Hi Wookiemouse,
And we are currently filling out the paperwork for the Gifted Development Center in Denver to get a consultation started, thank you SO much for that referral!
I think if you want to rule in/rule out developmental issues like AS or ADHD you should also make sure to see someone who's dealt extensively with those issues. In our family's experience, if there's anything else going on in addition to the giftedness, that's actually a bit more important than the gifted piece at this age, in terms of figuring out a plan.
FWIW, we found that the autism experts tended to handle giftedness with reasonable aplomb when evaluating him, whereas people who saw the giftedness as primary completely wrote off DS's serious problems as "quirks," thereby delaying DS's treatment by years.
What I'm basically seeking is a second opinion of a diagnosis, which I think any parent would do if this were a physical ailment.
I'd definitely seek more information were I in your shoes; just saying to be aware that the expertise of the person you ask can seriously change the result.
But there is also the line regarding what IS or is NOT an issue. If my DS has poor handwriting because of poor fine motor skills that comes with the Aspergers, then by all means, he should be in therapy. But if he has poor handwriting because he's simply gifted and most gifted kids have poor handwriting because it's not important to make it nice and pretty, then it's a trait and not necessarily something to correct.
I'd say that if the handwriting is illegible, it should probably be worked on, regardless of the cause. It's so easy to get hung up on giftedness, and use it to excuse things that can be remediated through careful teaching. Handwriting doesn't have to be calligraphy, but the teachers who will mark his exam papers all the way through college will be well disposed to him if it's at least legible.
The same with inattentiveness - when the class is reading BOB books during storytime and he keeps wandering, yet he just finished his 4th Lemony Snicket book while sitting perfectly still in his bedroom for half the day, maybe it's not ADHD, but boredom?
Quite possible. And yet-- ADHD is an issue not mainly of inattention per se, but of regulating attention. It's perfectly possible for a person with ADHD to pay intense attention for long hours to something that interests him; it may also be nearly impossible for such a person to rip himself out of a book he loves, or sit still for something in class, because those activities require the ability to regulate one's attention.
What you're describing here doesn't rule out ADHD, only indicates that he's unusual both in capacity for deep attention-paying and for wandering when it's not appropriate to do so.
I think further evaluation could help you sort this out.
DeeDee
