Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist ================================================================
Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism
and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.
In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area
(AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).
Experience I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.
Question we have been told by someone who is a child care expert that my 6 yr old granddaughter has "emotional autism". This was in a social setting and she came to this conclusion by observing my granddaughter- who was sucking her thumb & holding her hair at the same time- she said my gradddaughter was using the thumb sucking as a crutch. I have searched for emotional autism & am coming up with nothing. Another person told us it wasn't actual autism. Any comment??
Answer Hi,
I've never heard of "emotional autism" as a diagnostic term either.
If sucking her thumb while holding her hair is her only "symptom" I'd say there's no need to worry that she's autistic. It may or may not be a sign that she has some problems (kids can suffer from depression or anxiety just like an adult), but I'm not an expert here. If you're worried, talk to a doctor. I guess this person might have just ment that your granddaughter is somewhat withdrawn or anxious and uses her thumb sucking and hair holding as a tool to comfort herself. It's not uncommon that people use the word autism in such a way (often without really knowing what autism is).
