Help me!

[Brook423]

My son is 5 years he is not very social he gets really goofy around other kids, he can't really talk he says some words but I'm about the only one that can understand him. The only medical condition he has is a heart murmur, they told us just to keep an eye on him, he loves and I mean loves to play with strings and fuzz from stuff animals, he is usually calm though when he gets a temper, it's really bad. I don't know many kids with autism but I truly feel that he has it, we have done speech therapy and it did no help, we live in Florida he stays really pale and has always had dark circles under his eyes I'm not sure what else to say but if any one has any questions or may know what we should do to get him the help he needs PLEASE tell/ ask me

[Jason C Bourret, Ph.D., BCBA-D]

Given your concerns, I recommend having your son assessed by a professional with experience diagnosing autism-spectrum disorders.  Your pediatrician should be able to recommend someone in your area.  Regardless of diagnosis, absolutely continue to pursue services to help your son with his speech and his temper.  Help exists for the issues that you are describing, you just have to keep looking until you find a therapist and behavior analyst who you work well with.

[lovemyzander]

My son is 4years old and has autism... he is just know starting to talk some words that we can understand... try calling your public school system to see if they have any programs that might be able to help, they may have some info that they can give you... also talk to his doctor about getting a referral to see a specialist to get him evaluated for autism... explain what is going on with him and dont leave anything out... you can also go to autismspeaks .com and they have a list of signs that you can look through to see if your child is showing those signs so you can point them out to the doctor...