I was just watching The View, and the entire show today is dedicated to Autism. My daughter is 7 and has some behaviors that are symptoms of Autism. These symptoms I have just disregarded as normal childhood behavior, and never mentioned them to her doctor. The symptoms she exhibits are difficulty interacting socially. Some sounds seem to really bother her and have for as long as I can remember, she use to just scream and cry and cover her ears because of sirens or loud bells. She still covers her ears but no longer screams and cries. Then there are certain things that seem to really bother her on a level that I can not comprehend. An example would be, I had to move pillows and stuffed animals on her bed in order to reach something, I put them back as they were (or so I thought) but she flipped out. Screamed and cried and spent a very long time arranging them (crying the entire time) and I was not able to tell the difference between how I had them arranged and how she did.
2007-01-29 04:05:08 · 6 answers · asked by The Pig! 5 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Other - Diseases
She is very well behaved in school and follows all instructions and rules without even a warning. She is very bright and brings home almost perfect report cards but it is only the things I spoke of earlier that seem to be the problems. Am I just overacting or could there actually be a problem here?
2007-01-29 04:07:27 · update #1
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has crossed my mind before. Another thing that she does is "collects" She collects everything. She doesn't want to throw anything away. Nothing! I have to beg her to throw away candy bar wrappers and just other junk she has stored in her room. She saves it all because she says she will use it for something someday. She doesn't want to get rid of any of her toys and even still has toys from infancy. Occasionally I will go through her room and either throw away things or just put them in storage if I haven't seen her play with them in quite a while. She will notice that they are gone even if she hadn't played with that particular item in 6 months. She knows where everything is all of the time. Even things that are not hers. When someone in the house misplaces something she is the one we ask because we all know she knows where it is at. It seems as if she keeps a mental inventory of our entire house.
2007-01-29 04:38:03 · update #2
It's very possible, and happens all the time. Your regular dr. isn't qualified to dx autism, so it's not uncommon for them to not see it. Besides, they only see your daughter for 10 min. average per visit. If you're concerned, and what you said you have reason for concern, call your local university hospital and ask if they do testing for autism, and if not who does in your area. Contact me if you'd like, my 4 yr old son is autistic, and I babysit a 2 yr old that is autistic, and I do my own therapy with them. Girls especially are often not caught, as they 'typically' are more mild, although there are exceptions.
2007-01-30 16:17:05 · answer #1 · answered by Angie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many professions believe autism (or the likelihood of developing autism) is not inherited by one, or even two genes but maybe 5 or many more. If this is the case, your daughter might have a few of the genes, enough to have SOME of the symptoms, but not enough to actually be autistic.
Or OCD is a significant possibility.
2007-01-29 15:25:39 · answer #2 · answered by Smart Kat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with my colleague, "the_only". Your daughter needs to be evaluated by a peds. psych. There are a couple of other conditions that come to mind that present in similar ways to autism - pervasive developmental disorder and obsessive-complusive disorder. So before you start thinking Asperger's because of a TV show, it could be something else. Ask her pediatrician for a referral or, if your insurance allows, contact your insurance's Mental Health Services and make a consult appointment.
2007-01-29 04:16:51 · answer #3 · answered by TweetyBird 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
General practioners do not have the training to be able to diagnose autism. From what you describe, I would have your daughter seen by a pediatric psychiatrist. some of the things they can teach her and you will help her enormously for the rest of her life.
2007-01-29 04:09:12 · answer #4 · answered by essentiallysolo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The teacher of the child is the best judge. My wife is a pre school teacher and she is trained to mark those out. Do not judge or try that your self!
2007-01-29 04:09:44 · answer #5 · answered by sudiptocool 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, although it seems like you should get her to a doctor
2007-01-29 04:07:50 · answer #6 · answered by Not a hippie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋