Autism Awareness Blog Hop #WorldAutismDay

WELCOME!!!


Today I'm part of a Blog Hop that is very personal to me. Author RJ Scott's Autism Awareness Blog.

  http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.com/2015/04/world-autism-awareness-day.html

Following the blog hop will not only teach you new and interesting facts about Autism but you'll meet some pretty awesome Authors and maybe win a prize or two.

So read on my friends!!

Autism Awareness Factoid

Did you know that Autism can be diagnosed in combination with other developmental disorders, such as ADHD??

Answer:   True!

My son M was first diagnosed with ADHD when he was 5 and then was diagnosed with PPD-NOS when he was 8.

It’s funny when it comes to M my instinct always told me he had ‘something’ going on. M would display a lack of eye contact. He didn’t have the best social skills, he would rather play beside another child than with them...except for my daughter and my niece, they never gave him a choice, he was playing WITH them and that was all there was to it. I believe M used the word bossy a few times.   

He would also show intense focus on certain items (usually on books! A mothers dream, to bad they were all on Dinos.). He would start talking about random subjects out of nowhere. I would ask him what he would like for dinner then he would look at me and BAM!! 
"Mummy, baby caimans are from South America." 
Ooookay...Pasta it is!! 

And then there were other times he would give himself self-imposed time-outs. I checked his temperature during these times assuming he must be delirious from fever, because honestly, what kid gives himself a time-out?

Then came the times when he had ants in his pants, and he would suddenly blurt/yell out interesting factoids.

Dino Trivia for 500, Alex.

"Mummy...did you know, the word dinosaur comes from the Greek language and means ‘terrible lizard’. 

Man-o- man, I leaned so many Dinosaur facts during that time that I could be a fully qualified Paleontologist. LOL

He was also notorious for interrupting conversations, and he was easily distracted...Oh look shiny purple letters... and the impulsiveness...CRAZY.
One time while M was in Kindergarten, he decided to use the couch as a launching pad and did a Superman dive into his toy bin.

I still laugh out loud when I think about that one. It was truly a spectacular dive, although the end resulting nosebleed put a stop his super hero ways.

A month after Superman flew across my living room, M was diagnosed with ADHD. But there were still some unanswered questions about the remaining behaviours,

especially the lack of eye contact (that bothered me the most) and his poor socialization skills.

It wasn’t until we were posted to Ontario (we’re a military family) that we had the opportunity to solve the last mysterious behaviours.

We were referred to a great Doc, who after receiving M’s test results and diagnoses simplified his new disorder of PPD-NOS which is part of the Autism Spectrum Disorders. The doc sketched out a picture similar to the one below as she described M’s new PPD-NOS disorder. 

PPD-NOS stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified. Whew! I’m sure you can see by the lengthen of the name as to why they abbreviated it!  

Here is a simply definition I found of PPD-NOS from the Autism Speaks Canada website:

http://www.autismspeaks.ca/about-autism/what-is-autism/pdd-nos/

"PDD-NOS stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. Psychologists and psychiatrists sometimes use the term “pervasive developmental disorders” and “autism spectrum disorders” (ASD) interchangeably. As such, PDD-NOS became the diagnosis applied to children or adults who are on the autism spectrum but do not fully meet the criteria for another ASD such as autistic disorder (sometimes called “classic” autism) or Asperger Syndrome.

Some developmental health professionals refer to PDD-NOS as “subthreshold autism." In other words, it’s the diagnosis they use for someone who has some but not all characteristics of autism or who has relatively mild symptoms. For instance, a person may have significant autism symptoms in one core area such as social deficits, but mild or no symptoms in another core area such as restricted, repetitive behaviors."

* * * *

So there you have it, an interesting and informative Autism factoid.
I do hope reading a bit of M’s story helps you to understand Autism and it’s related developmental disorders a bit better. 


If you would like to learn more check out the Autism Speaks Canada website at http://www.autismspeaks.ca/

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