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Autism Kids Mom Can Help Me Pls

Discussion in 'Toddlers' started by Sweetygals, Jan 29, 2020.

  1. Priyadharshini7

    Priyadharshini7 New IL'ite

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    Hi @Sweetygals, post: 4172999, member: 460285"

    I am Priyadharshini, a certified speech-language pathologist/ speech therapist. The features you mentioned in the post seem mostly like autistic features. However, formal speech and language assessment must be carried out. I would advise you to take up occupational therapy and speech therapy sessions. I am taking up tele sessions (assessment and therapy sessions) through Skype. I also provide parent training and customized home programs (weekly one session- 30 minutes). Regular parent-mediated sessions are available too. I usually charge economically (Rs. 350) per session.

    I am doing my practice in Nungambakkam, Chennai. I have shifted to tele mode since the Corona outbreak. If you want to go for on-site therapy I would advise you to start from the year 2021 because children with communication deficits are very vulnerable as they cant express how they feel (especially in the COVID pandemic situation).

    Simple basic tips: Follow sugar-free, gluten-free diet; encourage any mode of communication - be it verbal/ non-verbal (gestures, pointing, eye blink); work on self identification.
     
  2. Priyadharshini7

    Priyadharshini7 New IL'ite

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    Hi @Sweetygals

    I am Priyadharshini, a certified speech-language and swallow therapist. Following are my opinion:
    Positives:
    1. Your kid has started to develop communication intent.
    2. Family member recognition
    Suggestions:
    1. Dont allow him to stare in the mirror for long - might lead to vacant stares later. Dont stop it abruptly as it would lead to temper tantrums. Fade it slowly.
    2. Imitation: Use simple motor activities like jumping, clapping, hands up-down, sit-stand...make it more like an interactive game, wherein you demonstrate it to your kid and then they imitate it.
    3. But prior to imitation, you can take up some eye-contact activities like finger painting, vegetable prints, tracing, cut-paste activities etc. Always remember that eye-contact is one of the most important pre-requisite for imitation and speech-language skills.

    Hope this helps.
     
  3. Sweetygals

    Sweetygals Silver IL'ite

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    Hi,
    Just want to update my journey so that it will be helpful for parents who comes and search for same issue in future, as autism is very common now.
    Now my kid is 21 months old. Because of Corono virus i was not able to take him any therapy. Just took ideas from here and you tube for OT ideas started working with him, made him to walk different textures, made him to eat all variety of foods, spent lots of time with him by playing.

    Positives:
    1. He is not in his own world now. he is so clingy to me now. I taught him pointing so he started pointing for his needs
    2. Understand simple 1 step instructions and follows it mostly
    3. Identifies house hold objects and relationships. Identifies body parts (head,leg,hands). also identifies pictures from book as well
    4. He has some words (all are noun) like when i ask
    what is this - he ll name the object
    who is this - he says amma,thatha,patti. Only when asked he says this
    5. his hyperactiveness reduced sits and play with toys and for books

    Areas to improve:
    1. Still response to name is 50 percent only. he responds to commands like when I say
    come he comes,
    book he stands near to book,
    wash hands he lll go to that place.
    2. No relationship call and says the word only when asked for.
    3. eye contact is poor with strangers. with the house ppl it is good.
    4. Imitation skills are poor. Waves bye only asked for. but will not even look at that person if it is a stranger
    5. sometimes does verbal stimming like keep repeating 1,2,3 and points to fan and keep saying fan.

    anyway this year he cant be taken into therapy due to corono. I will continue with what I'm doing but sometimes not sure wtr I'm taking him in right direction. what level in asd spectrum he falls as he cant initiate t conversation or imitate anything though he knows the words

    Thanks to all the wonderful friends who replied and helped me and also gave confidence when I was stuck and so depressed

    If any of you have any Inputs for my issues it ll be helpful for me.
     
    Thyagarajan, VLR and sarvantaryamini like this.
  4. Priyadharshini7

    Priyadharshini7 New IL'ite

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    Hi @Sweetygals

    Good to hear your updates. As a certified speech-language pathologist myself, I would advise you to give intense speech and language stimulation at home through play activities, art, commenting on his environment, etc.

    If you need professional online assistance check out this website:

    www.thespeechdoctor4u.com
     
  5. VLR

    VLR Silver IL'ite

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    Hi @Sweetygals

    Great progress!!

    Don't worry about the areas that still need improvement. He will start responding to that soon.

    About name call, keep using his name while giving instructions. He will start responding to name calls soon.

    Same with relationship names. Try teaching that with a photo album. If he is interacting with your husband mimic his sentence for him addressing your DH as ' Dad, milk'.

    Eye contact with strangers will take a long time. Once he becomes very comfortable with immediate and then extended family, he will be more confident meeting strangers. Don't force him to interact with strangers if he is unwilling.

    Keep him engaged in all activities you do and keep talking to him even if he doesn't respond. He is listening and absorbing all the information. Soon he will start initiating conversations. All the best !
     
  6. Mehana

    Mehana Platinum IL'ite

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    Good you doing all different activities for your kid.

    Have you tried online evaluation for your kid? I know due to covid no one wants to take risk going to the therapy clinic. My suggestion If you want please try contacting good clinic and ask them if they are doing online evaluation and therpies.
     
    Thyagarajan and Laks09 like this.
  7. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    sweety,
    For a 20 months old, he’s doing really well. The fact that he is verbal itself is a huge plus point. We can always build on language skills but to get the first word is the hardest.

    You are doing everything that you can. I encourage you to buy some picture cards on Amazon and play with him - teach him to name the nouns - boy/girl/eyes. Slowly you can move to action words with the cards - eating/sleeping etc or places - school/park etc with the same set of cards. This is the set I used for my son. It says 5+ but he mastered those very quickly.
    Also read to him. Reading is one thing that helps all kids. Goodnight Moon is a great first book. ABC picture books etc are really good.
    This is good. Response to name - sometimes toddlers generally are immersed in activity and don’t look up. Take away the toy and then call him.

    Thats a hard skill. As long as he’s pointing to the right person, continue practice daily. In therapy too, they keep the kids receptively(pointing) until the child starts using the word expressively.

    It will come slowly. In these times he can’t socialize but once things settle exposing him to people and other kids is the best thing to help with social interactions.
    For imitation, teach him hand on hand. Stand behind him, make dad gesture in front of him and you help him with his hands. Sometimes the mirror image they see is also difficult. I used to wave my hand backwards so my son knows he is supposed to see the back of his hands while waving.
    It’s overwhelming for people on the spectrum to come out of their world and interact with people and be social and talk etc. The stimming is a stress buster. It’s definitely hard to keep hearing it but let him do it. It’s his coping mechanism. Don’t try to stop him or give him a consequence for it. Just don’t give it importance when he says it over and over. It also does get better once they get some more language and can verbalize their feelings.

    hang in there. Online Assessment/ therapy suggested by @Mehana is a great option. Do look into it.
     
    VLR and Thyagarajan like this.
  8. rajni2015

    rajni2015 New IL'ite

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    Hi VLR, this is such an inspiring post. I would love to chat with you offline. Could you please DM me?
     
  9. MrCroc

    MrCroc Silver IL'ite

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    My kid was diagnosed for ASD at 2 years, we had him in early intervention program since 18 months of age. He is the reason I have decided to take up PR of Canada. We are getting him Behaviour Therapy and Occupational Therapy. He has shown decent improvement at age of 3.5.

    1. He now always responds to his name, he can identify all the picture in the book, he identifies all his relatives, mom, dad, granddad, grandma.
    2. He follows simple commands like "time to sleep", "sit down" etc.
    3. He talks in sentences like "I am scared", "I need breakfast", "I want to go to park", "Take me home".
    4. He answers questions like "whats you name", "mommy's name", "address/where you live".
    5. He counts 1 to 100, can add single digit numbers. We are teaching him basic maths.

    He understands words 4 languages: Hindi little bit, Marathi little bit, English a lot, he speaks in sentences in english, Spanish a little bit but more than Hindi and Marathi. His friends communicate with him in Spanish.

    If I pick him up, he will first say Crow Crow Crow, go away Crow -- yes he calls me crow for some reason and then "No Gracius!" and then listen, Crow Crow go away crow and finally he will start crying. He likes his grand father and mother to pick him up and not me.

    Doctors tell us that if kids start using language before 5 years it is a good sign of good prognasis.

    How is ASD care in india? I think Indian schools are not well equipped to help ASD kids. This was the big reason I stayed back in Canada. I want to come back but my kid's ASD worries me.
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2023
  10. MalStrom

    MalStrom IL Hall of Fame

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    I would stay put where you are, if possible.
    In the US the early intervention starts practically from birth and the public schools have to provide IEP (individualized education plan) for special needs children. Our school district has several programs and tracks for ASD kids depending on their needs. As far as possible they will try to mainstream the child.
    There are also specialized private schools for various needs. And there are plenty of opportunities for speech, occupational therapy, ABA, social skills groups and parent support groups. The developmental physicians and psychologists are also an invaluable resource and autism mandates ensure that insurance covers a fair bit of whatever is required.
    Canada is probably similar.
    I am not sure if India is comparable, but you can also weigh the pros and cons depending on your particular situation.
     
    chanchitra likes this.

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