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My 5 yr. old son was recently diagnosed with PDD-NOS by a developmental pediatric psychiatrist.Because he is sociable I really am having a difficult time teaching family,friends and officials that he has this issue. I as a mother agree with the diagnosis since I am with him 24/7.People tend to think you are saying autism and don't seem to realize that every child can have different symptoms. What do I say or do when this issue comes up?
Hi Deb,
First of all I'm very sorry I didn't respond earlier, but I didn't recieve any E-Mail telling me I have questions pending !
To answer your question...maybe it would help to put together a little leaflet you could hand out to people who want to tell you your child is not autistic because he's sociable, educating them about the different forms of autism (yes, there are people who are like "rainman", but there are also very sociable ones who like being around people but still have "social" issues - the type of child who is always in-your-face or the child who enjoys being around people but still doesn't understand social clues, and has similar sensory processing issues like the "rainman" type.
Maybe you'll find something like that somewhere on the internet and just need to tweak it a little to fit your son better.
Hope that helps,
C.
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Answers by Expert:
Celtica
Expertise
*DISCLAIMER*
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
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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.
I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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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.
I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).
Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.
Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.
Experience
As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better
I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.
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).
Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !
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