Hi, I am Alicia. My son, Harrison, 6.5, was diagnosed with Aspergers, Sensory Integration Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder this past week.
He is an awesome kid. Super smart. Very kind. Right now he is really into power rangers, robot and cowboys. He loves movies, reading, legos, writing short stories/screenplays, and art (coloring, painting, crafts).
I have suspected something since before he was 2, but could not get a dr to take me seriously. I was told repeatedly that he is just really smart and quirky. I basically just dealt with it for several years and tried to adjust our lives to help him stay on a routine and work with the tantrums.
This past year of being in 1st grade, it has been abundantly clear that something more was going on, so I called a group of psychologists to see if they would evaluate him because I was worried about all of his anger/rage. After observing him for an hour, she tested him for AS, etc.
One test showed PDD NOS and the other one he met the criteria for AS in 3 categories, so she said it was enough to be mild AS.
It wasn't really shocking, but I'm having a hard time digesting it all. I'm relieved that he isn't just difficult and that we will have ways to help him now. But I'm just scared, upset, and feeling a whole myriad of emotions right now.
We have 2 other children. A 3.5 year old daughter and an almost 15 month old son. Both of them appear to be NT thus far. He and his sister actually play together really well, but they also have some pretty nasty fights. He is very nurturing to the baby.
Some of the biggest thing we are dealing with are some of his repetitive behaviors, temper/rage, and we are really noticing the social delay. He has a hard time with food textures, certain types of touch and loud noises. I think he is starting to realize the differences now because he is very sensitive with his peers and not getting along with them as well. He is also incredibly argumentative and defiant. We meet with our pediatrician next week to develop a game plan and OT has been recommended.
I have a bunch of questions, so you will probably be seeing a lot of me.
11 Jan 2012, 9:21 am
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