I think my son is an Aspie

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Hi RSDavis
Welcome, you will find a lot of good advice here, I'm fairly new, but I'm already very much in dept for some of the advice people have given me. Your son sounds alot like my daughter, who is also very intelligent, reading early, and able to understand the meaning of road maps and street signs (like when to exit the highway) at a young age. NOS stands for Not Otherwise Specified. It was explained to me that it is a label for kids on the spectrum who fit some, but not all, of the criteria. The diagnosis of Aspergers is used for PDD-NOS kids who developed language and gross motor according to standard milestones. Depending on where you live and what your school distrcits policy is you may or may not need a diagnosis. Some school districts will only give support depending on diagnosis, others have a bit more money and freedom. You may be able to call the school district, explain the financial situation, and see if they have any one (for free) who can guide you through the services.

There are many different approaches to diagnosis, depending on the diagnosing professional, the region, etc. PDD-NOS is a legitimate ASD diagnosis, not necessarily a temporary diagnosis, depending on who/where the diagnosis is being made. In some areas, it is considered temporary, until it can be figured out whether a child has autism or Asperger's. In others, it will be the "final" diagnosis. Either way, it is an ASD diagnosis, and the appropriate pragmatic speech and socialization supports should be put in place. In addition, you will probably need other supports as your child grows - some (many?) children need writing supports: some for fine motor, some for written expression, some for both. If the school does a lot of peer group projects, the socialization issues will become even more important. If your district has an autistic support person, s/he should be working with your child and his teacher(s) to make sure that when issues come up, the teachers understand how to address them appropriately. If they don't, they may need to hire a consultant! If they rely on the techniques they use with ADHD kids, it's going to be a huge problem.

One thing to note if the "professionals" try to get you to medicate for ADD or ADHD, it is usually treated with stimulants. Now if he has either condition he may be stimulant resistant (does not make him hyper) as this is a neurological function and we are "wired differently" for that. However, it does still dehydrate and suppress appetite regardless of our mental reaction. The problems with this are that AS children seem to frequently have issues with bowel movements (dehydration will make this much worse), and with eating in general.

So far, even though I know that my AS son has problems with focus, I have avoided medicating for that issue. I know that my son needs all the help he can get to help his appetite and to stay hydrated. If we do not remind him he will not drink enough, or on days that we need to pay more attention to the younger two children he tries to skimp on breakfast and lunch.

For myself, I was once trialed on Stratera and it made my scalp feel as though bugs were crawling through my hair. So from then on I just drank tea in the morning and unless I am stressed out one "dose" is usually enough.

If it's any consolation to you, your son sounds pretty much like a carbon copy of myself when I was a preschooler. I taught myself how to read at age 4, and I could recognize logos on credit cards and such long before that. I also had trouble catching a ball, hopping on one foot, skipping, and learning to cut with scissors. The only blatantly AS thing that your son doesn't seem to exude is the special interests. You mentioned some of his interests, and that Thomas the Tank Engine was very popular with him at one time, but it doesn't sound as pervasive as it is with some Aspies. That doesn't mean he doesn't have AS- there are different levels of severity for everyone. I just found it interesting is all. My special interests are one of my strongest AS qualities. My world revolved around Garfield, Pink Panther, and obstetrics when I was your son's age. You are lucky that your son is growing up in a world where AS can be recognized. If I were a preschooler today, it is very obvious that my teachers would have noticed my AS. But AS wasn't known about when I was a kid. Thus, everybody thought that I was a quirky genius who was a spoiled brat and didn't know how to "behave." So, I missed out on a lot of my childhood, both from undiagnosed AS and OCD.
-OddDuckNash99-

My son has always had good speech. Always seemed really smart to everyone when at 30 to 36 months old he knew all his shapes, colors, alphabet, and numbers.,
He has always shown a fascination with cars, especially the wheels (at-first), now he is more into the whole car(although he still ends up ripping most of the wheels off)
At 3-4yrs old he started reading. It always seemed like he read better than he actually spoke, but didn't actually understand what he was reading.
When he was about 2 1/2-3 years old is when i noticed that he just did't answer "w" questions properly, if at all. I expressed my concerns to his Dr, and didn't get a Dr to take me seriously til his 5yr check. The Dr, sent us to a speech pathology center.
The pathology center said that he has a severe speech deficit. Those that are his problem areas include "wh" questions, categorization, qualitative concepts (which is getting alot better) and possessives.
He has always had what i just thought were quirks like he usually-always-line-up-the-cars-he isn't playing with, always holds his hands over his ears around loud noises, never really wanting to color or write doesn't want to learn to use scissors he can't even button his own shirt.
At 5yrs old he still won't wipe himself, he has to potty naked (he won't have it any other way), he is almost always loud, you have to remind him to keep it down. He still loves cars and can tell you what most cars are he is stuck on mustangs. He is-practically obsessed with the computer, especially car & racing games, everything is a ramp or a track. He always tells me he loves me, i mean like 50+ times a day.
I don't think he actually walks around as much as he actually runs or jogs.
He gets upset or frustrated easily, and although he will play with other kids, he really only wants them to play his way or he quickly loses interest.
There are alot more things that just aren't coming to mind right this second.
I don't think he has just a "speech-deficit", I think there is something more to it.
I live in North Carolina, USA
Thanks for the kb tip. You are a life saver.

ty for the online kb tip, you are awesome.

The important thing is that you accept him, and let him know that he loves you, no matter what.