So... had an appt yesterday w/the counselor DS's been seeing, but she wasn't able to make it (her house was hit by a tornado last month!) so her new assistant person (I didn't catch her credentials) saw us. She was going over his file and what all they've done and whatnot, and just off-hand stated they thought he has Aspergers and so they wanted to do XYZ... this is the first I had heard that! I'm guessing the counselor had been suspecting it and put it in the file, but hadn't planned on saying anything yet? We've known DS has some Aspy-type things, but we never seriously considered that as a diagnosis...

Today we had our initial consult (just DH and I) with the Neuropsychologist... she asked a lot of questions and as she was asking I realized she was asking Aspergers symptom questions and that nearly all the answers were 'yes'.

The appoint for DS's eval/testing is a month out now (unless there's a cancellation), so we'll have to wait until after that to see what she's got to say. We really liked her, btw.

We are also still waiting on the school... from what I've gotten out of DS, he's met w/the school psychologist once and met twice and did testing with the diagnostician (I'm guessing from what DS has said that she did the Kaufman tests (K-TEA & K-BIT), but we'll see.

So, here's to more waiting!

Also, anyone out there with a gifted/Aspy kid that didn't get a diagnosis until later on?

It sounds like overall things are moving forward, so congrats on making progress with the evaluations! I am not parenting an Aspie, but have friends who are - and several of the Aspie kids weren't diagnosed until much later - some as late as middle school.

I have also met a parent who was diagnosed with Aspergers as an adult (as well as more than one parent who were diagnosed with ADHD as adults).

With my own two non-NT kiddos, diagnosing their challenges was never a simple one-stop diagnosis, it took several years of observing, evaluating, accommodating, observing, evaluating again etc. We're still learning so much about my ds and he's in middle school. Throwing EG into the mix certainly makes it a bit challenging as well - whether or not your ds is ultimately diagnosed with Aspergers, you'll learn a lot from this neuropsych eval, and you'll go forward and continue to learn more about who he is and how his brain works as the years go by.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Amy - hopefully this will be a good step to making things go well for your family. It's a lot to take in, but in time a lot of folks have been very grateful for the help they have gotten. In the end, every kid is unique, and on a unique path, but even an inacurate map can often be better than no map at all. The trick is going to be integrating the unusal strengths into the mix of perspectives.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Thanks guys. I am excited for the eval to get more information! I know there's no magic test that will tell us with 100% certainty what's going on with him, but I feel like it's been so much guesswork so far, having the neuropsych eval feels more official, if that makes sense. They are expecting the eval to take nearly all day, (we were told to bring him lunch, snacks and a couple of drinks) so surely they'll have some info for us after all that!

Amy, I'm glad you're on the road to having answers. It really helps to know what you're dealing with-- that way, you will flounder less and make decisions that really help.

We started asking serious questions at age 2, tried hard to find the right people to talk to, but didn't get a diagnosis for DS until age 5. I think that gifted kids on the spectrum tend to present quite differently from others in certain key ways (language skills aren't always noticeably deficient, for example) and that this tends to delay diagnosis.

You may also find the parent forum at http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/Forums.aspx useful-- some good folks over there with lots of experience.

DeeDee

Although we had concerns early on, and had various professionals bring up the possibility of Asperger's, and mention that our son was "spectrum-y" from the time he was 4, he didn't get a formal Asperger's diagnosis until he was in 8th grade. Given his history, it wasn't a shock at all, though.

When DS was two, or nearly two, I said, "oh god, my kid is Rain Man" because he was walking around in a circle and counting -- and all the other stuff he did, like memorizing all the license plates in our apartment complex, etc.

When he was in preschool, they brought up Asperger's and I flatly denied it, saying, "why does there have to be something 'wrong' with him, why can't he just be a smart kid?"

It was one side or the other of second grade when we finally caved in on the diagnosis, as it became more pronounced and I studied it more and more.

But it's been really helpful to put the label on it and have that IEP to go with the ALP at school, and all the social groups and behavioral treatments that go with it. I hope you get what you're looking for, and that it's helpful!

Thanks DeeDee for the forum link, I will check it out.

I emailed DS's teacher to ask for an update on his testing/when the ARD meeting would be.. and we've got a date (5/17) and the diagnostician will be emailing me her report, along with the test results on Monday, so that I can forward them to the neuropsych. (I am so happy they volunteered up the test _results_!)

ETA: the diagnostician said DS did "a great job for [her] and, and is an extremely bright young man." I am glad to hear to complied during testing... he's liked it so far, but this was with someone he'd never met before, so - yay!

My DD wasn't diagnosed until age 17, her dx was very "borderline". The diagnostician was reluctant to give the DX saying she really felt my DD's issues were more ADD related anxiety. The diagnostician commented that she can usually tell within 10 minutes of meeting someone if they have ASD and she didn't get that from my DD. The DX was based purely on a questionnaire, so I don't know how much experience they had with gifted aspie females. My DDs symptoms are well hidden in public and other than freezing up in a panic attack during the writing portion of the IQ testing, there was nothing to highlight her difficulties during the day long one-on-one testing, which DD enjoyed.

We really didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until late middle school when it just seemed like she was a bit of a late bloomer. She was so different from her classmates intellectually, we attributed her other symptoms to boredom and frustration with the terrible school fit.

Once diagnosed however, and after reading everything I could find on it, I see now that it fits, and also that both my mother and father are definitely somewhere on the spectrum. Major "AHA moment" for me.

It's great that you are getting your answers early, there are so many great programs out there to help younger people. I wish we would have known earlier, we would have done things very differently.

Thank Nik! We are really hoping that what we'll get out of the Neuropsych appoint, more than just a diagnosis, is a PLAN for what we need to be doing to help him!

ASD seems to be a "vibe" thing with psychologists.

The last time I sent a guy with ASD over to the local psychologist I use for a basic psych eval, I got back a "dude - this guy has Aspergers!" handwritten note.

Unfortunately, he didn't do that testing, but I eventually got it confirmed by a local university.

I don't know what kind of vibe there is, but it seems to be a "know it when you see it" more than a formal test.

ASD should not at all be treated as a "vibe" thing. Not only are there diagnostic criteria, but there's a good standardized test to use (ADOS). There should always be a formal process of ruling the diagnosis in or out.

DeeDee