Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Aspergers questions

During my appointment yesterday with my son's psychiatrist, he mentioned that he was seeing a lot of Asperger characteristics although he wasn't ready to give a diagnosis of ASD.

As you can imagine, I've spent the better part of yesterday and this morning reading about Aspergers in children. While some of the characteristics required in the DSM are spot-on, but some of the major ones are missing or a "maybe" - not a definite yes. The biggest differences I see is that my son is a natural leader, well-liked by his peers, shows empathy, and has a very developed sense of humor that goes beyond wordplay.

For those of you with a child with the diagnosis of ASD, how much of it matched what you observed in your own child and how much didn't? It's a lot to wrap my head around...

I found this list, and after reading it to my college-aged son who lives upstairs next to my 12-year-old, we could both say yes to every one of the characteristics on the list except the rote memory and blank expression:

• Being "in their own world"
• Can engage in tasks (sometimes mundane ones) for hours and hours
• Can spend hours in the library researching, loves learning and information
• Clumsiness
• Collects things
• Doesn't always recognize faces right away (even close loved ones)
• Early in life they often have a speech impediment
• Eccentric personality
• Excellent rote memory
• Flat, or blank expression much of the time
• Highly gifted in one or more areas (e.g., math, music, etc.)
• Idiosyncratic attachment to inanimate objects
• Intense focus on one or two subjects
• Likes and dislikes can be very rigid
• Limited interests
• May have difficulty staying in college despite a high level of intelligence
• Non-verbal communication problems
• Difficulty reading body language, facial expression and tone
• Preoccupied with their own agenda
• Repetitive routines or rituals
• Sensitivity to the texture of foods
• Single-mindedness
• Speech and language peculiarities (hyperlexia)
• Strong sensitivity to sound, touch, taste, sight, and smell (e.g., fabrics, won’t wear certain things, fluorescent lights)
• Uncoordinated motor movements
• Unusual preoccupations
• Word repetition (they may frequently repeat what you've just said)

I don't have a child with Asperger's, but do have a 14-year old nephew with it, and that list is very accurate for what I've observed. He also had a lot of problems with severe and extended (unconsolable) melt-downs at school in elementary that were unable to be resolved. --thus the diagnosis, then the para in school assigned just to him, followed by removing him and sending him to a school just for kids with Asperger's, which has been amazing for him. He's going into high school in the fall, and is still quite quirky but has grown up so well. He's an amazing kid!

ABQ, it's not a bad list, though I would gently discourage armchair diagnostic procedures.

We can PM about details if you like.

DeeDee

ABQmom, I don't have a child with Aspergers, but a counselor recommended my ds12 (then 10) be evaluated for Aspergers/ASD after having spent some time with him. My ds *does* fit yes to many of the characteristics on the list you've posted above, but like your ds my ds has a very well-developed sense of humor, is a natural leader and from everything I've always been told at school and have observed fits in well socially and is very well-liked by his peers. The suggestion to have him evaluated for an ASD took me somewhat by surprise, so I read up on it a little bit, things seemed like they might match, other things didn't - so I asked for second opinions. This happened right before ds' three-year update on his private neuropsych evaluation, and I trusted the neuropscyh, so I asked her to consider whether or not she saw any indications of ASD when she did her eval, and I also met with our pediatrician to discuss whether or not he felt ds should be evaluated for an ASD. Our pediatrician felt that the list of behaviors noted by the counselor as concerns could also be attributed to a combination of exceptionally high IQ and/or his developmental coordination disorder and expressive language disorder. Our neuropsych also concurred that ds does not fall on the autism spectrum; I don't remember which piece but she showed me one piece of the behavioral questionnaire filled out by us (parents), teachers, and by ds which she said fell clearly within neurotypical range and is almost always outside that "range" for the patients she sees who are on the autism spectrum. She also showed us a chart which shows the interrelationship and overlap of symptoms between ASD and two other types of challenges (I'm sorry I can't remember what they categories are!)... but fwiw, our ds falls into a different "bubble" due to his DCD, and in the center you can see that *many* symptoms overlap.

All that to say.... I agree with DeeDee and gently discourage the armchair diagnoses. I think it's ok to read the lists and see what seems to match your child - you might find something you hadn't thought to ask about when you do meet with a professional to discuss the possibility. BUT don't worry or over think it either - trying to get to the root of what's up with 2e kids can take a *lot* of time and digging... Do you have an evaluation lined up with someone who is familiar with Asperbergers? I think you've got follow-up with other issues (CAPD etc) and re-testing... so you've got a lot of opportunities for information that will help solve the puzzle of what's up.

Good luck!

polarbear

Thanks so much for the feedback. And, you're right, arm chair diagnosing isn't a good option. It is the former reporter in me that always needs to dig for more information so that I have a wider layer of information with which to ask more intelligent questions and to use in weighing the information coming in as we move forward with more testing, etc.

Thus the motivation to ask for anectdotal feedback here. Most of what you read in researching the characteristics is pretty black and white. And my kids just refuses to fall into any predictable black and white pattern.

Aspergers is the diagnosis du jour. It was ADHD when I first started in the mental health field, then Bipolar became the buzz. Not that I don't see it as a real thing, just that it's being overidentified right now.

As polarbear stated, there is giant overlap in symptomology. The "diagnostic trifecta" of ADHD, ODD, and OCD is what usually perks my ears with a new client to possible ASD. Social
anxiety paired with expressive language deficits (and often a helping of depression)
also looks like ASD on the surface.

A multidisciplinary diagnostic team is the most accurate.

Bipolar II is still the diagnosis de jour here.

As far as I can tell, it just means that you are angry, depressed and poorly educated.

An ASD diagnosis may just mean "I think your kid is different and I'm this is the diagnosis for kids who are different."