The Results Are (pretty much) In: The Big A

Autism. That's what the SFUSD special education department said. The speech pathologists didn't say that, but her report pretty much adds up to that conclusion. The people at MDAC didn't say that directly to me but the SFUSD people mentioned that they advised them to evaluate him for it. I'll get the offical MDAC report probably later this month

Autism.

I'm sad but not surprised. Though the kidlet is a bright, funny, social and affectionate kid, the worrisome signs were always there. As an infant, he didn't look at people when they called his name and often seemed lost in his own world. As a toddler he showed advanced language skills that suddenly flat-lined at around 16 - 18 months. He could not/would not follow through on simple instructions. A big vocabulary early on, but didn't speak in sentences until he was two & a half. He speaks in declarative sentences but can't describe emotions or physical sensations. He likes to play around other children but is not interested in engaging in direct play with them.

At this point in time, you would not know that he was autistic just by looking at him. He does not fit the stereotype. He is not a headbanger, a self injurer or a hand flapper. He can and does make eye contact. He is interested in other people and will ham it up if he knows that he has a receptive audience. He can be deceptive. He is imaginative and creative. He just seems to lack an understanding of the some of the fundamental but unspoken rules that govern language and human interaction.

What's ironic is that I already know this about persons with autism from working with adults and children with mental health issues. Very few people with autism fit the "Rainman" stereotype. There was the kid I worked with who was a comic genius - he very much wanted to interact with people and seemed to have uncanny sense of word play and timing. There was the young woman who was mostly non-verbal but was very interested in men and broke a few hearts in the halfway house. She was also an incredibly reliable bullshit detector who would start laughing at people when they were being deceitful, which I found very useful when I was conducting community group. Again, in their own way they were very much engaged in the social world around them but were lacking the cognitive and social skills the rest of us take for granted.

How this will all play out is still up in the air. I am hopeful that the kidlet will catch up and will eventually be able to blend in with the neurotypical kids.