communicate are sign language and PECS (a picture exchange system). My daughter is learning sign language and has been successful, so we haven't tried PECS since she's doing so well at sign language. Also, have found she does say some words but they don't sound like words. For example, shu shu means music. I acknowledge what she said and say "yes, what beautiful music" so that aknowledges what she was saying and also correcting her at the same time without sounding discouraging. I have to keep a notebook. It gets hard. But, whatever way your granddaughter is trying to communicate, you'll have to adapt to her abilities. With early intervention, she should learn how to talk, and if she can't talk, she'll at least learn how to communicate with sign language or PECs or something. She sounds so smart, organizing everything. You should be proud of her accomplishments. My daughter knows her alphabet, for example. She can't say the words, but if I ask her to point to P, she points to the P. She also knows how to recognize certain words from brand labels and names on titles, like the word baby that appears on the cover of her Baby Einstein videos and the Target symbol that's on Target stores (she gets excited since it's familiar). So, even if your granddaughter is speaking late, it is possible she can learn to read before she learns to speak. And babbling is a very good sign. Kids have to babble before they talk.
You may want to hint to your daughter not to let your granddaughter watch so many hours of Barney. My daughter would watch hours of DVDs if I let her, but I cut her off at 45 minutes. Her therapists think 45 minutes is still a high amount and want me to limit it to 30 minutes. They say the more time she is in front of tv means less time of social communication with me or other people. It's also a sensory overload that just sucks those kids in. My daughter throws a fit when we turn it off after 30 to 45 minutes, but she'd also throw a fit if it were longer. It's hard some days to play with her for long stretches (she has trouble entertaining herself because she doesn't know how to use imagination very well), but it's worth it in the end to spend more time with her and less with the TV.
A book I got was a book about Dr. Greenspan's floortime method of how to play and interact with autistic kids. I think the title is Engaging Autism. He's got several other books out about the same topic. And our therapists have been immense sources of help. You shoudl be able to qualify for therapy through the public school system for free. Or some sort of developmental preschool through the public school system (also some private preschools have developmental preschools, like in our area two Christian churches have private developmental preschools but you have to pay for them). You have to fight to get this stuff. And the school system has to assess the child, but having a diagnosis does help.
Oh, and I found the most important thing that has helped my daughter's speech progress is her sensory integration therapy. If your granddaughter has sensory issues, ask about sensory integration therapy and make sure whatever therapists she has are addressing the sensory issues. For my daughter we use a brushing technique and then a joint compression thing every 2 hours. Within 2 weeks, she went from not responding to her name or language to responding to her name about half the time. Now I think it's more like 75% of the time she responds to her name and what we say. Her sensory issues are still there, but they are less. She doesn't scream bloody murder when we wash her hair anymore and doesn't freak out when we brush her teeth or wash her hands. Another tool was sensory stimulation, figuring out what senses she liked. So we bounce her on a ball several times a day. Seems to make her happy and ready to function with other things after she's done. And she has a sensory vest. We got her the pressure one (there are also weighted vests). The pressure vest is the equivalent of giving her a constant hug without touching her. So if she's upset about something, we put the sensory vest on her and she calms down. If I'm going to take her to a store we usually don't go to, her senses can get overstimulated so I put the vest on her before we go and she usually doesn't have a melt down if she has the vest on. There's also a weighted vest which works better on other kids with sensory issues.
The diet thing, I don't know what to tell you. My daughter won't eat much except hotdogs, homemade chicken soup or homemade other soups, Gerber brand veggie and fruit puffs, baby oatmeal with baby food fruit mixed in, baby food, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, and pizza. Oh, she also likes spicy thai noodles. She used to like mac and cheese and pot pies but has recently stopped eating those. I found out her cousin who is 7 only has like 7 items he eats. He isn't autistic or have any other issues. He is just a really picky picky eater. So, when we go to visit them, at least we don't have to worry about explaining what our daughter will and won't eat and why she's so picky cuz they have to deal with it themselves. All I can say is... multivitamins... my daughter loves the Flintstone brand ones.
My daughter is delayed speaking. I have learned from other people's advice and then following it, that you have to learn to communicate how the child can and does. My daughter communicates so subtley even the few words she does say, she whispers them or just mouths them without sound coming out sometimes. But, other ways to communicate are sign language and PECS (a picture exchange system). My daughter is learning sign language and has been successful, so we haven't tried PECS since she's doing so well at sign language. Also, have found she does say some words but they don't sound like words. For example, shu shu means music. I acknowledge what she said and say "yes, what beautiful music" so that aknowledges what she was saying and also correcting her at the same time without sounding discouraging. I have to keep a notebook. It gets hard. But, whatever way your granddaughter is trying to communicate, you'll have to adapt to her abilities. With early intervention, she should learn how to talk, and if she can't talk, she'll at least learn how to communicate with sign language or PECs or something. She sounds so smart, organizing everything. You should be proud of her accomplishments. My daughter knows her alphabet, for example. She can't say the words, but if I ask her to point to P, she points to the P. She also knows how to recognize certain words from brand labels and names on titles, like the word baby that appears on the cover of her Baby Einstein videos and the Target symbol that's on Target stores (she gets excited since it's familiar). So, even if your granddaughter is speaking late, it is possible she can learn to read before she learns to speak. And babbling is a very good sign. Kids have to babble before they talk.
You may want to hint to your daughter not to let your granddaughter watch so many hours of Barney. My daughter would watch hours of DVDs if I let her, but I cut her off at 45 minutes. Her therapists think 45 minutes is still a high amount and want me to limit it to 30 minutes. They say the more time she is in front of tv means less time of social communication with me or other people. It's also a sensory overload that just sucks those kids in. My daughter throws a fit when we turn it off after 30 to 45 minutes, but she'd also throw a fit if it were longer. It's hard some days to play with her for long stretches (she has trouble entertaining herself because she doesn't know how to use imagination very well), but it's worth it in the end to spend more time with her and less with the TV.
A book I got was a book about Dr. Greenspan's floortime method of how to play and interact with autistic kids. I think the title is Engaging Autism. He's got several other books out about the same topic. And our therapists have been immense sources of help. You shoudl be able to qualify for therapy through the public school system for free. Or some sort of developmental preschool through the public school system (also some private preschools have developmental preschools, like in our area two Christian churches have private developmental preschools but you have to pay for them). You have to fight to get this stuff. And the school system has to assess the child, but having a diagnosis does help.
Oh, and I found the most important thing that has helped my daughter's speech progress is her sensory integration therapy. If your granddaughter has sensory issues, ask about sensory integration therapy and make sure whatever therapists she has are addressing the sensory issues. For my daughter we use a brushing technique and then a joint compression thing every 2 hours. Within 2 weeks, she went from not responding to her name or language to responding to her name about half the time. Now I think it's more like 75% of the time she responds to her name and what we say. Her sensory issues are still there, but they are less. She doesn't scream bloody murder when we wash her hair anymore and doesn't freak out when we brush her teeth or wash her hands. Another tool was sensory stimulation, figuring out what senses she liked. So we bounce her on a ball several times a day. Seems to make her happy and ready to function with other things after she's done. And she has a sensory vest. We got her the pressure one (there are also weighted vests). The pressure vest is the equivalent of giving her a constant hug without touching her. So if she's upset about something, we put the sensory vest on her and she calms down. If I'm going to take her to a store we usually don't go to, her senses can get overstimulated so I put the vest on her before we go and she usually doesn't have a melt down if she has the vest on. There's also a weighted vest which works better on other kids with sensory issues.
The diet thing, I don't know what to tell you. My daughter won't eat much except hotdogs, homemade chicken soup or homemade other soups, Gerber brand veggie and fruit puffs, baby oatmeal with baby food fruit mixed in, baby food, corn, peas, sweet potatoes, and pizza. Oh, she also likes spicy thai noodles. She used to like mac and cheese and pot pies but has recently stopped eating those. I found out her cousin who is 7 only has like 7 items he eats. He isn't autistic or have any other issues. He is just a really picky picky eater. So, when we go to visit them, at least we don't have to worry about explaining what our daughter will and won't eat and why she's so picky cuz they have to deal with it themselves. All I can say is... multivitamins... my daughter loves the Flintstone brand ones.
Cool it looks like my dad is already online and replied while I was typing my message.
I'm sure my dad can give you good pointers on what programs to look for. I think speech therapy is one that I was put through.
Not every autistic will be able to speak, but I believe many do understand language and some even speak in full sentences. The problem is the spoken sentence does not leave the head.
At least that's how I remember it when I was 2-3 years old. I could recognize words and have an idea what my parents were talking about. Sometimes I replied, at least how I remember, but likely I just thought or moved my mouth instead of actually speaking.
If this is the case with your granddaughter and she thinks in words, then the challenge is to get those words out. I don't remember how I learned to talk so I can't say.
My grandma recalled testing to see if I understood language before talking. I ignored just about everything she said until she said, "I have some cookies, would you like one?" Instantly I came running. I understood language, but I couldn't reciprocate. I think working on using words to identify certain objects is a good idea. That way she can link the word to the object. Perhaps you can ask her to get [insert item here] and do [insert whatever]. Starting off with something enjoyable may help. She may not reply even if she does what you say, but at least you know understanding language is not the main difficulty, it is how to use that language that’s the challenge. I believe it is as frustrating to the autistic as it is to the parents to not be able to communicate the words or pictures inside their head.
I remember when I broke my crib; I knew my parents were talking about getting a new bed. It was a heated discussion too if I remember. I recognized that meant the broken crib was going away and being replaced with something else. I thought I spoke something like, “I don’t want a new bed! I like it this way!” and I even tried to climb onto the mattress thinking something in line with “See? See? Easier!” My parents didn’t respond because after all the words did not leave my head, even though I was sure I talked.
Not every autistic will be able to speak, but I believe many do understand language and some even speak in full sentences. The problem is the spoken sentence does not leave the head.
At least that's how I remember it when I was 2-3 years old. I could recognize words and have an idea what my parents were talking about. Sometimes I replied, at least how I remember, but likely I just thought or moved my mouth instead of actually speaking.
If this is the case with your granddaughter and she thinks in words, then the challenge is to get those words out. I don't remember how I learned to talk so I can't say.
My grandma recalled testing to see if I understood language before talking. I ignored just about everything she said until she said, "I have some cookies, would you like one?" Instantly I came running. I understood language, but I couldn't reciprocate. I think working on using words to identify certain objects is a good idea. That way she can link the word to the object. Perhaps you can ask her to get [insert item here] and do [insert whatever]. Starting off with something enjoyable may help. She may not reply even if she does what you say, but at least you know understanding language is not the main difficulty, it is how to use that language that’s the challenge. I believe it is as frustrating to the autistic as it is to the parents to not be able to communicate the words or pictures inside their head.
I remember when I broke my crib; I knew my parents were talking about getting a new bed. It was a heated discussion too if I remember. I recognized that meant the broken crib was going away and being replaced with something else. I thought I spoke something like, “I don’t want a new bed! I like it this way!” and I even tried to climb onto the mattress thinking something in line with “See? See? Easier!” My parents didn’t respond because after all the words did not leave my head, even though I was sure I talked.
Is she in an early intervention program? If not, work at getting a referal ASAP. Autism is never "come out of." What does happen is that she will learn to adapt.
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