Although her play, while imaginative, it can be extreamly repatative and often comes from something she has seen, read, or heard about... Then she does this over again from start to finsh for an entire hour or more....more than 30 times the exact same thing. This happens ALL the time.
It's hard to know what sort of play is to be expected for your daughter, age appropriate? Academic level appropriate? But I don't think that her sort of imaginative play 'rules out' AS in any way. Many people with AS also have sensory issues as well as the behaviors of ADHD. The problem is that although people expect folks with AS to have 'above average IQ' there is basically almost no data on folks who have PG range IQs. I would read Dee Lovecky's book 'Different Minds' as she is one who has studied AS and ADHD in gifted kids.
I see ADHD as a 'slower than normal' developmental path in developing executive function skills. Having the diagnosis of ADHD says nothing about where the person will finish their growth, only that they are a few years behind in this area. But it did take me into my 40s to get the routines down to keep a decluttered home.
Likewise I've read that AS is a 'slower than normal' developmental path in learning certain social skills. You may have experienced this yourself in your own life. We all always grow and change - hopefully into a fuller version of ourselves, but not in a straight line path. If your daughter does have 'clinically diagnosable' AS that says nothing about what she will be like at age 10, 20 or 30. Especially with her LOG. Realize that all the future predicting works pretty well for folks who are within a standard deviation of normal IQ, so the experts won't even know that they don't know.
If she is doing 3rd grade math at her age, you know for sure that she isn't following any 'typical' path of development in at least that one area. I would read up on AS, but always take it with a grain of salt about what the future will bring. Concentrate on learning about how other families have handled various issues well in the moment.
When my son was first IQ tested he was misdiagnosed as having NVLD. I do resent it that my psychologist didn't level with me that my son was an outlier and send me right away to a gifted specialist, but I learn tons of 'super-parenting' tricks from those books, even though it was a misdiagnosis!
As a baby and preschooler, my son made it very clear how he wanted things. I wish you all had been around to remind me that because he is
good at communicating what he wants isn't a reason to avoid the tantrum and
always do it his way. It might have been that he 'needed' lots of practice in 'handling his strong feelings.' But that isn't the person I was then, and I had no gifted support at all until he was 8 years old. Now that I realize that we can be completely close and connected without having to steer around so much of life, he's feeling stronger about himself, and my 'job'as Mom is totally different. As always it's a slow path from where you are to where you are going.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
