Newly Diagnosed 10 year old

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Hi, all. I haven't been on in a while. I started checking out this forum when the ER suggested my son might be on the spectrum. We just received the results from our neuropsych testing that was completed in July.

It was 9 hours of testing. They completed the following tests/questionaires:

Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale, 5th Edition
TEA-Ch
DKEFS
CMS
WRAVMA
WJ-III
NEPSY-II
DANVA
ADOS
CDI
RCMAS-2
BASC-2
M-PACI
CASQ
CMRS-P
SCQ
VAB, 2nd Edition
ADHD Rating Scale, IV
BASC-2
BRIEF-Parent

The diagnosis is that my son has PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) and Mood Disorder-NOS.

His previous psychologist and current psychiatrist had been leaning towards Bipolar and OCD. The neuropsych docs assured me he does not have BP, that it is PDD-NOS. They are certain but stated the two are often confused and misdiagnosed because they share so many symptoms or are comorbid.

So now we have an Autism diagnosis. They said if they had assessed him prior to starting medication (which has made a HUGE difference) they probably would have diagnosed him with Aspergers.

I am so greatful we have a diagnosis. I should have seen this when he was a baby, it was obvious to everyone. But he was so smart and well-behaved. Now he is 10 years old and cannot even have a conversation with another person.

Do you have any general advice for me as the parent of a newly diagnosed child?

I have a long list of therapists and people to call. I already started getting the school meeting set up.

It was really his 5 hour uncontrollable rages that got them leaning towards bipolar. His previous psychologist got to witness a mild 3 hour rage in his office and described it as utterly bizarre. The rages have stopped since he started on Abilify. They had become extremely violent - they started as just (literally) that throaty scream for hours on end with no verbal stuff, then kept escalating to the point where he pulled a knife on me during his last rage before starting medication. This went on (about 20 hours a week) for over a year. The neuropsych docs think he just couldn't connect words to emotions and couldn't express himself (particularly about sensory issues which were painful - pants, socks, shoes) and anxiety which caused the rages.

I hope that you and your son, both get the help and support, that you need.

Glad that you are getting answers to what is going on with your son. You are doing the right things with checking into therapy and getting the school involved. Most of all, don't beat yourself up about not finding this out earlier. You are on the right track now. Hang in there and Welcome to Wrong Planet! I think you will get a lot of support here.

Thank you for the support.