Formal diagnosis helpful?

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I think getting a diagnosis at 11 is a good idea for several reasons:

1) The worst years for child socialization are just beginning. What seems like mild communication problems now could become severe communication problems once puberty, peer pressure and sex enter the picture.

2) He hasn't hit the teenage oppositional years yet. Trying to get him to see (and be honest with) a doctor when he's 15 or 16 could be just about impossible because of normal teenage aversion to being different in any identifiable way.

3) As kids get older it becomes more difficult and more expensive to get testing and treatment. Your son could start to show more serious effects of AS (such as difficulty holding a job) in his 20's and find getting help nearly impossible.

4) You may have identified AS as an issue, but are you sure that's the only thing your son is facing? A doctor doing a proper evaluation will pick up subtle signs of other deficits. For example, I easily identified myself as having AS, but it never occurred to me or my family that I also had ADHD (inattentive sub-type) until I saw a doctor.

5) Getting a diagnosis now doesn't have to "label" your kid. There is no law that says you have to disclose his AS to the school system. In fact, nobody else *ever* has to know about it. But having a diagnosis means you'll be ready for whatever happens.

Hi, I am new here. My 7 year old daughter was diagnosed with AS when she was in Senior Kindergarten (she was 5 at the time). I had known for at least a year before that, that she was 'different'. Her teacher had some concerns when we had our first parent/teacher interview. It was kind of a relief in some ways because she voiced concerns about things that I too had noticed. Up until that point, my family had thought I was overreacting or reading too much into some of the things she did. So having someone else notice these things made me feel like I was not being silly and worrying about nothing.

We took our daughter to a peadiatrian in town and after spending some time with us and our daughter, he said that he believed she had AS but was on the high end of the AS scale (if there is such a thing). He told us that Katelyn would need help throughout her school career and that her success depended on it. He said that in order to get that help, she would have to be formally identified.

Like you , we were reluctant to 'label' her and worried that this label would have a negative effect on her. However, after meeting with the school special ed teacher (who by the way was very knowledgeable about AS and informed us that there were other students at the school with AS), we were convinced that we had to have Katelyn identified as what they call an 'Exceptional Student'. By doing that, we were giving her the best chance for success and happiness in school.

I can't stress enough how strongly I feel that these kids need to be identified and given all the help that is available to them in their school system. I don't even want to think about where Katelyn would be right now in school without all the help she has received from the Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Education Assistant and other various professionals that work with Katelyn on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. Katelyn has her on IEP(Independant Education Plan) that has been designed just for her to help her in the areas that she needs help in and to acknowledge the strengths that she has as well. Having Katelyn formally identified has been a blessing for us and for her. Please don't let the fear of 'labelling' your children, keep you from getting them all the help they need to succeed in school and in life.

We are very blessed to live in an area that can afford a lot support for it's student. Katelyn has her own Education Assistant who works with her all day every day that she is in school! They work very well together and have a very close bond. Without this EA Katelyn would be so far behind in her schooling . Not only has the EA helped Katelyn with her academics but even more importantly, she is helping her with social growth and skills. As we all know, the social aspect of AS is a huge part of the difficulties our kids have .

Katelyn is a very happy, gentle child and she loves school! Her love of school and her continued success can be directly attributed to the fact that she WAS formally identified and is getting the help she needs.

The earlier our kids get the help they need, the more likely they are to succeed in school and in life!

Katelynsmom

I would also recommend a formal diagnosis. It opened a lot of doors for help that were otherwise closed.

As for medication, I will have to respectfully disagree about "not drugging". The term "drugging" has a negative connotation; however, science has provided, through medication, some means for some people to counteract brain chemistries that can be highly invasive to a normal and happy life.

I don't think medication is necessary in all situations, but to dismiss such therapy without consideration and discussion with a psychological professional is potentially far more damaging than any potential side effects.

I know things seem to be done differently here in the UK, but for my partners daughter having a formal diagnosis has definitely helped.
She was diagnosed 3 months before hitting 11, and at that time it didn't really make a lot of difference. She was doing fine at school, in fact her school were reluctant to even accept her diagnosis because THEY couldn't see any problems. Now she's moved up to secondary school it's a whole different story, the expectations are a lot different and she's struggling. Even within her first few weeks her teachers were aware she was having problems and had noticed she was 'different'. As she's in a mainstream girls school AS isn't something they have a lot of awareness of, but they are being as helpful as possible, taking her problems seriously, and getting her properly assessed to see what help she needs. I suspect that without a formal diagnosis it could have been a whole different story.