- Five parents who feel their children are physically ill because they are autistic (that is, that autism and physical illness are part of the same problem)
- Ten parents who feel their children with autism are basically healthy
- Six parents who feel that autism-related behaviors (such as mouthing dirty items) or autism-related experiences (such as feeling ostracized) cause physical and/or mental illness
Now I'm really curious.
First of all, I'm wondering whether there's a connection between regressive autism and physical illness? Children with regressive autism develop typically and then - often suddenly - lose skills they had. Children with non-regressive autism often show signs of autism very early on, and develop differently throughout their early childhood.
Second, I'm curious as to whether sleep issues alone account for MOST of the physical issues connected with autism.
Lastly, I'd like to know whether parents feel that issues like infections, anxiety, etc. are part and parcel of autism - or whether they're a side effect of other autistic symptoms. For example, if a child with autism has fevers fairly often, is this a part of the child's autism - or a result of the fact that the child puts dirty objects in his mouth? If a child is extremely anxious, is the anxiety part of the autism? Or is it a result of feeling ostracized by peers?
Are you curious about these issues? If so, perhaps you'll take this poll (you can check off more than one response). Maybe, together, we can shed a little light on this subject!
Lisa,
My son who will be turning 18 in two weeks was developing perfectly until age 14-15 months when his language skills regressed and more mild Autistic behaviors started to emerge. When he stopped with formula as an infant and started cows milk, that’s when the ear infections started. More than two years of ear infections occurred and eventually I learned to stop giving him milk and milk products. The ear infections stopped. He has had colds, plantar’s warts, respiratory infections over the years, but never required hospitalization or surgery.
When my son was 14, he started with puperty and there were no health issues related but he suddenly became extremely anxious and depressed and lost more verbal skills. I had to take him out of public school completely at the end of eighth grade because he was so depressed and seriously mute. He lost a lot of ability to write expressively as well.
He has been having intense speach therapy througha University Speech clinic for two years. This has helped him tremendously (and for which I pay $100 a week). The school district has been no help.
My son has Autism (not PDD, not PDD-nos, and not Aspergers) and Expressive Language Disorder. Because of the wide disparity between his skills and his challenges, he can’t complete IQ and verbal testing, but I wouldn’t say he is in the MR category at all. He wants to be like every other 18 year old, have a girl friend, drive a car, get a job, go to college, but without being able to TALK or use sign language, those life enhancing milestones won’t be happening.
I believe that Autism is not only a spectrum but a cluster of various neurological disorders and that the genetics and the environmental impacts (for me, I seriously believe those impacts were the vaccines), each child with the designation of Autism ends of developing very differently. Genetically, if your family is pre-disposed to Asthma, with the environmental impacts and lower immune system, yo may end up with an Autistic child who also has Asthma. Nobody says we are limited to only one disability in our lifetime, but doctors seems to only look at one thing at a time. Thanks for keeping up your column – it is so necessry for many families!