autism Helps

Archive for December 25th, 2009

There is something wrong with me in that I always believe there must be something wrong with me. A lot of the time I am self critical. If I have slight challenges and fail in social situations I beat myself up and automatically assume I have a mental disorder such as autism even when i exhibit no true signs of autism.
When I was young in preschool teachers thought I was mentally slow because I was quiet and had bad hand eye coordination. I think of my past now and assume I might have some form of ADD or ADHD. I do share the some of the symptoms such as, procrastination, bad coordination, and trouble starting tasks ( but these "symptoms" could just be a result of the present society that everyone deals with on some level or another). But I DO NOT share alot of the other symptoms such as... trouble sleeping, racing thoughts, inability to relax, short attention span... basically I don't have any of the "attention" symptoms of ADHD. Despite this I still believe that I could possibly have a mental disorder.
The thoughts of having a disorder are not always present. I can function normally for months and be the happiest most confident person in the world without having to constantly anxious and worried and perfectionistic about myself. It has gotten to the point where I can't talk to my parents about my mental health worries because I asked them too many times if I was "retarded". Each time they would tell me that I DID NOT have a mental disorder and I should stop being so self conscious, and that everyone has faults that could relate to a disorder but no exactly BE the true disorder. Despite this iI still find myself worrying that there is something wrong with me or I have a mental disorder even though I am a A-B student and graduated in the top 10 percent of their class. All this causes me stress and anxiety and make me unhappy.
How do I stop this behavior ounce and for all!?
age:19

My husband and I are still in shock but we need to everything possible to help him. How do I hire a full time ABA specialist? What do I look for? Do you know about a pay scale? Any information will be greatly appreciated. If you have not delt with autism in your life and you do not work with autistic children please do not reply. We are upset enough.
Thank you

i have an almost 3 year old son who has an evaluation for autism in a couple of weeks. he has a lot of quirky behaviors and signs of autism, but he isnt socially withdrawn like most asd kids are. instead he knows no boundaries with people. he has zero stranger anxiety, and will walk up to anyone. his speech is 2 years behind where it should be now... when we first saw the dr. about the speech and motor delays, he said his delays were only 10 months behind, now he is walking so that has caught up some (still not quite what it should be) but his speech delay has grown even larger. we are working with early intervention, but are there any other resources out there? any other advice or tips? oh, and we are in south dakota if that makes any difference.