Diagnosing Asperger's

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Hello, everybody; I can't tell you how glad I am to have found this site.

Since she started school last September, it has become apparent that my daughter has AS, and I have loads of questions to ask your advice on.

The one I'd like to deal with in this post is regarding diagnosis:

What - if any - are the advantages in having my daughter officially diagnosed?

What does the process entail?

Would it be necessary for her to know what was going on, and the result of any subsequent diagnosis? If so, is she old enough for this (she's five)?

first off, welcome to WP !
And now the journey begins......the benefits to getting a dx are numerous. having a dx can enable you to get additional services for your daughter- from OT and PT to speech/language, to just extra time to take tests etc...

It is important to tell your daughter about going for an evaluation in a way that she can understand & maintain her dignity. Focus on her positive aspects . If she has any awareness of the difficulties she has, you can say that you're going to the doc so he/she can help you figure out a way to minimize her difficulties.

I don't know what the eval process is like in England. Here in the States, we had to pay out of pocket expenses for the eval & then either take it off our taxes or submit it to our insurance company.....I've paid for 3 different evals ( for 3 diff. family members). The cost has ranged from $700-$2400..The eval itself is a series of questions about developmental milestones, and your child's functioning level at this point in time. There are also mini-tests that the docs do with the child. some of these tests have to do with language-both expressive and receptive. other tests have to do with social awareness.

I have a 9 year old aspie girl. We got official diagnosis while in England actually in 2004. Well worth it, here is why:

--its good for you: so much to read, learn, listen, people to meet, etc....with regards to spectrum....is good to get a solid read on where you child is. helps you filter.

--its good for your child: my daughter asks more and more questions - starting most around age 6-7 and ramping. its good to have a name. something she can google, learn about on her own, talk to us about.

--its good for drug therapy alternative discussions: you will likely debate this if you havent already. depression and anxiety are huge issues in our home. when you know its asperger's and then can think about the related emotional and social problems around that diagnosis, it helps.

--its good for friend and community building: of course aspie kids come in all shapes, sizes, varieties, and its not a one-fits-all diagnosis for any kid. even aspie kids we've known for years are not just like ours - to the contrary. but having an official diagnosis of aspie gets you a named commnuity of like minded, similarly-identified folks to talk to and peers for your child to try to make friends with (and for us, getting friends is the hardest part for our kid - by far).

you have access to services you would not otherwise have access to.

Hi

Our son is 6 1/2 yrs old and was diagnosed last year. We had problems with our son at school in reception class, and as he got older his behaviour changed. Since being diagnosed he has received funding by the Local Education Authority for one to one help at school.If there are any difficulties at school the teachers understand the reasons for certain behaviours (if they are AS trained of course!) and can make provisions for certain difficult situations. If there are issues at school other parents may think that your child is naughty and it is useful to be able to explain that there are reasons why yours acts a certain way. We have been offered placements on some training courses for parents.

Your local CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) are the ones that would give the official diagnosis. Referrals to CAMHS need to be from your child's school detailing the issues they are having at school. If school agree your child is AS then they should instigate matters.

If CAMHS agree there may be a problem they will usually arrange for an Educational Physicologist to observe your child at school. If the Ed P agrees your child may be AS they will report back to CAMHS who will then ask the parents and the child to visit them for a formal assessment. They usually interview parents in one room, whilst another person would assess your child in another room nearby. They would normally give a diagnosis the same day.

With regards to the assessment, we didn't tell our son what was going on. All the assessor does is play with some toys with your child and observe their behaviour in different play situations. As far as our son was concerned, we were having a meeting with someone whilst a nice lady was going to play games. He didn't have a clue!

You'll know the right time to explain the diagnosis, when you think they'll understand. We sat down with some good children's books and explained. He's kinda got the idea!

Hope I've been of some help!

Thank you all for your replies.

Knowing that the process is so benign makes me feel a little more comfortable with it, yet I still have misgivings.

My daughter is blissfully unaware of any difference between her and other children - her condition certainly seems to be at the milder end of the spectrum - and we are reluctant to turn her world upside down at such an early age.

Her school staff are trained in Autism awareness, and although they have a Special Educational Needs team, they don't feel that any intervention is appropriate or necessary at this stage at least, as she is performing well academically.

The only tangable sign of her AS is her inability to cope with or understand social interaction, and a profound need to not be the centre of attention. This is causing the only real problem that she has at school. In certain situations, when it's not appropriate to just to go to the toilet without asking permission (such as assembly, outdoor activities etc), she would rather wet herself than speak out in front of a classful of children. If there is help available to deal with these specific issues, then we would have to reconsider our position.

if she's doing fine in school from the teacher's perspective, then they're right-to an extent.....while it's true that no intervention is needed at this time, that might not necessarily be true in the future......it can't hurt to have an eval-my daughter liked the extra adult attention & liked talking to someone who could understand her. she didn't feel badly at all about going for an eval.....the eval process for anyone can come out decent-just matters what sort of spin you put on it.. if i went to the drs after being told that he was going to dx cancer, well , i'd be a wreck.....however , if i went to the drs after being told that he wanted to make sure that i was healthy, i'd be fine

My feelings, generally, are that diagnosis and labels are only as good as what they can do for you. For us, a tentative diagnosis from school has opened the door for all the services my son seems to need, and we've stopped there. I know Asperger's is right. I've read, I've learned, and it so totally fits. Took me a while to realize that, lol, since I had many misconceptions about the condition, but ultimately it has been an amazing key.

My son's condition came into play at the end of first grade, although there were intermittent issues before then. But it was at the end of first grade that it became apparent he was not going to be able to stay on track without figuring out what was going on. I think that timing is common with high end spectrum children.

Use your parental instinct, and remember that the more frustrations you can head off early, the better your daughter's school experience will be. She can and should be happy in her school and with learning. Don't settle for anything less.