Dalton Isn't Talking

Jun 27, 2006

Borrowing a title from a great new novel about a family's story of autism, I continue my discussion on our son and our family's journey with autism.

Daniel Isn't Talking, is a novel written in truth. It was written by a woman whose son has autism.

For our son Dalton, the early signs were there, but were so subtle, especially for a couple who were raising their first child. There were two major signs that Dalton did manifest. He had no speech and he had stimming behaviours.

Lack of Speech: Dalton never spoke. He would say words occasionly out of no where, but he would never consistenly latch onto language and never babbled or attempted baby talk. This was what really concerned us and the pediatrician the most. At first we were reluctant, because you always hear the stories of people who were late talkers. Dalton also always had such a sweet disposition and seemed to understand us very well. So it was confusing. We weren't sure if we were just over-reacting. But as time progressed and he got older, the frustration he was feeling became evident. How does someone who can't speak tell you their simple wants? Dalton was never a demanding child. He began doing what they call autistic leading. If we were playing with a toy and he wanted help with it, he would take our hand and put it on the toy. He used this technique a lot.

Stimming Behaviour: Another symptom of Dalton's was stimming behaviour. Dalton was a spinner. And I don't mean with his body, but with objects. It was actually amazing. He could take 10 coasters and get them all spinning at the same time. He was like one of those plate spinners you see at the circus. He would sometimes just sit there and spin objects, but usually he would make games out of it by spinning a bunch of items and then running around seeing how far he could get before they stopped. We were very intrigued, but it seemed a little odd. When we would go out to eat, we would always have coasters handy in case he got fussy. We didn't realize that this was something we should not be encouraging. He also became obsessed with lights. He was amazed by light and would flip lights on and off. He loved automatic night lights and would want to sit forever and watch them go on and off. The concern came when his obsession was so great that if you tried to get him to stop the stim he would have a complete meltdown.

For Dalton, the symptoms were there very early on but we just didn't understand that the early warning signs could be very subtle. Fortunately, we had a great pediatrician who in a diplomatic way encouraged us to follow through with getting our son tested.

The copyright of the article Dalton Isn't Talking in Autism Research is owned by Tracey Thompson. Permission to republish Dalton Isn't Talking must be granted by the author in writing.