Expert: James Michael Roan - 1/25/2006

Question
   My husband and I are concerned that our little boy aged five may have some form of autism. He is very bright & has never had a problem with his speach, infact his ability to undestand & use language has always from a very young age been exceptional,with the exeption of a couple of sounds. He has a lot of trouble in social situations and can for no reason display agressive or very controlling behaviour, not only to other children but to adults as well.
   From a very young age he has been facinated with spinning things including spinning his arms in particular and making a loud humming sound while doing this. At around two years of age he would sit and hit his head on the window for no reason and humm. He does alot of things that are inapropriate like licking, or banging into things, rolling his head hard over your face and although told it is inapropriate to do so, he just does not seem to remember or retain, or comprehend limits and it seems to take a big reaction by the party he is offending for him to comprehend that he should stop. He will often scamper away or hide, which has been very embarrasing for me as I always talk to him as calmly as possible & do not manhandel him.Then when asked about his behavior, he will often have a strange knowing smile, or not know why he did what he did,& I'm sure he really does not know. I will often get him to understand why his behavior was inapropriate or unexceptable by getting him to think about what he would feel like if in this situation, and ask him what he would feel like if someone treated him that way, he will comprehend it, most of he time appologise and then do the same thing or something very similar again.
   His behavior has alienated him and I feel so sad for him. He had alot of tantrums when he was younger,especially with his dad,these are becoming alot less frequent, however he has an extremely forceful nature.
    He has and has always had a facination with electricity, water, machinery, especially with belts and coggs & has never been interested in soft toys,except in throwing them. People often say he is just so clever the things he knows about tecnical things. There are so many things I could talk about, But I best hand it over to you now. I truly look foward to hearing from you.

With kindest regards,
Lorraine Svenson.  

Answer
Hi Lorraine;

Thanks for the details, and although I do not diagnose over the internet, I suggest you have him evaluated by a team of professionals expert in autism and Asperger's Syndrome. I think you are headed in the right direction.

If you live in the U.S., make a special education referral to your school's psychologist. In addition to IQ and pragmatic assessments, ask if the psychologist can evaluate him with the the Gilliam Asperger's Disorder Scale (GADS). Following the special education evaluation, see your pediatrician with the test results in hand and ask for a referral to a team of autism professionals either at a university or Children's Hospital near you.

I hope all goes well for you and your son.

Kind Regards,
James