On the spectrum?

What does it mean to be "on the spectrum"?
My son may be "on the spectrum". He is high-functioning with no "typical" autistic behaviors, no repetitive movements, makes eye contact, etc. His issues are speech, oversensitivity & some muscle tone issues, he is also kind of hyper. We are in the middle of assessments. When we provide a structured, peaceful environment with not alot of outside stimuli, he's perfectly fine. I hear that being "on the spectrum" means that people are all very different & not necessarily classified as a class autism, asperger's etc. I'm wondering if you have children on the spectrum, or if you are on the spectrum yourself & can tell me on less of a "clinical" level than the websites. I am very happy to get my child whatever treatments he needs & to love him as he is. I want to be an understanding mommy. Thanks!

Once upon a time it was thought that there was only one 'type' of autism and you either had that or you didn't. Now days health professionals understand that there are several different types of Autism and a wide range of symptoms and severity levels from very mild to very severe. This range is called the Autism Spectrum. Being 'on the spectrum' just means that your son's symptoms may fall somewhere in this range. He does not have to have any of the 'typical' symptoms that we generally associate with autism because this is only one kind of autism (or part of the spectrum) and he may be in a different part of the spectrum with a different set of symptoms.

You may also want to consider a condition called "Sensory Integration Dysfunction" or "Sensory Integration Disorder" (SID). There can be a lot of overlap between Autism and SID but they are 2 different conditions (although people can have both at the same time). My daughter has all the symptoms you mention but she does NOT have Autism, she has SID.

See www.autism-society.org "About Autism" for more information about the various types of Autism.

See www.sinetwork.org or www.otawatertown.com/sensintdys.html for more information about SID

Good luck. I understand how hard it is trying to find out the best way to help your child

From very mild or doubtful diagnosis to fully manifest disease, it is a spectrum.
Hope it helps.

Hat's off to you and your family for being able to cope with this!! I suffer from a hidden illness. People wonder how I can play the saxophone,Bass, Piano , Guitar. Etc.. Not just 1 instrument but around one dozen. The spectrum to me, is a place where you can honestly be you, without all the hassle of your illness, no matter what it may be.. " I truly wish you all the best with this issue!!"

Every viviparous being is necessarily somewhere on the autistic spectrum. All newborn babies are full-blown autistic. You will find autistic symptoms in all humans. The so-called autistic spectrum ranges from perfectly healthy to full-blown institutionalized autistic.

Incidentally; I didn't make the cut off. I have Asperger's Syndrome.

"On the spectrum" means your child MAY have a developmental disorder.
Since the assessment isn't done that is not established.
Genetic testing should be done for fragile x and other possible genetic markers.
Some parents are in a constant state of panic about every possible disease or injury, others are in denial and everyone but them can see their child has special needs.
Do you fit in either group? Could it be that there is nothing other than your fears going on at all? I'm not trying to be rude, just throwing out things to think about, you see it was painfully obvious when our child regressed. In our case the only one who couldn't tell was our pediatrician!
I would advise against drugging your child, regardless of what you doctor says, until after you try biomedical treatments and have him tested for food sensitivities. Believe it or not it may be as simple as removing milk. Sensitivities are different than instant allergic responses and traditional allergy testing will not find them. It has been my unfortunate experience that the traditional medical establishment has no treatment options other than dangerous drugs for the treatment of children on the spectrum.
Thousands of parents are recovering their children using biomedical treatments. It is safe and has no downside, it is good for ANY child.
I have an autistic son and have seen steady,rapid improvement in all developmental areas using biomed-this is not theory-this is undeniable fact. biomed helps most but not all unfortunatly, of course this is true of any medicine or treatment.
I would advise to you research what may have caused any developmental delay. Did your child have ANY REACTION to his vaccines? If he did I wouldn't get any more. Regardless of what your doctor says. They are still in denial that vaccines cause autism in many kids.
Exposure to lead?
Go to the links below to learn more.
Best of luck and God Bless
http://www.generationrescue.org/
http://www.know-vaccines.org/faq.html
http://www.brainchildnutritionals.com/Br...

Being on the Spectrum means that your son has one or a couple of traits of what is known as the Autistic Spectrum of Disorders The Spectrum consists of 6 neurological disorders they are Autism, Aspergers Syndrome, dyslexia , Dyspraxia , Tourettes Syndrome, and Tick disorders . IT is true that the spectrum is known as a Pervasive Disorder as a Person can have many or as little facets on the spectrum i.e;a person can show signs that he has Aspergers, Autism, and Tourettes Syndrome, or one of the others, or a person can just have Aspergers Syndrome and nothing else ! I have heard it sometimes called a desease it is NOT as You cannot catch it it is NOT a Virus or is Airborne It is a Genetic Disorder in the Genes from birth so either a relative shows signs or a parent of the child. I do hope this is of help

I have to start off by letting you know that you are a very strong woman for doing the tests to see what is "wrong" with your son, my son who is 4 now, too showed signs of "something" wrong,we did all the testing and found out he just is on the "line" and he needs just some "pushes" in the right direction. We talked to the school district to see what options there were after consulting his Pediatrician and hes not autistic but he does receive speech therapy to help with communication skills and "using his words" correctly, then occupational therapy to help with muscle coordination. I'm not a doctor or a 'professional' but if i had someone who would have told me about these services that were available before i would have been ecstatic. I hope that this gives you some incite as to what could be out there for you I know that these services have help us tremendously not only as a family but as him as an individual at pre school, before he had no friends, wouldn't concentrate on something simple like coloring a picture or playing with play-dough, now hes a new kid, he plays with all the kids at pre school, loves doing arts and crafts activities with me and now i don't fear going out in public as a family! all jokes aside i hope you have resources in your area like i have in mine for i love all the therapists that work with us and they are my saviors!

My 8 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD/NLD (with possible mild Asperger's)/Dyspraxia and I was told is "deffinately on the spectrum and would be considered PDD-NOS". I am still a bit confused. The psychologist actually said he "deffinately had NLD", but could only word on his testing results as "symptoms consistent with NLD because it's ot officially recognized as a diagnosis in the diagnostic manual. So...She said he fits many of the symptoms under the autism umbrella, but since NLD isn't listed, he would fall under the PDD-NOS category (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified). He scored high average o his verbal and borderline with his perceptual. There was a about a 30 point difference in between. So besides dealing with the B.S. of his school (they don't recognize NLD and seem to want me to put him on meds as a quick fix to his ADHD), I have been taking him to a psychologist to deal with his anxiety about school and other emotional issues (not feeling like other kids) and we are on the waiting list at 2 hospitals for occupational therapy, because those are tho only 2 that take our insurance. The wait could be up to a year, but I can't afford to shell out $580 for a 3 hour evaluation and $112 an hour for the O.T. therapy. He was given accomodations under his 504 which were reviewed again last week. Even though I sent in multiple suggestions, web links, test results..they have decided to keep the current accomodations which are extended time on tests, preferential seating, scribe, reduced homework, ear phones to help block out the noise because my so can hear everthing at once. They are adding in extra help in math and writing. My son can write off thetop of his head, but when it comes ot answering questions from something he has read, he can't. He gets stuck. This is dysgraphia which is part of the NLD and also a part of his processing which is very poor. It is so frustrating because since he is so verbose, they act like nothing is wrong. This is after his teacher even said she has to be with him all the time because he just sits there and doesn't know what to do if he is left alone. So they are going to do a behavioral observation and we are meeting again in January. My son is still telling me he needs more help, but we have to deal with al the beurocratic bul **** of the school. He also get's very stressed out if he gets ditto sheets with too many pictures on them. I have asked his teacher to keep work as simplified as possible. Here are some links that link NLD to the autism spectrum..
http://www.pediatricneurology.com/autism...
http://www.nessasiegel.com/nonverballear...
http://www.weirdnotstupid.com/whatisnld....