Some friends have asked us where Ava is at on the Autism Spectrum. I don't know an exact answer for anyone, she was given a mild-moderate diagnosis but we were told this could change as she gets more intervention and therapy since she had not had any yet. The do believe she would be on the milder end.
Just to give you an idea what Autism is like for Ava (since it really is very different for every child with Autism) I found this list of "symptoms" and described how each affect or do not affect Ava. This also is largely for my record to help me see how things change over time.
Children with autism typically have difficulties in:- Pretend play (Ava does great with pretend play but typically prefers pretend play by herself)
- Social interactions (yes and no, she loves kids always and adults if its on her terms and she approaches them)
- Verbal and nonverbal communication (Yes, this is something Ava has struggled with)
People with autism may:
- Be overly sensitive in sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste (for example, they may refuse to wear "itchy" clothes and become distressed if they are forced to wear the clothes) (Yes, Ava has sensitive hearing and she does prefer just not to wear clothes at home)
- Have unusual distress when routines are changed (Yes, and this is evident mostly out of our house and sometimes in the house when we are trying to get her to transition between activities)
- Perform repeated body movements (Not that we are aware of)
- Show unusual attachments to objects (I guess, I don't find them that unusual but her doctors say so. She has a little wash cloth that she loves and then she finds really random little objects, say a handful of water balloons and decides she needs to hold on to them for a long time and take them everywhere)
Communication problems may include:
- Cannot start or maintain a social conversation (Yes she just struggles with speech all together)
- Communicates with gestures instead of words (Yes she has done this a lot for wanting to eat and wanting things done for her)
- Develops language slowly or not at all (yes slowly)
- Does not adjust gaze to look at objects that others are looking at (she's starting to more now but has struggled with this before, but its not been a huge issue)
- Does not refer to self correctly (for example, says "you want water" when the child means "I want water") (yes she does this a lot, before preschool she never used I, me or mine, she is just starting to use those words now)
- Does not point to direct others' attention to objects (occurs in the first 14 months of life) (she pointed back then from what we remember)
- Repeats words or memorized passages, such as commercials (yes this is one of Ava's biggest things, is her Echolalia)
- Does not make friends (She loves her little friends, she may be too loving at times but she enjoys kids)
- Does not play interactive games (she tries to although she doesn't always understand them)
- Is withdrawn (not with kids, perhaps with adults)
- May not respond to eye contact or smiles, or may avoid eye contact (she avoids eye contact with adult strangers)
- May treat others as if they are objects (I wasn't sure what this meant but were told such as using a person to climb on to get something, and she sometimes does that)
- Prefers to spend time alone, rather than with others (she does prefer to play alone at home, she doesn't like Dan or I to jump in and play, she tells us "no no no" a lot when we try, but if we start a game she wants to come play with us).
- Shows a lack of empathy (her empathy is sometimes a little delayed but I don't think she lacks empathy).
- Does not startle at loud noises (She is startled by loud sounds)
- Has heightened or low senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste (heightened sense of hearing for sure)
- May find normal noises painful and hold hands over ears (yes but less than she used to)
- May withdraw from physical contact because it is overstimulating or overwhelming (yes, she is not cuddly, she never has been one to want to be affectionate. Although she does love tickles and affection on her terms. You would never find her sleeping in our bed, that would be torture to her)
- Rubs surfaces, mouths or licks objects (no)
- Seems to have a heightened or low response to pain (no)
- Doesn't imitate the actions of others (no she imitates well now at least)
- Prefers solitary or ritualistic play (yes she does both of these at home a lot)
- Shows little pretend or imaginative play (yes and no, some of her pretend play is memorized from other things but she seems imaginative)
- "Acts up" with intense tantrums (yes at times but not horribly often)
- Gets stuck on a single topic or task (perseveration) (yes she again doesn't like to switch activities so she likes what she likes and it can take some time to get her to move on, she is extremely persistent)
- Has a short attention span (yes and no, really depends on the activity)
- Has very narrow interests (not really)
- Is overactive or very passive (shes very active, we thought she had ADHD and that, along with Speech were the things we were seeing the developmental doctor for)
- Shows aggression to others or self (she has shown aggression towards me and dan before in really extreme intense situations like the day she kept hitting me after swim lessons)
- Shows a strong need for sameness (yes)
- Uses repetitive body movements (no)
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