Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Not wanting to borrow trouble...but question

Amazedmom, I think I have mentioned elsewhere my two favorite starter books on Asperger's:

Bashe and Kirby, The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome (and the OASIS website (http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/Home.aspx )

Sohn and Grayson, Parenting Your Asperger Child.

These are accessible and practical.

I still think that you should make an appointment soon so that you can have your DD evaluated next time you are in the lower 48. An evaluation will cost you a little time and perhaps some money, but knowing what's going on with your DD given your suspicions would be well worth the investment.

DeeDee

Thanks yall....so if we wanted to have her evaluated in the lower 48 when we get off the island what kind of doctor would I need to make an appointment with?

Also, I need to check with our school district. I know that they have evaluators come in, I think it is once a semester for a week from Anchorage. So it has to be schedualed well ahead of time. Things are so different out here. Basically take everything you know of and change it LOL....thats what I have learned in our 4 months here.....

On a funny.... I just got our catalogs for christmas shopping....yes, this week....they all said "please deliver by November 12th" OMG! LOL. Dh got in last night but the plane did not bring any luggage due to weight-(this happens all the time) Last week I heard there was 80TONS of luggage and cargo in anchorage waiting to get here. It could be weeks till we get his luggage LOL.

I'd choose a neuropsychologist or developmental pediatrician in a practice that focuses specifically on the autism spectrum. Preferably one that has seen lots of girls.

We found ours through the autism center of a children's hospital-- that's one way to make sure that they've seen the range of what's out there and are good at drawing the fine distinctions that need to be drawn.

DeeDee

If you think she's PG I would very strongly urge you to have her seen by someone who specializes in gifted kids. PG kids are really developmentally different than the kids most developmental pediatricians or neurologists see on a regular basis. In fact many will have never met a PG kid before and you may get all kinds of wrong information as a result. I would save yourself the time and heartache of a potential misdiagnosis by going to someone who specializes in giftedness in the first place.

In my very limited experience, the most highly qualified people in the autism world are moderately well equipped to understand giftedness; much more than the people I've encountered in the gifted world are equipped to understand autism. Especially autism in a girl, where the rate of under-diagnosis is staggering.

Gifted AS kids often have their disabilities overlooked as PG quirks or excused as OEs by people who are too focused on their giftedness, and then they don't get the help they should.

That's my two cents only, use it as you will.
DeeDee

I second the idea that gifted/AS kids' AS symptoms are frequently dismissed as gifted 'quirks' by those who aren't familiar with both, and as a parent, I can tell you that it is very, very tempting to just go with that explanation.

It isn't that I necessarily think the autism specialists will misdiagnose autism if it isn't there. I think you equally run the risk that concerns will be dismissed. Wherever you go it is can be a very tricky diagnosis. There are a lot of HG and PG kids who appear MUCH quirkier as preschoolers than they do later. I don't say this to dismiss the value of getting help because there is a lot of good that can come from it. But, I would also not overlook the very real problems of misdiagnosis.

I wasn't clear from the original poster - what are your limitations in terms of travel and expense? If you have flexibility I would urge you to see somebody who has seen many kids who are both highly gifted and on the spectrum. That's a handful of specialists but I really don't think short of seeing someone who really specializes in 2E kids that you are going to be at all confident in any diagnosis you receive - or that you don't.

One thing I notice is that sometimes people mention the "misdiagnosis" book without noticing it also says "dual diagnosis" in the title. If you read the book it makes it clear that there are kids who have both. I don't at all think the poster should be discouraged from seeking an evaluation if she has worries, but really if the kid is PG and the people evaluating her have had very little or no experience with PG kids that is not the road to getting an accurate evaluation OR to getting a treatment plan that is based on her strengths.

Passthepotatoes,

I agree with everything you have said. My gifted/AS son's very real issues were repeatedly dismissed by professionals who focused on his intellect and failed to take the delays in other areas seriously. Finding people who have experience dealing with 2e is really the best approach, if it is at all possible. We had expressed concerns about my son to medical professionals from the time that he was 2 1/2, and it was three years before anyone took us seriously.