Benefits of diagnosis in children?

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I have a nine year old daughter who I very strongly suspect has Asperger's. This is something I have only recently found out about as, although I had heard of the term, I really knew nothing about it until about a month ago. Nonetheless, I have already done a fair amount of research since then and it seems to explain her almost exactly; the only thing she doesn't really suffer from are the meltdowns and her sensory issues are quite mild.

She is, however, a very happy child. Although she does not have any close friends at school, describes herself as weird and rarely gets invited to parties these are not things that have ever bothered her. She often plays by herself but this is through choice, not because she is being bullied. I think I have some stong Asperger's traits myself so I have never been worried by these kinds of issues and hence have always accepted her as she is and never put any pressure on her to try and fit in or passed any anxiety about these sorts of issues on to her as I have just never seen them as that important. She is happy as she is.

She has had terrible trouble with her handwriting at school but, again, this has never caused me any undue concern as when she gets to an age where her assignments matter she will most likely be typing them on a computer anyway. Her problems with co-ordination do not really worry me either as it is not necessary in life to be good at team sports.

She does seem to have some problems with eye contact as I have never been able to tell when she is listening to me. However, it has not caused any problems at home as I simply ask her if she has heard what I am saying. The school have never reported this as a particular problem.

The one area that is of concern is her concentration. She is able to concentrate for very prolonged periods of time on certain subjects (until recently it was a website called Roblox, but she has recently bought the Sims 2 game and I think that has taken over for now). However, on most things she cannot seem to focus her attention for more than 5-10 minutes. Even fun activities that she has asked to do like pottery painting. She has consistently been achieving below her ability level in school in everything except reading and IT simply because she is so distracted and never manages to finish her work in the time available. Every year it is a repeated theme at parents' evenings. But then again, academic achievement is not everything. I speak as someone who excelled at school academically, but failed miserabally socially (and was bullied throughout), and I have been a chronic underachiever so far in my adult life due to a combination of problems with my mood and emotions and a failure to find my "niche" in life.

All of which brings me to my questions:

If you suspect your child may have Aspergers but this is not, at the present time, causing said child any significant distress, should you pursue a diagnosis?

What would be the benefits of doing so? And what are the potential pitfalls? (The potential for stigmatization is one I would imagine; a lack of ambition for the child might be another?)

Is it just as easy to pursue a diagnosis later if problems do develop? Or is there an optimum age for diagnosis or some kind of "cut-off point" after which it would become difficult?

Thank you in advance for your help.

NB: I have not attempted to list every possible sign of Asperger's my daughter displays as that would simply make the post too long to be practical. I am not a diagnosed aspie but do identify myself very strongly with that way of thinking.

Somewhere here there's a thread all about diagnosis pros/cons.

I will say, as someone undiagnosed and with a son who is diagnosed, I wish I'd had the resources my son is now getting. I didn't act out, didn't really get in trouble, and may well not have shown distress - but the lack of social skills during puberty (when girls are so mean on a good day) was AWFUL. I'd look into pragmatic speech, at the very least and see if the school thinks she'd benefit from pragmatic speech therapy.

she might want a diagnosis to help her get funding for things as she gets older and so that exceptions can be made for her if the need be. in my case a diagnosis was necessary because of the severity of the symptoms and the services required to get my kids to be successful at school, not to mention the need for respite. you may be eligable for some sort of financial help to cover some of the costs of extra activities, ect as well. it might also ease her mind to know what is going on with her if she does have AS rather than just thinking herself different.

It's very hard to know how things will develop during puberty and beyond. I was already suffering terribly from bullying by the time I was her age and also having to deal with expectations of "normalcy" put on me by my mother and was very clearly miserable, so her path is very clearly different from mine. Obviously, if she develops any major issues then it kind of becomes a moot point as far as I am concerned and I will pull out all the stops to get her whatever help she needs; but I have some misgivings about labelling an otherwise happy little girl, especially with all the implications that labels can have in the future when looking at career prospects etc.

I have started to gently brooch the topic with her, without mentioning Asperger's by name, just to get a bit of a feel for how she sees herself. I have said that I think the reason she thinks she's "weird" is that her brain works a little bit differently from a lot of people's, but that there are a lot of people who's brains work the same way hers does, including her best friend (who left her school last year as she was a couple of years older). I said there was nothing wrong with her, it was just a different way of thinking and some very clever people thought that way, and if everyone thought the same and did things the same as everyone else nobody would ever invent anything and we'd all still be living in caves. We have always brought her up to believe that everyone's different and that's what makes the world such a fun and interesting place to live in so it's not a new concept to her anyway. She seemed quite positive about the idea.

My opinion is that a child needs to understand there difficulties or difference as soon as they are ready. I think there is nothing worse then feeling you don't fit in and don't understand why.

Sometimes its difficult to accept but knowing why you struggle is better than not, otherwise you risk your child developing other problems. All you can do as a parent is advocate for your child seek support, and inform them. At times it doesn't seem to be the right choice and can put you in a dilemma and I assume this is where you are now.

If you don't seek a diagnosis now and the situation changes you might have lost your child many years of support that is needed. If you are searching for advice now you must feel you child needs support.

There are some difficulties, yes, but they are really quite minor at the moment. On the whole she is a very happy little girl. I do worry about the transfer to secondary school in a couple of years and wonder whether having a diagnosis in place would help smooth the transition. But, on the other hand, I worry that the process of getting diagnosed, and the diagnosis itself, could create its own set of problems. Without a crystal ball it's hard to know what to do for the best.

If I did want to seek a diagnosis whose opinion should I seek in the first instance? The GP obviously has the medical qualifications but she has only met my daughter once, very briefly, in quite a few years. The school, on the other hand, know her very well but aren't medically qualified.

probably best to get a diagnosis from someone who is more qualified. a gp can make the diagnosis but a psych type doctor might get a more accurate diagnosis, or a pediatritian who specializes in the area. if the school has record of her issues they may be able to recommend someone who works with them on a regular basis.

We went to a multi-disciplinary medical group that was headed by a pediatric neurologist. We found it through our insurance - I'd recommend checking with your insurance first, not only because it will be less financial stress for you, but also because they tend to go with the most conservative methods that work for the most people.

Not to say those are for everyone, but I think they're a good place to start (we sort of backed into traditional from nontraditional and I wish we'd started there.)

My son went through primary school with no problems so the school would inform me, he had lots of difficulties but could mask them. He is now in secondary school and we have serious issues. I am not saying this will be the same for you but if your already sensing difficulties you should act now.

I tend to think that labels are more about what they can accomplish for you than anything else. If there is nothing to be gained by a label, why would someone want one?

I think you should pursue this. Through the school if you can, which I can elaborate on later.

My reason is this: your daughter can have better, educationally, than she is getting. You have no serious concerns, I agree, but you also write that she has struggles with writing and fails to live up to her academic potential. These could brew into larger problems and, if help is available for them by getting a label, why not get that help? Academic pressure is going to be increasing, and the opportunities to fall short will be increasing as well. Why not take the chance to be proactive?

Your daughter will not always be offered the option of typing unless she has a label. If this is an area of stress for her, as it was for my son, she will benefit from accommodation. What I saw with my son is that as the writing requirements in school increased, he started dreaming up excuses not to write, or to write less. The child that could give you a five paragraph answer to a question verbally would never put more than three words down on an assignment. That isn't laziness, as people may start to believe, but a reflection that writing for kids with certain physical issues is physically exhausting. Now, my son's issues in this area were unusually severe, but if you have even a fraction of it, it can hold your daughter back. A label leads to an IEP, and an IEP leads to alternative ways of sharing information on paper. There is so much they can do for this now! Not all schools and districts are on top of it, but what if yours is? She could get assistance that makes a big difference in her confidence with composition, and willingness to learn the process.[/quote]



I think consistently achieving below her ability in school is a good reason to look into what an IEP could do for her. I am wondering if she has some ADD, or subtle sensory issues that hurt her focus. Either way, there are things schools can do to teach the child techniques that will help the child stay on task. But they won't do it if they don't know there is an issue. School is not everything, but under achieving in school will set a different self-view for her, and set a different expectation for her future. You also miss an opportunity to allow professionals help her learn to deal with her deficits. There might be something there they can help with, there might not be, if they can help, why not take it? My son is getting services for things I never knew he needed, and help with things it never occurred to me could be a school's responsibility to teach. If you are in a school district that doesn't understand AS or doesn't want to deal with special needs kids, OK, nothing will come of it ... but what if you are in a good one? She could change from doing OK to doing great.

And ... it is all going to get more difficult. What isn't a big issue today could be a big one tomorrow, and then you'll be looking at a full year or more before anything gets in place.

I think the approach I would consider taking is asking for an IEP evaluation based on the fact that there is a gap between perceived ability to perform in school, and actual performance in school, as well as concern about writing. Sure, she is doing fine, and because of that you may encounter resistance because of that, but there are several things in your post that warrant investigation. The two things in my first sentence are exactly the reasons that were listed in our request when my son was in second grade. They didn't think they would find anything, but they did, and that changed EVERYTHING. Every school seems to approach this all differently, but that is what worked for us. We have no medical label, just a school one.

Once you have a special ed qualification and an IEP, you don't have to actually put anything in it if you don't want to. But it is there so that the minute you or a teacher sees a need, a meeting can be called, and the need addressed without further delay.

Anyway, its late and I've got to get everyone to bed. But those are my thoughts.

Just wanted to say thank you to those of you who have responded. It is hard sometimes being a parent isn't it? If only we had a crystal ball when we were making all these decisions! Anyway I have a lot to think about, I am still very new to all this, but I think for now I will raise it at her parents' evening later this term and see what response I get and take things from there.

Hi there! I am not trying to hijack this thread, but I have a very similar question. The child in question currently has a diagnosis of autism and ADHD. He recently switched schools to one specializing in autism, and I have noticed many of his classmates have an additional diagnosis of mental retardation or MMR. I am fairly certain T. could qualify for this diagnosis if we wished to pursue it - but is there any point? Does anyone know if it would qualify him for more educational benefits?

I'm too scared to bring this up with his father - the "r" word just hasn't been spoken in this house since I moved in and I'm scared to be the one to break that silence.

I guess the question would be: do you think the work this child is being offered is beyond his or her abilities? I don't know that more diagnoses = more services, I think it's more like correct diagnoses = (in theory) appropriate services. If it were me, I'd look for this if I felt there needed to be a change in the way the school handles things.

I did some poking around to try to find links to the discussion on this topic I referred to earlier, but I found this instead: http://www.wrongplanet.net/article358.html I thought it was terrific and mostly pertinent, so here it is.

Here is the thread I was looking for when I found that one - it's got some of the "cons" listed: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt148438.html