Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional New here. I think my 7 YO, PG son has Asperger's

He's adorable, greenpalm I see what you mean. He is very expressive as he relates the story and he talks about the motivations of the characters.

Do you think the worrisome behaviors you listed could be a result of extreme sensitivity? I am thinking of myself as a child--I would talk to adults but other kids scared me to death. To me, they seemed totally unpredictable. I didn't make friends at school, my only friend was a younger girl that my mom babysat. At recess, I used to hide or play a solitary game. Other kids noticed my odd behavior and picked on me. The slightest thing used to make me cry (inappropriate emotional response?) When I was a bit older, I was able to make a couple friends at a GT school. But I was still quite inept socially. Hey, maybe I have AS

Dottie, it wouldn't work for me either. But then I saw that greenpalm said it loads a video randomly. So I kept pushing refresh until Kenneth popped up!

I still think getting him checked out is necessary, if only to put your mind at ease.

But as I see the video and review the problematic behaviors that you've listed--as well as the non-AS-typical behaviors like the cuddliness and the expressiveness--I just keep seeing a highly introverted PG child who is very auditory (thus the mimicry and the trouble he gets into when people don't understand that he's not being malicious with it).

Everything could pretty much be explained by that combo of factors, I think. But I say again, I'm no expert, in a big way!

He's a real cutiepie, BTW!

P.S. I sent you a private message.

I am not sure I can offer you any advice either but I did want to comment that your son is very cute! Loved the video.

He pulled right up for me!! He is very, very cute!!!

Hi Greenpalm,
I have some experience with pg/AS kids. Everyone here has given you good advice. It's true, there can be a fine line between PG and AS. Your ds may or may not ever be diagnosed. Either way I think your concerns are very valid, and you'd be wise to focus on those, regardless of a label. I have worked with a social skills group for kids and some of them have labels, others do not; because their parents have chosen not to go that route.
It sounds to me like learning how to best help him, or finding someone to help him wend his way through the world will be valuable. You have clearly already been doing so, and reading up on this is your best bet.

feel free to pm me if you would like more info.

At age 7 my son used to flap his hands when he was excited, which was often, and because of this and the fact that the words he used in his speech sounded more like an adult than a little kid, some people thought he has Asperger's--even my sister, who thought the developmental pediatrician had to be wrong when she told us he didn't have it. He was also very expressive and animated when he talked.

My son doesn't have Asperger's because he doesn't have any deficit in social skills, has more friends than I ever had, can read body language to the point that it sometimes seems he can read my mind, loves to use figurative language and enjoys books with a lot of figurative language, has no trouble looking anyone in the eye and his friends describe him as smart and funny. He sometimes likes to use different voices for different characters when he reads or makes up jokes. I think all of his friends in his musical theater class do this too. I think all the kids in his class, ages 4 - 19, are all very smart and kind of quirky and so much fun. My son is just a little quirkier than the others.

One of his friends even asked me why he is similar in some ways to another kid he knows who does have Asperger's. I think one of the main reasons my son seems similar to someone with Asperger's is because he has sensory integration dysfunction which he says causes him to feel like he has excess energy in his hands that he has to get rid of. He doesn't do it as much now, only when he is extremely nervous, like outside the room where the spelling bee was held. He didn't do it on stage because now that he is 10 he knows that it looks a little strange and he cares a little more about how he looks to other people than he used to. At seven he didn't care that much what people thought about him.

I found that he was worse with the flapping whenever he ate or drank something containing Red Dye #40 so I tried to keep him away from that whenever we were in public.

Before I found out that he had sensory integration issues, I didn't know what to tell people about his quirky hand flapping other than the "overexcitabilities" I had read about.

There is a saying that if you meet a person with autism (or Asperger's) then... you've met a person with autism. Some kids with asperger's are very expressive, some have no problems with eye contact. I personally feel that kids with asperger's can be empathetic, it's just different than the average person. The social skills issue is a huge one.

Here's DSM criteria for Asperger's: http://ani.autistics.org/dsm4-aspergers.html

Lori, I'm a bit confused by your post. Are you saying that every kid with AS has no sense of humor, never makes eye contact, and is not smart?

I have known you online for years, (first at parents place, I think, and then P and P?) and it seems to me that many times you HAVE described your son as having social problems. I can't diagnose ANYTHING, of course, as I am not qualified, but everything you have shared in the past leads me to believe that your son may be on the spectrum. I have not mentioned this before, as I didn't want to cause offense, but it may be that if your son does have AS, he is still young and malleable enough for treatment to do a lot of good.

My son with AS is also frequently described as smart and funny. He has a dry sense of humor and loves to read Dave Barry and Terry Pratchett. He is a great mimic as well, and often confused other kids when he was young by talking to them with "clips" from various television shows and video games, which the other kids did not have the context to understand. He has the same issues with hypotonia that you have told us that your son has. He can speak in front of a class, but is hard pressed to make small talk with acquaintances. He rarely initiates conversation or thinks to ask someone how they are or what they've been doing.

Remember, autism is a spectrum disorder. No two kids will present exactly alike. Maybe you could keep an open mind about the possibility of your son having AS, and see what a qualified neuropsychologist thinks. There are many far worse things than AS out there.

respectfully,

Julie-

Here's an official on the board welcome to you! I do hope we'll be able to connect in the near future! Are you on the Gifted Issues list of attendees yet?