Actually he has been in preschool since he was 3/4 and they saw stuff there that he was doing with his peers that made them think they need to investigate it. They had him on OT and a few other programs there. He started Kindergarten this year and they saw more issues with peer to peer interaction, and over odd traits, so they suggested a testing (at no cost to us) way downstate at a university where all they deal with is this kind of stuff. They tested him for three hours with social interaction, games things like that (he had a ball, thought it was a fun day) while we could watch through a one way mirror.

That's why he got tested, we went along with it, because quite frankly we was sick of the schools trying to label him and we as parents do said there was nothing wrong with him. It was just our little boy being difficult like you said. But when you read up on it and actually talk to some experts in the field about little behavior traits when he was younger (he used to line up cars ruler straight and if you so much as disturbed one he would get VERY angry and spend a good 10 mins or more lining it back up again until it was perfect. Our wanted outcome of the testing was to say there was nothing wrong with him, he's just a normal kid being difficult... But it wasnt and let me tell you as a parent to hear that is pretty mindblowing...

Its OK I fed him a bloated, poison filled cat!

It amazes me how you can make a diagnosis of my son, from what I am typing and how I type it.. I suggest you become the Doctor of all Doctors and stop trying to diagnose people by their grammar or spelling. My grammar may not be that great, but there were no spelling errors Mr Troll.

Anyway here are the definitions of them so you can make a more objectionable diagnosis Mr Miracle Doctor. I have marked with an hash (or pound) (#) the symptoms my son has, not all of them together are needed to make an autism diagnosis.

Mental Retardation:

Mental retardation is a condition diagnosed before age 18 that includes below-average general intellectual function, and a lack of the skills necessary for daily living.

Symptoms

        * Continued infantile behavior

        * Decreased learning ability

        * Failure to meet intellectual developmental markers

        * Inability to meet educational demands at school

        * Lack of curiosity

Note: Changes to normal behaviors depend on the severity of the condition. Mild retardation may be associated with a lack of curiosity and quiet behavior. Severe mental retardation is associated with infantile behavior throughout life.

Autism:

Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills.

Most parents of autistic children suspect that something is wrong by the time the child is 18 months old and seek help by the time the child is age 2. Children with autism typically have difficulties in:

        * Pretend play

        * Social interactions

        * Verbal and nonverbal communication

Some children with autism appear normal before age 1 or 2 and then suddenly "regress" and lose language or social skills they had previously gained. This is called the regressive type of autism.

People with autism may:

        * Be overly sensitive in sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste (for example, they may refuse to wear "itchy" clothes and become distressed if they are forced to wear the clothes)

        * Have unusual distress when routines are changed *

        * Perform repeated body movements

        * Show unusual attachments to objects

The symptoms may vary from moderate to severe.

Communication problems may include:

        * Cannot start or maintain a social conversation

        * Communicates with gestures instead of words

        * Develops language slowly or not at all

        * Does not adjust gaze to look at objects that others are looking at

        * Does not refer to self correctly (for example, says "you want water" when the child means "I want water")

        * Does not point to direct others' attention to objects (occurs in the first 14 months of life)

        * Repeats words or memorized passages, such as commercials #

        * Uses nonsense rhyming

Social interaction:

        * Does not make friends

        * Does not play interactive games

        * Is withdrawn

        * May not respond to eye contact or smiles, or may avoid eye contact

        * May treat others as if they are objects

        * Prefers to spend time alone, rather than with others #

        * Shows a lack of empathy

Response to sensory information:

        * Does not startle at loud noises

        * Has heightened or low senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste

        * May find normal noises painful and hold hands over ears #

        * May withdraw from physical contact because it is overstimulating or overwhelming

        * Rubs surfaces, mouths or licks objects

        * Seems to have a heightened or low response to pain

Play:

        * Doesn't imitate the actions of others

        * Prefers solitary or ritualistic play #

        * Shows little pretend or imaginative play

Behaviors:

        * "Acts up" with intense tantrums

        * Gets stuck on a single topic or task (perseveration)

        * Has a short attention span

        * Has very narrow interests #

        * Is overactive or very passive

        * Shows aggression to others or self

        * Shows a strong need for sameness #

        * Uses repetitive body movements

Not that many there is there? But I am sure the psychologists at UNH are all wrong and he really is mentally retarded, because my grammar isn't stellar and the fact I LOOKED for the definitions of Retarded and Autism, something you seem to lack the skill of doing...

And you are a sick fucknugget. Hope you die in your sleep twatface!

Yes he can draw conclusions to it, He can compare the thing that happen in said episode to things in real life. Yes he can make new possibilities from the data he just learned. He is like I said a very bright and intelligent young boy. You leave him at his own devices on You Tube for example he will pick out and watch things that interest him.
He just has some quirky traits in his personality. He is very focused on what he is interested in. Some audio stuff like loud sirens, parades, people singing something as simple as happy birthday to him upsets him greatly. Its like his brain cant handle the overload of information. But he will play in a busy playground, with lots of kids making noise. He will watch a train go by but covers he ears for the horn, but not for the noises of the carriages.

You give him a problem and he can and will work it out. Left to his own devices severly I doubt he would perish (apart from the fact he is a child) he just has some quirks.. That is different from a child with a different spectrum of autism, they would not survive, some cannot even communicate or even speak. Every comment seems to stem from the lack of understanding on what Autism is and how it affects each individual.
Some are bad that they will need constant care. Some of the high level (like my son has) or aspergers, will have productive and normal lives, but will always be known as having some quirks. There are many HLA people who are scientists, Some even work at the University where he got tested, so I doubt my son would fail as you put it. I suggest you do some reading up on the different spectrums of the disorder, before posting just a comment.

Many people in life now could have Autism in the high spectrum but never got diagnosed from it. They could be successful and somewhat ruthless at their jobs because of it.

Jesus, I would expect something better from Slashdot

A lot of you are suggesting that high function Autism is mental retardation. It ISN'T!.

I am very disgusted with the fact that people on here are totally blinkered and think its retardation. My 5 yr old son, just last week was tested for three hours and its been found that he has slight Autism. He is NOT retarded in any way shape or form. He is an exceptionally intelligent little boy. He just has trouble focusing on simple to learn tasks that are not within his interest. Case and point, at age 2 he could tell you what every single car was in the parking lot by looking at the manufacture's logo. Every one. even the odd ones that you don't see a lot of like Ferrari and Lamborghini (well you don't see many here in the white mountains of New Hampshire).
At age 3 his focus went from that to NASCAR, and he could tell you every driver, sponsor, number, what car they drove. Now he is into trains, he can watch an episode of Thomas the Tank engine and recite the whole episode word for word in order after watching it ONCE. He could read at age 3, he could write his name at age 4. He can count to 30+ and knew all his ABC's at 2 and a 1/2.

However he has problems if you break his routine, when he talks to you he will turn every conversation around to focus on what he is interested in. He has social skill problems when he deals with his peers who are of the same age. Adults not really a problem, and thats due to most adults being of a higher level than most kids his age. I personally think he has aspergers as he is very social and will will approach people and talk to them. We have has some simple tasks like one half of potty training that he still hasn't mastered at age 5, and we now know how to handle that, because all the ways we were trying were disrupting his routine.

The pediatrician came up with a very good example of how his life will be with it. If for example he decided to work at a museum as the resident Ornithologist because that is what he was interested in, he would excel at that job. He would have a perfect memory for that task and would know EVERYTHING about it. He would be a walking encyclopedia on the subject. Everything else would be secondary.

If he took up programming he would excel at it if he was interested in it. Seriously HOW IS THAT RETARDATION? Low functioning Autism is totally different end of the spectrum. Its just that all Autistic people have their brains wired differently, they are NOT retarded.

I suggest you read this before posting any more retarded posts ok?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_speculated_to_have_been_autistic

Remember the article says High-functioning autism, please don't jump on the short bus as many of you have on here.

The reason why the Nokia will never sell in the US mainstream market is that they (Nokia) will only target the GSM market. They pulled out of the CDMA market three years ago. See here http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1787 what that article doesnt explain is that one of the reasons they pulled out was due to a patent squabble with Qualcomm. Most of the Nokia phones on sale in the US arent made by Nokia themselves anymore, they are sub-contracted. The main reason the iPhone isnt as big as it is now in the US is because they didn't go with a CDMA carrier (and probably because most of the rest of the world uses GSM as well). Imagine if the iPhone was with Verizon, it would be a much stronger phone (although Verizon stinks). Its the old format game again, CDMA is technically superior in every way to GSM, but isnt the world standard. Shame really.

Wrong!. its not because they have DRM restrictions on install amounts. Gamestop hasn't sold used PC games for years now, and the restricted install DRM only really started with Bioshock which was less than 2 years ago..

I have been in the US for 6 years and in all that time Gamestop has NEVER sold used PC games. Electronic boutique and GAME in the UK are the same. They never sold Used PC games either and that's going back even further now. The reason they dont sell them is the assumption is that the buyer will take the game home, copy it and take it back and trade it in to get another game, take it home, copy it ad infinitum.

its the same reason why you cant rent PC games from the online rental stores too.

Its hardly high! 25.... 25 thats all.... In the US standard Flu claims over 36,000 lives a year... so no its not high by a long shot.

Obviously... seeing my DVD collection is full of such classics as Ben Hur and Spartacus, oh and lets not forget the extened LoTR trilogy, Dune, Blade Runner, Gladiator, etc etc... Its amazing that out of me saying that the some of the BEST films Lucasfilm brought out (does that say that I thought they were the best films ever made?....No) where the first three star wars and Indiana Jones movies you totaled that I have a crap selection in movies.... I guess you need to learn to read in CONTEXT and stop quoting me OUT of context.

That would be LucasFILM... not LucasARTS. Lucasarts makes video games and were one of the best studios around until they started churning 100% Star Wars crap....

Lucasfilm once had some of the best films under its belt until it started churning out Star Wars "prequel" crap..

Hmmm... I see a pattern emerging.....

Umm the DRM was removed like nearly a YEAR ago now.

Jeez, Ken Levine said it would go away eventually and would only be on the game for the short term. Some of you need to get a grip.
See here: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2008/06/20/bioshock-drm-removed/1
and here: http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=296125#post296125

No joke, See here: http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showpost.php?s=49a5273d84c63b82e5a1c76662b85940&p=300859&postcount=4
I actually have a Wacom tablet and to be honest the optional TabletPC functions in Vista are not needed to use the Wacom. The driver and everything else still works fine. I can still use my pens in Photoshop and Zbrush and on the desktop. You just lose all the handwriting recognition, Penflicks that kind of (IMO Useless anyway) stuff.

Remove the Pen Tablet features in the add remove windows components and you will find that it works just fine after that

the 7135 was around before I took the job I'm in now, and yes I have to agree that (to an extent) was an awesome phone for a Kyocera unit. But even when I got to play with with it I got this nagging feeling that it could be done better by a different company. It was I admit ahead of its time tho, it was around long before RIM's Crackberry and the like.