Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Questions regarding little Aspies

Last week we were told DS4 has PDD ... most likely Asperger's but going in for further testing in the next couple of months. Based on anything I have read, he fits the profile of Apserger's but there are some things that always make me wonder and would like to know your opinions if you have experience with Aspie kids?

- he takes everything very literally ... yet he has a great sense of humor? Is it possible for Aspie child to have a very good sense of humor?

- he has a super wild imagination ... I always hear from his room this loud conversation he's having with himself being all these characters he comes up with (or trains, cars, etc.) ... he can be lost in his imaginative play for a very long time ... I thought imagination is something people with Aspeger's don't usually have?

Those two are probably the two main points that really make me wonder? Now ... personally, I do believe he has Asperger's .... I've had the feeling for well over a year now and before then I thought some type of Autism until I found out more about Asperger's ... but hearing his jokes and his imaginative play always makes me wonder?

Aspergers ranges from severe to mild to "aspy-ish". I find that lots of kids I see in my practice with ASD have very wicked and dry senses of humor. They also tend to be the least impaired. Again with the imaginary play...see it a lot - often in their field of expertise. They have a much harder time engaging in another's imaginary play where they have no input or control.

You ds' sense of humor is an asset he can use to connect with others.

ok, that makes sense! ... DS4 has a great imagination but I don't think I've ever seen him try to join someone else's play ... even just now I was babysitting a friend's daughter 3 months older than him and she was pretending that magnetic pictures on a cookie sheet were "cookies" offering some to my son and he was just about to loose it trying to explain to her for the 10th time that these are NOT COOKIES! THEY ARE MAGNETS!

I guess with all that's going on, the imagination and all his joking around is a good thing!

You'll find a good logical explanation can make a HUGE difference in how they behave and respond to things. My son was never into imaginary play with others, until we had a talk about it, and now he does normal imaginary-type play with his sister all the time. He just had to have it explained to him.

Yes. Punny, jokey, and wry are all very possible flavors.


You might look at the book Parenting your Asperger Child by Sohn and Grayson-- they describe "types" of children on the spectrum, including one they call "Fantasy Boy" (or GIRL, I want to add)-- an imaginative type, a bit dreamy, whose inner life is grand and well peopled.

DeeDee