My son is PG and different. This is not the first time I've entertained the thought that he has Asperger's Syndrome, but lately he's started finger flapping and that has pushed me further along that train of thought. We homeschool him, so he doesn't have to cope with a school setting very often, but when he does there are always challenges. I've virtually removed him from group activities with only a handful of exceptions. He loves to play chess�against a computer. I used to take him to our homeschool group chess club, but he expressed rage each time the other player even made a move that might be considered threatening. (Is that inappropriate anger caused by Immaturity? Perfectionism or AS?�I don't know) My husband took him to the Davidson Gathering last year and he had some pretty difficult social behaviors there as well. I usually have reasonable success when I go with him somewhere like that, but I have to sit right with him and referee/filter (not sure what I'm doing) but I have to manage things for him to keep him from getting out of hand. I have two younger children as well, so that role has become increasingly difficult for me. Hence my motivation for just staying home.

This week he actually had a very positive experience at a fencing camp. The Coach was very structured and rigid with clear expectations, all under an umbrella of kindness. Coach said he began the week by not participating and even eating his lunch by himself. By the end of the week he was participating 100% and could give me the names of 2 friends.

Every time I've ever put him in a setting with a teacher or tutor, the teacher has come to me with concerns.

Every time I've ever read a list of how to distinguish between a "just gifted" kid or a kid who is gifted with AS, I have a very hard time teasing out the distinctions.

Obviously the finger flapping is one mark in favor of Asperger's. Other things that make me lean towards AS (rather than just PG quirkiness) are:
1. Inappropriate Anger response.
2. Internal distraction mid sentence. He'll be talking to me and just stop and gaze off. He faces away from me or even walks away while he's talking to me.
3. Inappropriate laughter response. (he was rolling with laughter while a friend of his showed us a Tae Kwon Do demonstration he'd been practicing. He laughed hysterically yesterday when his brother got a black eye from running into a door knob and was howling with pain)

Things that make me think it isn't AS:
1. He's extremely expressive, and animated. He does a fabulous job of reading stories aloud to his younger siblings and knows how to change pitch and volume to distinguish characters and emotion. He was even chosen by Amazon.com as a Harry Potter Kid correspondent based on a video audition last summer. So he definitely doesn't have that "flat affect" or monotone voice.

I know that no one here can make a diagnosis. I think I was just looking for a little guidance.

I do have one specific question. When I asked him about the finger flapping, he explained it to me in great detail. He said that he had figured out that there are 12 possible combinations of finger snapping, and he works systematically through all of them. Then he slowly showed me how he did it. He also explained that he doesn't always start with the same combination. He does it pretty constantly now. So�what do other people with Asperger's Syndrome say about their finger flapping? How do they explain it? (or do they even know they do it?)

Thank you,
Julie