Expert: Paul Johnson - 3/16/2008

Question
My son is four years old.  Since he was 1, there have been concerns about repetitive behavior, premature fascination with sperheroes, phonological disorder from 2- 4, which he recieved speech therapy for and is now being discharged from the program.  He lines his toys in a row, spins, used to have a huge problem with eye contact at 2, which has gotten better, has fine and gross motor delays which he is in therapy for, has significant sensory issues, obsessed with spiderman for 2 1/2 years, now it is Transformers.  We saw a developmental pediatrician and neuro who have suggested autism. At the time of the interviews,  I had not realized that he flapped at 2 - I just went through home videos and now I remember this significant detail which I thought was just nothing.  He was not an affectionate baby - I was affectionate with him, and I guess that in my egotisticall mommy mind, I thought he was affectionate with me.  HE never had a comfort object, or went through separation anxieyt (although he is now experiencing it at 4 - only at night, he needs a lot of reassurance and hugs throughout the night) On top of all of this, he just within a month, has started double marking - adding two ed's on his past tense words - I walkeded, I talkeded, etc. My question is this, since some of these things have resolved/or he has learned to deal, should I tell the developmental ped?  IS this new double marking thing considered a loss of language skills?  Will he struggle with this for the rest of his life? What do I do?

Answer
Hey Heather,

Thank you for your important and challenging question.

As you may know diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorders are always challenging and difficult. Your son does display some symptoms of Autism, that does not mean he has Autism. The latest development of "double marking" is something that is likely an outgrowth of his special interest. You mentioned that he has either resolved his past issues by learning to cope with it or he has learned how to cope with it. I believe your son has done so through adapting to his environment by creating and shifting to a new Special interest.

I have not written much upon special interest but they are an intense interest in a very narrow area. To the Neural typical and "Normal" population the special interest are an activity of concern but we do not engage in special interest because we are attempting to be obsessive with what we are interested in but because we are actually reacting to a majority of people who are expecting us to respond to their interations in ways that is unfamiliar and overwhelming to us. Neuro typical people interact
in social ways and we interact in intellectual concepts. We are likely to create a special interest because we need to focus our ever present investigative mind in a way that we can control, it is a coping mechanism that soothes our way of being.

Your son has likely created this communication ability as a special interest towards some words. In a few months or whenever he is ready he will move to the next special interest. It is nothing to be concerned about, in fact he may be able to connect with some through this Black English type of words. (just injecting a little leavity).

In conclusion I would like to remind you of how communication is one of the major obstacles to those on the Autism Spectrum of Disorders.
I believe your son is attempting to deal with others through his communication challenges and this is his way of interacting.
I would feel his level of functioning is fairly high, because many on the spectrum would not be able to communicate in any meaningful way.

It might be time to receive an evaluation from a Pediatric Psychologist and have him evaluated for Autism or Asperger's Syndrome.