is this autism?

i have a four year eight month old boy who has been diagnosed with autism ..i dont understand this diagnosis because he is verbal. they say theres poor eye contact, butr he responds to questions. he is developmentally delayed.... does not use potty at all. has difficulty with transition, speech is not always understandable,  his fine motor and visual motor skills are delayed by 2 years.  he does no self help skills and tantrums severely. hes been bakeracted three times due to these violent episodes. he threw a butcher knife at his nurse cuz she was ignoring him. he is so absorbed in cartoon charachters ,he acts out all the characters of interest. he does seem to display sensory intergration...loud music ,a fan, water running, etc..he starts hitting himself in the head. he headbutts,and seems to have a very high pain tolerance...please let me know what your views on this are.     thankyou.....christine

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Christine,

You certainly have your hands full with a child who presents with so many difficult behaviors. He likely does display a condition somewhere on the Pervasive Developmental Disorder spectrum. The condition may not meet the criteria for Autistic D/O, but that really isn't the main issue. He's pretty clearly on that spectrum somewhere.

[Kyle's Mom]

Try going to autism.com.  There are links to other related disorders as well and maybe you can read up on them and see where he fits in.

Try reading "Special Diets for Special Kids" by Lisa Lewis and the books by Karen Seroussi.  Diet is an integral part of the puzzle for kids with autism and Aspergers (as well as my 5 yr old son's problem - ADHD).  Try seeing if he is better or worse with whatever he eats.

My son has poor fine motor skills when it comes to writing but can put a 250 piece Lego set together as slick as you please.  He has problems with loud noises, food textures, tags in clothes, can't stand the feel of grass on his bare feet, and hates to get his hands dirty.

My son was having extreme tantrums with hitting, scratching, kicking, throwing things. Anything and everything got him upset last year. He would hit himself and said he wanted to die.  AFter getting on the Internet and finding out what was working for other parents, we eliminated artificial dyes, flavors, and preservatives from his diet.  No Kool-Aid, Jello, and 99% of candy.  We read labels like a hawk and I cook everything from scratch.  We limit sugar, dairy, sodas, juices (watch these because a lot of them have artificial dyes and sugar is their main ingredient).  We also added essential fatty acids to his diet (Omega-3 and Omega-6).  Two weeks after doing both of these things we saw improvement.  The tantrums stopped and he began verbalizing his anger, obeyed (a miracle!) and began apologizing for his behavior.  "I'm sorry" finally entered his vocabulary.  H

With autism the key seems to be gluten, wheat and dairy products.  That is why you should read the books I mentioned above. One of the best things you could do is find a good autism message board and get support and advice.

[DENISE]

Have you looked into CAPD? That's central auditory processing disorder. An inability to communicate properly caused these sorts of problems in my son. Please visit:
www.geocities.com/denisev2/