Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 11/17/2011

Question
I am concerned about my granddaughter,

She can not speak words with out slurring them together and can not pronounce them clearly.Example(Mac and cheese - machee.
She is upset easily and has rage tantrums that last for up to a half an hour or longer.
She runs up and down the hall way when she is alone over and over again and slams doors over and over.
She hits, pulls hair and pokes the animals with toys after 2 years of being told not to.
She spins and runs in circles when she is nervous or excited.
She can not copy letters or remember what they look like after being shown them repeatedly.
She can not remember color names.
She can not recognize words or letters in books or on a learning TV shows after months of showing her.
She does not sleep more than 8 hours a day (no naps) and will not eat foods that are not starchy salty or sweet, she will literally not eat if you do not give her what she wants and goes into a screaming fits at the dinner table.
When she is having a fit you can not get her to calm down even through distraction, she is so focused on what she wants that nothing else will do.
She is terrified of loud noises and screams like someone is hurting her until the noise stops, she then cries for quite a while after.
We have As-burgers in our family history,all 4 of my sisters sons have it to one degree or another.
My cousins son has autism (functional) I feel she has it but my daughter says I am nuts and refuses to get her looked at or to enroll her in head start.

Please advise me,
Lisa

Answer
Hi Lisa

It appears that autism is nothing new for your family, so I am sure that you know the red flags that your granddaughter is showing.

Since her mother is not willing to deal with accepting that her daughter may have autism, I suggest that you recommend that she take her to a speech pathologist just to work on the speech. Maybe if she just accepts the speech problem (which isn't quite as hard to deal with as autism), it will give her time to adjust to the other issues. Also, if your granddaughter is in school, the teacher may be willing to also suggest speech therapy.

Good luck. I know it is very frustrating, but it takes some people time to accept these things. I am sure that your daughter knows there is something going on as it is prevalent in the family. But she needs some more time.