MomtoMrQ: Did the quirks/symptoms really "melt away?" My 8 year old PG Aspie appears NT to a casual observer because of all the therapy he has had and his own self awareness that has been developing. I wouldn't say my son's symptoms have melted away, but he does compensate very well for them. They will never go away completely and in all situations.
I wrestled with this a year or so ago when he was first identified as PG. (We were backwards: diagnosis of autism before age 3, then ID'd as PG at age 7.) I read about all the PG quirks and overexcitabilities and thought they explained DS more than an ASD. But for my DS, it is his social naivety (even complete social blindness at times) that impairs him. The other kids are light years ahead of him in that field. He can fit in superficially and especially in structured situations, but the difference is there when he is closely observed. For the most part, it does not affect him during the school day because that is so regimented. And he is lucky to have a best friend to do things with outside of school.
I decided that I would keep the AS diagnosis last year even though I was not convinced that it was real because it permitted him accommodations of movement time, special seating, therapy. Now, I'm back to realizing that it really is AS and PG-ness. I know there are things I won't be able to tease out...which is this behavior: AS? PG? And in the end it doesn't really matter. He is a supremely happy kid, yay.
