Intro w/contributing note on hyperlexia

[Guest guest]

Hello,My name is and I am new to this community; so I just wanted to introduce myself. I am a SAHM/part-time uni student. My children are , age 6 (ASD) and Coralie, age 2-1/2 (NT, but a HUGE copycat.) was diagnosed about 1-1/2 ago. I missed a lot of the signals. I knew he was a highly sensitive child. Loud noises would upset him greatly. He didn't really talk. He didn't call me mama until he was almost 2. But, he could point to and name all of the letters lowercase and capital letters and identify the sounds they made before then. He would also spell words out on the refrigerator with magnets to let me know what he would like. At 18 months, he would bring me to the refrigerator and I would

see, c-u-p. Or, s-u-p-e-r-m-a-n (a dvd, he enjoyed.) I think I was just uneducated. My husband was in the army and we were far from home and family. We lived in Alaska and the other mother I spend time with had one child that didn't really talk until almost 4. So, I convinced myself there was nothing to be concerned about. And once did start to speak, his speech was very clear. He did have a very big problem with eye contact, but he was very affectionate - a snuggle bug. And though, I knew he showed a little less empathy than his older cousin had, I thought maybe that was boy-girl difference, or maybe a result of him being an only child. I finally had him evaluated by the specialists in the school district when we left the army and settled back at home. I had noticed that would try to approach other children he would get overexcited and didn't seem to pick up on personal

space issues, and other social cues that the other children his age did. He also had a vocalization tic when he couldn't think of what to say, "ning (rhymes with "ring") uh ning uh ning uh...." He still does the vocalizations. As he got older, he replaced the babble with "excuse me" He might repeat it 10-15 times after he obviously has your attention, while he tries to think of how to say what he wants. He would start to get frustrated with himself and bang his head against the floor or hit himself repeatedly. All of this resulted in his isolation, and he had no friends. Children his age would even play alongside him at the park. They would run away. The evaluation process took a long time. And during that time, I started doing some research. And by the time they came back with the diagnosis, I wasn't really surprised. He is very high functioning. And I am very

fortunate that we live in a school district that is very savvy about autism spectrum disorders. was identified as special needs and rides a special needs bus that will pick him up directly in front of our house with an aide. He will be graduating from kindergarten on Friday. His kindergarten class had 8 other high functioning children on the spectrum. And they stayed on the regular kindergarten curriculum with extra focus on the social skills that they all needed. By the end of this year, spends only 40% of the school day with his original class and has transitioned to 60% in a regular classroom with the assistance of an aide. When needs extra help adjusting to something off-routine or just loud, he is able to leave with the aide. He will be in a similar program for first grade next year. The teacher from the regular classroom has also identified as one of her brightest

students. And he has actually been ahead of the class the entire year. That will probably remain the case as he continues to read voraciously and has recently begun memorizing his multiplication tables with no guidance from me. Well, that was kind of a long introduction. But, I look forward to getting to know all of you and participating in this discussion/support group.Thanks for reading!

1 of 1 Photo(s)

[Guest guest]

Welcome! And what a great school district. What do you think

accounts for this? Is the school district large? Is the

autism program a self contained program? It sounds like

he will get what he needs.

welcome again!

Pam

Pam

>

> Hello,

>

> My name is and I am new to this community; so I just wanted to

introduce myself. I am a SAHM/part-time uni student. My children are ,

age 6 (ASD) and Coralie, age 2-1/2 (NT, but a HUGE copycat.) was

diagnosed about 1-1/2 ago. I missed a lot of the signals. I knew he was a

highly sensitive child. Loud noises would upset him greatly. He didn't really

talk. He didn't call me mama until he was almost 2. But, he could point to and

name all of the letters lowercase and capital letters and identify the sounds

they made before then. He would also spell words out on the refrigerator with

magnets to let me know what he would like. At 18 months, he would bring me to

the refrigerator and I would see, c-u-p. Or, s-u-p-e-r-m-a-n (a dvd, he

enjoyed.) I think I was just uneducated. My husband was in the army and we

were far from home and family. We lived in Alaska and the other mother I spend

time with had one child that didn't

> really talk until almost 4. So, I convinced myself there was nothing to be

concerned about. And once did start to speak, his speech was very

clear. He did have a very big problem with eye contact, but he was very

affectionate - a snuggle bug. And though, I knew he showed a little less

empathy than his older cousin had, I thought maybe that was boy-girl difference,

or maybe a result of him being an only child.

>

> I finally had him evaluated by the specialists in the school district when we

left the army and settled back at home. I had noticed that would try to

approach other children he would get overexcited and didn't seem to pick up on

personal space issues, and other social cues that the other children his age

did. He also had a vocalization tic when he couldn't think of what to say,

" ning (rhymes with " ring " ) uh ning uh ning uh.... " He still does the

vocalizations. As he got older, he replaced the babble with " excuse me " He

might repeat it 10-15 times after he obviously has your attention, while he

tries to think of how to say what he wants. He would start to get frustrated

with himself and bang his head against the floor or hit himself repeatedly. All

of this resulted in his isolation, and he had no friends. Children his age

would even play alongside him at the park. They would run away. The

evaluation process took a long time. And during

> that time, I started doing some research. And by the time they came back

with the diagnosis, I wasn't really surprised.

>

> He is very high functioning. And I am very fortunate that we live in a school

district that is very savvy about autism spectrum disorders. was

identified as special needs and rides a special needs bus that will pick him up

directly in front of our house with an aide. He will be graduating from

kindergarten on Friday. His kindergarten class had 8 other high functioning

children on the spectrum. And they stayed on the regular kindergarten

curriculum with extra focus on the social skills that they all needed. By the

end of this year, spends only 40% of the school day with his original

class and has transitioned to 60% in a regular classroom with the assistance of

an aide. When needs extra help adjusting to something off-routine or

just loud, he is able to leave with the aide. He will be in a similar program

for first grade next year. The teacher from the regular classroom has also

identified as one of her brightest

> students. And he has actually been ahead of the class the entire year. That

will probably remain the case as he continues to read voraciously and has

recently begun memorizing his multiplication tables with no guidance from me.

>

> Well, that was kind of a long introduction. But, I look forward to getting to

know all of you and participating in this discussion/support group.

>

> Thanks for reading!

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Welcome ,

Please see our other thread on this, there're a lot of us here!

/message/143377

My ds is a lot like . He's the first and only child. He has an issue with

loud, sharp noises, and reads and writes a lot. He's been in the school

district's ASD program and has had a lot of progress. Now he understands he can

have a process to deal with the noises (cover his ears, tell others to turn the

volume down, etc).

I heard great things about social stories, which can take advantage of the kids'

passion in reading to help them learn/regulate their behaviors and social rules.

We're starting to try it.

We also now do a lot of questioning to induce/encourage him to talk, not just

the nouns but about what happened to it, how, why, etc. Like if he drew a

picture and showed it to me, I'd ask, " what's in the picture, what's he holding,

what is he doing with it, wow he's dancing, did his friends like it? was it fun?

etc etc " . I think when he was 2 and not so verbal, a lot of times we said things

for him so he didn't have to work hard. Now we're correcting that and ask him to

talk all the time.

[Guest guest]

I agree with what you say about social stories. It's kind of remarkable actually. seems to have excellent comprehension. He seems to understand author and character intention much more clearly than that of his peers. But, once he has read a story, he has been able to connect that better in social situations. I guess it has helped his empathy?Also regarding michael's noise sensitivity, I think I can relate more to the sharp, loud noises. But, even has problems with some people's speaking voices, or singing. Yet, he is very musically inclined? I'm not sure if this is something you've had any experience with?From: april_qian <april_qian@...> Sent: Wed, June 2, 2010 4:16:46 PMSubject: ( ) Re: Intro w/contributing note on hyperlexia

Welcome ,

Please see our other thread on this, there're a lot of us here! /message/143377

My ds is a lot like . He's the first and only child. He has an issue with loud, sharp noises, and reads and writes a lot. He's been in the school district's ASD program and has had a lot of progress. Now he understands he can have a process to deal with the noises (cover his ears, tell others to turn the volume down, etc).

I heard great things about social stories, which can take advantage of the kids' passion in reading to help them learn/regulate their behaviors and social rules. We're starting to try it.

We also now do a lot of questioning to induce/encourage him to talk, not just the nouns but about what happened to it, how, why, etc. Like if he drew a picture and showed it to me, I'd ask, "what's in the picture, what's he holding, what is he doing with it, wow he's dancing, did his friends like it? was it fun? etc etc". I think when he was 2 and not so verbal, a lot of times we said things for him so he didn't have to work hard. Now we're correcting that and ask him to talk all the time.