Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Tell me about your child with anxiety

I do think she is socially inappropriate at times, especially compared to girls her age, but for whatever reason she still seems to do fine socially. She makes friends easily in a variety of settings--she is very outgoing, which may help. I would say that she is immature for age; to me she seems more similar to a first-grade boy than second-grade girl (in fact, one of her best friends is a first-grade boy). But it's not that she is STRANGE, exactly. She just acts young and sort of goofy. I used to think this was because it was the only way she had found to engage with kids her age, but now I'm not sure about that.

She did have some friend drama this summer at camp, and it was hard for her. However, it seemed to be queen-bee girl stuff ("You're my best friend/now you're not my friend"), not actual ostracism.

Also, the rage is never at peers. It is exclusively at us or her brother--in other words, it does not manifest outside the home.



A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(1) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction--Maybe. POssibly. Yet I would expect to see more issues elsewhere if this were really bad.

(2) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level--I don't think so, but possibly this is slightly impaired.


(3) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)--no, never

(4) lack of social or emotional reciprocity --I am not exactly sure what this means...

B. Restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(1) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus--I don't think so. She has intense interests, but never monologues about them, and they seem normal to me for a GT kid.

(2) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals--No

(3) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)--No

(4) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects--No

C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

D. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

F. Criteria are not met for another specific pervasive developmental disorder or schizophrenia.

I was interested in your comment about these girls doing fine till 4th grade. Honestly, I have sort of been waiting for her to develop social problems but it never seems to happen. It would appear that she is an appealing friend to many in spite of her quirks.

BTW, another thing that felt ASD-ish to me was that her sense of humor seemed sort of...behind, for years. Then she spent a bunch of time reading comics like the Far Side and Peanuts and it was like she "got it" overnight. She now writes and illustrates her own comics, and they're quite funny. She is much funnier in conversation, too. I suppose this could be taken as more evidence that she is compensating by being a very quick study?

She is also a good actress--theater is a strong interest. I would think that this would be hard for someone with ASD.

ETA: I should look into PDD-NOS more. I thought that maybe that had been eliminated with the new DSM, though? Isn't Asperger's now eliminated or something too?

ETA: We have both ADHD and (undiagnosed, but strongly suspected) Asperger's in the family. I have mild prosopagnosia (face blindness) AND topographic agnosia (severe problems with direction-finding), which seem to be sort of related to ASD. I don't think anyone who knows me would say I am AS, though. There is some kind of brain misfiring in that area, for sure.