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For your specific situation; I have a few things to consider, bits of advice:

1) It's called a spectrum for a reason. A child with autism may be only mildly affected or severely affected. Also; it's quite common for a child to have some traits or measured levels that qualify as autistic, while they may be normal or even above normal in other ways. Each kid is different. Thus, they may be considered severely affected on one axis, moderately so on another and totally fine on one or more others. This may explain why your sons teachers think he is fine. The attributes they see are within the normal range, whereas you see the bigger picture.

2) Proper testing and diagnosis starts with your family physician or pediatrician. You need to set up a 1/2 hr appt with him or her and explain why you think your child has an issue. Your doctor will then hopefully refer you and your child to a specialist in developmental disorders

2) Ultimately, autism is a diagnosis of exclusion. An average child goes through a year or two of testing before a diagnosis of autism is reached, because there are a large number of other learning disabilities or developmental disorders that share similar symptoms with autism. You need to prepare yourself to be patient during this phase.

3) There is no medication, no regime of diet or therapy is that is a "cure" for autism. (indeed, a large segment of the autistic community argues there is no *need* for a cure, they are fine the way they are...) What exists are teaching and coaching programs to help the child consciously master the soft skills the neurotypical majority take for granted. There are medications which can help buffer the secondary symptoms (anxiety, depression, co-morbid sleep disorders etc) but for the most part it is the patient teaching that creates the change, not the meds.

4) The teaching and coaching isn't just for the kids. Where I live, there is an excellent program (under the auspices of local community mental health groups) to teach the parents, and in some cases, the siblings how to understand and interact with the affected child. If such a program exists in your area, I highly recommend looking into it for your whole family.

5) You will constantly encounter people who have formed opinions about autistic kids based on incomplete or outdated information. The withdrawn rocking child is the archetypical face of autism, but one that only describes the most severely affected. (and, as described elsewhere in this thread, a symptom of an autistic kid who is overwhelmed, hasn't been given the mental tools to cope with excessive stimuli.) It is possible that your child's teacher has the assumption that all autistic kids are that withdrawn and unsocial archetype. And let us not forget what the other gentleman (ourlovecanlastforeve 795111) above blasted. There are many many people who think the misbehaviours, weird obsessions and compulsions are the product of bad parenting and they are quick to judge you accordingly.

Considering that 1 in 88 have a form of autism, I think a lot of people underestimate how common it is.

I think the real problem is those who use it as an excuse for a lack of effort and for not taking personal responsibility, stigmatizing the syndrome, not the syndrome's prevalence.

When looking at Health Care costs think about the following bit of trivia:
For every $2 spent on healthcare, $1 goes to the insurance industry.
33% of the money at a doctor's office goes to administrative costs and about 36% at hospitals.
About 50% of money in the healthcare system is from the Taxpayer (couple that with some math, and read the first statement and realize that we ALREADY HAVE socialized medicine).
The cost of an insured woman's baby to go to term and be born in America is about $10,000. The cost of an uninsured mother's baby is around $110,000 (the cost of not having prenatal healthcare).
The US is falling behind other nations that spend less on life expectancy. We are neck and neck with Saudi Arabia and slighlty behind Cuba. Whoopee! Somewhere around 26th in the world for quality.

I was writing about this on another blog,.. I had some other wonderful stats -- but those are the ones on the top of my head.

We could also look at the looming issue of Diebeties and Asthma in kids; the high cost of poor diet and pollution.

There are other side-effects, either of our increasing pollution and/or our wilfullness to employ strange chemicals in our lives without enough testing.
So, along with a system that has been driven by profits for the Hospitals, Insurance and drug Companies, rather than for benefits to citizens (like funding cures over treatments like Viagra), I'd like to just show some stats about Autism:
(some suspect Autism is linked to mercury-based in immunizations -- which is slowly being reduced to hide this fact -- note, China had almost no incidence of Autism until Western immunizations showed up -- but I can't find any causation)

1 in 166 births(1)
1 to 1.5 million Americans(2)
Fastest-growing developmental disability
10 - 17 % annual growth
Growth comparison during the 1990s(3):
U.S. population increase: 13%
Disabilities increase: 16%
Autism increase: 172%
$90 billion annual cost(4)
90% of costs are in adult services(4)
Cost of lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3 with early diagnosis and intervention(4)
In 10 years, the annual cost will be $200-400 billion(5)

http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?page name=FactsStats...

Yeah, we have some looming problems -- this is only one disease.

75% have below-average IQs, and only about 5-10 percent are significantly above average (i.e. more than 105). Check the facts here. You can find more information on the common symptoms of autism here, here, and here.

Autism is a spectrum disorder, so your case is not out of the question, but would be exceptionally exceptionally rare. Nevermind that an IQ of 170 is approximately the top .05% of the population, so that's rare enough, but as you can see from the statistics quoted above, it is even rarer for someone autistic to be of that intelligence. Anyway, I hope you get a chance to read about the truth of autism, instead of the myths that you hold to be true.

Insistence on sameness; resistance to change
Difficulty in expressing needs; uses gestures or pointing instead of words
Repeating words or phrases in place of normal, responsive language
Laughing, crying, showing distress for reasons not apparent to others
Prefers to be alone; aloof manner
Tantrums
Difficulty in mixing with others
May not want to cuddle or be cuddled
Little or no eye contact
Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
Sustained odd play
Spins objects
Inappropriate attachments to objects
Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain
No real fears of dangerÂ
Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity
Uneven gross/fine motor skills
Not responsive to verbal cues; acts as if deaf although hearing tests in normal range

One skill commonly found among autistic savants is the ability to calculate the day of the week for a particular date in only seconds. Autism (brought to life by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man) is a developmental disorder usually apprearing early in life. The fact that this complex (to the average person) algorithm is needed to perform this task only highlights the amazing abilities of these special people. There is still so much we don't understand about the mind. Please see the Austism Society's website: www.autism-society.org

As gathered from theWhat is Autism? page

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. The result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, autism and its associated behaviors have been estimated to occur in as many as 1 in 500 individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1997). Autism is four times more prevalent in boys than girls and knows no racial, ethnic, or social boundaries. Family income, lifestyle, and educational levels do not affect the chance of autism's occurrence. Autism impacts the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. Children and adults with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities. The disorder makes it hard for them to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. In some cases, aggressive and/or self-injurious behavior may be present. Persons with autism may exhibit repeated body movements (hand flapping, rocking), unusual responses to people or attachments to objects and resistance to changes in routines. Individuals may also experience sensitivities in the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.


See also this Autism resoucre page.

Ok. Here's my (Duke of URL) bit: As mentioned in the main story Autistic people tend to have underdeveloped cerebellum which plays a role in coordinated movement (think athletes).
Autistics may also have RAS's (Reticular Activating System) which may be improperly developed. The RAS filters out unwanted stimuli (such as the sensation of the pants on your legs, the air on your arms and all the other stimuli you never think about). With a damaged RAS they may be experiencing sensory "overload" and attempt to focus on one thing or avoid social contact to compensate.

For once a question on /. that I can handle. My psychology degree wasen't a waste. I hope.