I'm happy to report that things have been getting better, and she seems to be adjusting day by day. The first day was definitely the worst, and she had another bad day last week when they had a fire drill, but overall she's reporting that she likes a lot of the activities there and she's coming home tired but happy.
That sounds really good! I hope she adjusts nicely.
Regarding Asperger's/Developmental disorders, these were ruled out because of the way she interacts with adults in a reciprocal manner.
That alone isn't a rule-out. Or a rule-in. Most AS kids do quite well with adults, and poorly with peers.
It was noted that she has advanced communication skills, which include being able to empathize, negotiate, and understand others' points of view and their body language.
Empathy is a good sign; but it depends how people define empathy. It can be slippery. My DS (who has AS) is sensitive to other people's emotions, but not able to guess other's thoughts or motivations accurately. This CAN look like empathy.
Additionally, she uses very expressive and appropriate intonation and gestures while communicating.
Not a rule-out. Lots of gifted AS kids can do these things.
I guess what I'm saying is, I see some flags here. How is she with peers? Can she follow directions she doesn't want to follow? Most kindergartners can, at least much of the time.
Not to alarm you but just to let you know that AS gets missed in girls, as do other developmental issues like ADD. My niece has AS, and she's very bright and imaginative, but socially disconnected from peers and highly stressed at school. It's very subtle, and also makes things very difficult for her.
Today, she had her appointment with the psychiatrist, who said that DD's statements such as "I want to get killed" are just attention-seeking and probably not indicative of depression. She said that my DD is a very strong-willed only child who's used to being the focus of attention and getting immediate response from her parents.
You know, blaming the parents is so 1950s. I think this is both unhelpful and inappropriate on the psychologist's part.
(We saw this kind of psych, too, when DS was 5. Told us if we just implemented time outs correctly, he'd be a different child. Uh, no, he had autism, and really well-executed time outs weren't going to solve that.)
I'm glad you are watching closely, and documenting everything. A suicide threat, no matter how young the child, has to be taken seriously. If it were my kid, I wouldn't be going back to that psych, but might seek help from a developmental pediatrician who's seen gifted kids, to help you sort out what's up.
DeeDee
