I'm interested to hear responses to this as well. I need to get far more structured in our routine this year to fit in more therapy throughout our day. I want to complete the Zones of Regulation this fall along with implementing some RDI exercises and sensory activities on a more consistent basis.

That example of inattentiveness does help me tease this out a bit, along with some reading I've been doing this afternoon. I think my son's impulsiveness is part of his autism. We don't have much hyperactivity, in fact most of the time he's under stimulated. I think his attention issues may be stemming from a processing disorder, which again, impossible to figure out for sure until he's comfortable working with an evaluator on these tests. There really is a lot of overlap between the two.

Thanks to everyone who has chimed in about meds. I've been anti-meds in the past and to be honest the idea still scares me but I think it is something I need to look into. My son is ASD but we are also dealing with very high impulsivity. Can this be part of ASD or could this be a sign that ADHD is in the mix? If we did decide to look into meds where is the best place to go for this? We have a neurologist and a developmental psychiatrist that we saw years ago, both of whom thought ds would grow out of his behaviors when they saw him at 3 years old. I feel confident that we have some LDs going on as well but the psych that diagnosed ASD didn't think we should do any further evaluations at this time because ds would not cooperate with testing so results wouldn't be accurate. We struggle to get through 5 to 10 minute lessons in math and reading. Ds will sit and listen to me read for long periods but seems to have very little comprehension. It's so frustrating to not even be able to get accurate testing so I can figure out how to accommodate! Hugs to the OP as you figure things out. This is definitely a hard process but you're not alone!

Thank you!

Is anyone else having trouble checking out? When I try to hit the register button the page doesn't respond, I've tried it in three different browsers and on two devices. We already own The Zones of Regulation and The Incredible Flexible You but I purchased them from Amazon so I don't have login info already. I'm hoping to purchase Thinking About You Thinking About Me and the social detective book. I was also looking at The Behavior Code. Has anyone used it?

I do think it's partly a stage of grief. For us, I knew something was up by 18 months, there were clues earlier, but he was my oldest so I had nothing to compare to. We saw a neurologist and developmental psychologist and they pinned it on temperament and sensory processing. Even then, I think I knew deep down that those things didn't explain the whole of what I was seeing, but I wanted to believe it. So, definitely, I wonder what if I had pursued it and pushed for what he needed then. I wonder if we'd still be dealing with some of the extreme behaviors now. I second guess constantly about what I would have done differently. But it is what it is. So trying to accept God's purpose in it all has been the only thing helping me to achieve any kind of balance. It's a daily struggle. Even now we are on 6 month waiting lists for appropriate services so we're still not to a point where I feel like we're doing anything to help him cope with his challenges. I'm reading as much on various therapies as I can stomach at this point. Like you, I'm a pretty gung ho person and when I think something will "work" I go after it full steam. It's difficult to not to get sucked into the mind set that this is a "problem to be fixed." So anyway, it's definitely hard to keep the right perspective for me anyway. I so identify with the emotions in this thread! Lecka, thank you for linking to the Bible Study. I went ahead and ordered a copy, looking forward to reading it!

Our son officially received an ASD diagnosis this month (though I have known he was different for years) so I have been going through the mental gymnastics of deciding who to tell, who not to tell, when to explain or not pretty frequently recently. This thread has been so helpful, thank you all for sharing your experiences. I agree that when you first receive the diagnosis it can put you into a panic, but I've been trying really hard to lean towards the acceptance that Lecka is describing. I want that kind of peace and joy and some days I get pretty close to it. I definitely have a long way to go in becoming that cool, collected and confident mom in public but hopefully I will get there in time. What I know for sure is that my son is fearfully and wonderfully made. Yes, he has several challenges that we may or may not be able to overcome in this life, but God has a purpose for making my son exactly as he is and I'm trying to rest in that fact daily.

I've been following this thread with interest and thought I would add in our experience as well. DS did 9 months of OT(as much as our insurance would cover) once a week at 3 years old for SPD. He did therapeutic listening, worked on fine motor skills and a bit of swinging. If I could do it over, I would have been pressing the OT for more practical steps we could take at home, asking her about a sensory diet tailored to my son, etc. She really wasn't very forthcoming on what she was working on and I blindly trusted her expertise. After our experience, I had written off OT but now we are learning that my son actually has ASD and I'm looking back into it. If we do pursue it I will be far more particular about the OT we use and more proactive in getting valuable information from the therapist. We are also looking to start gymnastics this fall so it might be that we don't feel the need after getting started on that and the other therapies we'll be starting soon.

Chiming in to thank Spork as well. We are in the process of receiving a diagnosis and after reading the neurowonder blog today and following many links from there I am feeling much more hopeful. I'm happy to have found an alternative to the dialogue on autism speaks and similar resources.

I have a biter as well, although as mentioned by myblessings4 it is because he is sensory seeking. We have used chewey tubes and chewelry with some success. The Biting Solution by Lisa Poelle has been recommended to me but I haven't purchased it yet, the reviews look good, it may be worth a try. Edited because I can't type on my iPad

I have found a few RDI consultants and ABA specialists in our area so I guess the next step is just figuring out which approach to take with ds. Hopefully the evaluating psycholgist can point us in the right direction. So far she has mentioned the TEACCH program might be beneficial, is anyone familiar with it? Our main goal for now is to have ds be able to attend church classes, gymnastics beginning in the fall, homeschool social activites without meltdowns etc and become more confident in social situations. Currently if a child approaches him to play at the park for instance he ignores them, or tenses his whole body and grimaces without speaking. We are also hoping to eliminate some self harming behavior. Not sure if RDI or ABA would be better for these goals.

I finally heard back from the pediatrician's office and apparently the reference to PDD-NOS was a code used to refer us to a neurologist when ds was 3 and is obviously not considered a formal diagnosis. I was also told that our regular doctor had made a note of probable ASD. Definitely a communication break down as far as getting the full evaluation and interventions ds needs but at least we are on the right track now. Thank you to all who have replied, I have made a list of each exam and assessment that we'll need to pursue based on your suggestions and put the RDI book in my Amazon cart, it looks promising.

I can't seem to multiquote on my iPad but thank you for all of the information! Yes, I will definitely be requesting to see the doctor we saw when ds was sick in the future. I called the pediatricians this morning to clarify what is in his file and obtain copies etc. so waiting to hear back from that. We did have ds screened by a developmental optometrist about 6 months ago and his eye are fine; I didn't want to push daily reading practice if there was an issue there. Will be making notes of all the other therapies you mentioned to bring up with the psychologist. I'm running out for a few hours but will check back in this afternoon. Thank you both very much!

I agree, we will definitely continue to pursue a full evaluation. The new psychologist we saw thinks testing will be long and difficult due to our son's refusal to speak but she agrees from what we've told her so far that we are probably somewhere on the spectrum.

Yes, I will call and do that today, thank you! I suspect she put this in his file during his 5 year well appointment, she was very negative about our decision to homeschool. She kept pushing me to see what services he would qualify for in our local public school, but she never spelled out what she thought he might qualify for. I told her then that we would rather pursue private services if she thought they were necessary (I have a friend with a son with severe autism who has had to threaten to sue to get accommodations for her son in our local school so I didn't see much point in pursuing that option) but once again she didn't recommend any concrete steps nor did she spell out what she thought his diagnosis was. The only thing close to him being diagnosed that I can think of was around age 4; she said "if he is autistic he is extremely high functioning."

Hi, I haven't posted on the forums much but I've learned so much just from reading here and I'm at the point where I need to reach out to others. I will try to keep this as concise as possible. Background: We first had concerns with my sons repetive play and self harming behaviors around age 2. We were sent to a neurologist who said it was just temperament and to watch and wait. Our pediatrician sent us to a psychiatrist for a second opinion, he said it was SPD and we did a year of O.T. And saw some improvements. By 4 years old my son did an academic preschool where he survived but did not interact with peers or form relationships over the course of the year. I brought him home for K and we will homeschool for the long haul. He is progressing slowly but surely academically. Socially, he is regressing to the point of refusing to go to Sunday school classes without a parent and his entire body tenses when children approach him to play at the park, etc. He does not speak to anyone outside of our family. I decided to pursue a full evaluation again but have been put on a 5 month wait list at the most recommended center available to us. I took ds to a doctors appointment this week for an ear infection and when describing sensitivity he's been having in his ear the pediatrician responded that it was probably part of his autism. (This was the sick doctor, not our regular ped). I asked him if the autism was on ds file and he said he has been diagnosed PDD-NOS yet this is the first I've heard an official diagnosis?! The sick pediatrician was kind enough to explain everything he had read in the file and referred us to a psychologist who specializes in ASD testing and social skills therapy. My husband and I met with the psychologist yesterday for a diagnostic interview and we will bring in ds for testing next week to get an official diagnosis. We will be pursuing social skills therapy regardless, but the label will open up doors to services that we can't get otherwise. At this point I'm angry that we've wasted all this time when we could have been getting treatment, angry at the pediatrian for her lack of clear communication about where she thought ds was at and just totally overwhelmed about where to go from here. What resources should I be pursuing? Which books, treatments etc. should I be researching? I've checked out everything my library has on autism but not sure where the most beneficial place to start is. The pediatran we saw this week said he would describe ds as aspergers although that diagnosis has been taken away now if that helps determine what resources might be most beneficial. If anyone made it through reading all of that and can recommend anything I greatly appreciate it!

I don't have anything helpful to add either but we are right there with you. My son is 5 so we are going through the first transition you described of him not meeting the expectations for school aged children. He does fine academically at home but social settings like his Sunday School class at church are very difficult and he's immature emotionally as well. He was diagnosed with SPD around 3 years old and we did a year of OT but didn't find it very helpful despite implementing a sensory diet and all that goes along with that. I'll be listening in on this thread as well for any suggestions others may have.

Raleigh has several excellent museums with free admission. I highly recommend the NC Museum of Natural Science, the NC history museum and the NC art museum. There is also a homeschooling store in Raleigh off of Glenwood Ave. called The Homeschool Gathering Place which is great if there is a curriculum you'd like to check out in person and they have a big used section of curriculum as well. I hope you have a great time in Raleigh!

We used LHTH as we transitioned into homeschooling when my boys were 4 and 3. It was good to get our feet wet but I felt the same way as you as far as the dramatic play and some of the songs. We used LHFHG for about two weeks at the beginning of my son's K year but we were skipping the dramatic play, songs and some of the activities did feel forced as you said. LHFHG is similar to LHTH in style though it does add in history and science content. By the time we pared down to the parts we liked we were pretty much left with our math, phonics and handwriting programs so the expensive HOD guide seemed like a waste. I sold it on ebay and haven't regretted it a bit. We've enjoyed using Ambleside Online's year 0 booklist instead and have added in seasonal crafts as the boys have show interest.

The notebooks, curriculum guides, and manipulatives that we use every day go in a milk crate that I can easily store on the shelf and move to whichever table we are working at on a give day. Our current read alouds for science, history, literature, etc. go in a basket on our coffee table for easy access. Everything else is stored on bookshelves.

I've been lurking for about a year but have decided to join in the discussion! My 5 year old will be 6 in July and we'll begin first grade then. Our plans: Miquon math and education unboxed: continuing on from where we finish up kindergarten Progressive phonics: also continuing on from wherever we end up this spring BFSU and handbook of nature study for science Ambleside year 1 for history, literature, geography, art, music, copy work, etc