Diagnosis, bleah. The only reason it matters is because his special ed team says I'm a bad parent who doesn't know how to properly use reinforcements, and because it would be nice to have services thru Alta, the local service provider for kids on the spectrum...
Age 13. Identified as gifted but has learning disabilities and a processing disorder. Diagnosed with ADHD and mood disorder. Major sensory issues, and severe oppositional issues.
None of these symptoms are new but as he's gotten bigger they've become harder to deal with. These aren't the full list, just the ones I think might mean autism.
Won't shower or brush teeth. Has gone for 3 weeks without doing either. Has never done either voluntarily.
Won't leave the room with me if he's being sent to his room (say for throwing something at me or screaming non stop.)
Picks up stuff he sees laying around and slams it into other stuff or walls.
Almost never a time when sounds are not coming out of him - screaming, humming, moaning, screeching, yelling, shouting, talking, blowing raspberries.
Screams and hoots when things happen that he likes or doesn't like (just screamed for a count of 11 seconds when I had to go to the bathroom and he didn't want me to leave the room.)
Interrupts, screams if we don't stop our conversation to listen to his.
Won't see friends, refuses all attempts I make to get him to reach out to the kids he likes in his classes.
Wears the wrong clothes for the season, doesn't care when food is all over his face or shirt or hands.
Says things that are not logical, like he's allowed to do whatever he wants, that he paid for all his toys, not us, that I'm not allowed to ground him or restrict privileges. (Gets mostly an eye roll out of me in response but says it like he really means it - admits later that he knows it's crazy talk but says he can't stop himself.)
Thinks we do things on purpose like walk past him and create a breeze that makes him cold, or asking him to get up to do something and when he gets up he drops something, etc - says we do that kind of stuff on purpose because we don't like him.
Annoys us on purpose - if we ask him to stop squeezing us or kissing us or stop hitting us playfully with something or stop banging something breakable, he'll do it several more times and then stop, or he'll do it many more times and say he doesn't have to stop.
Is very concrete when discussing things, can't give the big picture or a summary.
Picks his toes and fingers until they bleed.
He has many many more symptoms that can be explained by ADHD or mood disorders - some of those can too of course but those strike me as the most autistic. Both his psychiatrists have said he's autistic but the school and Alta always say psychiatrists can't diagnose that... Now here's the kicker. He doesn't do any of that (except the friend thing and the concrete thing) when he's interacting with other people. We've had a school psychologist hang out with his for a whole day and he didn't do anything like that. He doesn't do anything like that when being evaluated, when in his classes, or when somebody else is around and paying attention. In stores he'll do some of it but if he detects people might actually be paying attention, he'll get it together and stop.
Can a highly intelligent kid on the autism spectrum appear so normal when he wants to? His school has actually told me that his ability to appear normal means that he doesn't even have a mood disorder. It means I'm a parent who doesn't know how to parent. They then say that's why they don't need to provide any more special ed services.
thanks for reading.
27 Nov 2014, 11:17 pm
