good eye contact

[ttatina]

my son has all of the characteristics of autism,my son did not have no eye contact until he turned around 1 1/2 now being 2 1/2 he has perfect eye contact,.his neurologist diagnosed him with global developmental delay,,just because he has good eye contact now can that rule out autism because thats what i feel he bases his diagnosis on.who can i go to to get a second opinion other than a neurologist?

[timmysmom2005]

My son is autistic and he has perfect eye contact and is very affectionate. This surprises a lot of people because it's not "typical" of a child on the spectrum but he is definitely autistic. As far as doctors, a lot of parents I have met go to what is called a "DAN" doctor. (defeat autism now dr.) They are well informed and open minded. Good Luck!

[Sally44]

I don't think going on eye contact alone is a good way of ruling autism in or out.  Some children and adults can have appropriate eye contact.  I think you need to ask for a multi disciplinary team assessment by professionals who have experience of diagnosing autistic spectrum disorders.  That would involve assessments and observations at home and nursery over a long period of time.

[888mom]

Oh, the other things that were why our daughter was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) besides the ritualistic behavior, sensory issues, and delayed language were some other things that are usually what doctors call "red flags" for autism.  She flapped her arms (she still does but only when upset or really excited), walked on her tiptoes (she outgrew that one by 2 1/2), lined up her toys, was obsessed with stacking (she still likes to line things up but the stacking has ceased almost entirely), at age 2 she couldn't point nor follow your finger to something you were pointing at, at age 2 she didn't respond to any language and didn't even recognize her name.  The way she was starting to learn language as it came in was very ritualistic... having set phrases to say things.  At age 2 and 10 months, when she was diagnosed at the last appointment with the doctor in the other state... she had fallen down and she said "Are you okay?"  That's what she hears everytime she falls down so she thinks that's what you are supposed to say when you fall down... even if it's to yourself.  She didn't know what the meaning of the phrase meant, only that you said it when you or someone fell down.  The way she has learned language and continues to do so, is different than how most kids learn language.  It's how her brain works.  She's learning to speak and slowly learning that the separate words mean different things.  

I don't know that much about global developmental delay.  I know it was ruled out with our daughter because although she's been behind on many things, such as the speech and she was a late walker (16 months) and late crawler (12 months)... well, she is ahead of the game in other areas.  When her receptive language started coming in at about age 2 years and 2 months, the first things she learned was her alphabet and her numbers and colors.  By like 2 years and 3 months she had the whole alphabet down, all the colors, all the numbers.  She was shape and color sorting with toys that her 3 year old cousin was not able to do.  She was doing puzzles that kids over a year older than her would not be able to do or would struggle with.  She is still way ahead in those areas.  Usually with PDD, where there are areas of delay, there are also areas of being ahead in development.  At age 3 1/2, she's already learning to read, for example.  She types her own name on the computer which she's been doing for many months now.  She knows the order of the letters on the keyboard as well as the order they come alphabetically.  I restrict her computer usage pretty severely, like only once per week and only for a half hour, and even in this short time, she picked up things so quickly.  

I guess 2 1/2 might be on the young side to get an accurate diagnosis... but again, just so long as your child is getting therapy to help him with his issues that he needs to work on, that is the important thing.

[888mom]

My daughter had poor eye contact until she started sensory integration therapy at age 2.  Or maybe she just "grew out of it" ... but probably not since we saw the eye contact get better within a couple weeks of therapy starting.  At age 3 1/2, people say her eye contact is excellent.  It's not perfect, but hey, within normal limits.  

The specialist we saw was a developmental pediatrician.  They take in account for the whole history.  Our daughter had the diagnosis of PDD which she got when she was almost 3 (2 years and 10 months) because of her ritualistic behaviors, sensory issues, delayed language, and differences in social communication (she is very social but does not understand social cueing or social interaction but she is social in that she seeks out other people, probably to the other extreme and not knowing how to interact other than hugging or smiling at them).  The doc said was too early to differentiate between autism and PDD-NOS but felt that she fit the NOS (not otherwise specified) category because her "symptoms" and "characteristics" were less severe than someone with typical autism.

Does your son have ritualistic behavior?  Stuff that would appear a bit OCD like?  Our daughter started developing rituals around 2 1/2 and it's been getting kind of bad at age 3 1/2.  She doesn't transition well (no 3 year old does, but for her it's harder) and she likes doing something the same way every time.  Does your son have sensory issues?  Doesn't like to be touched or craves touching?  Or has issues with hearing, smell, touch, or sight?  Everyone has different sensory processing issues, but I guess the key is when the issues become so much that it impacts your daily life and makes you inable to interact with the world or makes you shut down... that would be a sensory processing disorder type of deal...  (Keep in mind I am not a professional doctor or medical person, so this is like my take/translation on how this got explained to me.)

And maybe my daughter's diagnosis is not accurate.  Maybe she has global developmental delay instead of PDD.  But, the important thing is that our kids get the therapy they need to solve the language delays, the sensory issues, the delays in motor skills, that sort of thing.  A developmental pediatrician can help parents deal with some of the behavioral issues that arise.  The one we saw had a team of therapists who did a 1 1/2 to 2 hour assessment and then he saw our daughter and us for 45 minutes to an hour.  That was the first visit.  We had subsequent follow up visits every couple months until we moved.  I think we're going to have to find another doctor up here... either the developmental pediatrician or a child psychiatrist... dealing with the behavioral issues that arise with sensory processing disorder/problems and ritualistic behavior and problems transitioning... well, you can't be parents who just let your kid do whatever they want because they are goign to have a meltdown... and figuring out the difference between a meltdown from sensory reasons or OCD-like reasons and a tantrum that is more typical of a 2 or 3 year old... well, it's hard sometimes to figure out what the tantrum is from.  Sometimes our daughter just wants her own way, like any normal 3 year old.  And sometimes we just don't know why on earth she's pitching a fit because she's added some ritual or routine into her day or activity that we were doing that we hadn't figured out yet... well, it can be hard to parent sometimes.  Add to that we have a daughter who is amazingly brilliant at things yet can't talk very well... that must be frustrating for a lot of our kiddoes.  I'd probably be pitching a fit, too, if no one could understand what I wanted.