Messages posted by: Ivy

I just read that self-injurious behaviors most often happen with lower-functioning children. My son is five, nonverbal and does have trouble with self-injurious behaviors. I am curious to know if all nonverbal autistic children are considered low-functioning? Or are there high-functioning, nonverbal individuals too?

Thanks,
Ivy

I was just looking over some of the research results and read that epilepsy in autism occurs most often in children with mental retardation. I would be very interested in more information about this. My five year old son was diagnosed with seizure disorder at 10 months old and autism at 18 months. Though he has not been diagnosed with mental retardation, he is not progressing as quickly as we had hoped and fights repeated periods of regression. Can anyone direct me to more information on these issues? And, how deeply will the IAN research delve into this particular issue?

Thanks,
Ivy

One suggestion would be to investigate what bearing, if any, a caregiver's depression has on the therapeutic progress of a child with autism. Areas of interest might be a caregiver's ability to advocate for her child, to actively participate in educational processes and decisions, to participate in and follow through in at-home therapies, to provide the appropriate responses to specific, stress-inducing behaviors.