Has my sister a neuropsychological disorder?

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I am diagnosed with AS and the behavor of my sister is somewaht concerning to me. I do not know about her to much although she lives in my home...

Some of her traits:

1. She has somewhat "strange" voice, which sounds somewhat "childish" to me, somewhat like the sound of significantly younger girl. Quotation from http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/index.php ... s-syndrome - Finally, the author has noted that some ladies with Asperger’s Syndrome can be unusual in their tone of voice. Their tone resembles a much younger person, having an almost child like quality.
2. I rememeber that she has some sort of interest in horses (or ponies?) few years ago, she might draw them (I read that girls with AS may have often interest in horses)
3. She likes to draw some "strange", manga-like creatures, they are quite "pretty"
4. She "bored" me talking about a little dead black kitten when she was 7 years old, she might say the story about it not once to me (it was somewhat boring to me?)
5. I once listened from my motherthat she "does not look in the eyes" or something similar (she has not so good eye contact?)
6. She rather quite strongly disliked bathing when was younger (sensory integration problems?), noise from computer in my brother's room may be annoying for her (maybe it is not sensory issue)
7. My mother complained that she has not too much (girl)friends, that she goes to the school bus last
8. She sometimes can have "stupid" behaviors ("gafy" in Polish) which can be really irritating to my mother
9. She likes spending time with the computer really much, she played Minecraft (people with ASD may like it?), she like(d) to draw cats
10. I think that she may learned how to ride a bike later than I (I learned it when I was about 5)
11. She may learned how to tie shoes about when she was 7 year old
12. She had rather good or even very good grades in school, but her handwritting was "uglier" than mine and rather "ugly" as a girl
13. My sister looks "strange" to me, she may be childish, immature, my mother said once that she may appear as a "handicapped" (in Polish: upośledzona) person (mother thought about my sister's face)
14. She is often rude, says impolite words to me, my grandmother, sometimes also mother, braother
15. She rather dislikes hairdo making (such as I)
16. She rather do not care about her dressing so much (somebody in my home complained about that)
17. She dislike open doors friom some time, she want to force me to close doors to rooms or bathrooms often
18. I do not remember so lot about her imaginative play, she liked animals such as dogs, cats, hedgehogs
19. She likes to eat somewhat atypical things (such as mushrooms when she was in elementary school)
20. She might have low amount of peer contact when she was younger
21. I think that she has arachnophobia (she sometimes force me to kill a spider which is not harmful)
22. She rather dislike haircutting
23. She goes asleep later late
24. She might have problems with polite sayings such as "good morning", "goodbye"
25. She has rather messy room, it is irrtiating to my mother
26. She may be somewhat hypekinetic (my mother once said that she can't "stand" in one place or something similar, but she is appreciably less hyperkinetic than me)
27. She said me that she do not feel need of being loved or accepted or something similar
28. She is interested in politics, she likes to observe people(?)
29. She is not a religious person, she oppose to religion even quite strongly, it may be due to Aspergian emotional traits
30. She rather does not have so good relations with other people in my family
31. She rather dislike touching
32. She had significantly low birth weight to length ratio - slighly below 10th percentile (2650 g and 53 cm); my grandmother said that my mother had birth weight 2800 g and body length 56 cm (slinghly below 5th centile - very low), I had 2150 g and 53 cm - quite significantly below 5th centile; low weight to length birth ratio and low birth weight may be signs thet there may be something wrong with health (I rather read something wchich said something similar) - it may be genetic in our case

I think that she may have some sort of Aspergian trait and maybe even has a very mild AS-like disorder (maybe she is even so "not neurotypical" to be called an "Aspijka" - Polish word which means to me a female person with AS or similar developmental differences).

It sounds like developmental delay to me. Has she been assessed?

She has never been assessed. She had no contacts with psychologists or psychiatrists as I know.

She has phenotype of symptoms which is strangely similar to description of "female manifestation of AS" (which I (nick)named "Attwood syndrome"). She is definately not like people with classic ASD. But her voice was even earlier "childish" to me. And her interests which she has - horses (ponies), cats, dogs; manga-like drawings... She appears to be an "Aspijka" to me.

My parents have three children. I and my sister had the same body length at birth - 53 cm. But my body weight was 2150 g, sister's 2650 g, brother's 3600 g, but bis body length was 57 cm. My brother has average birth weight to body ratio (between 25ty and 50th percentile) and he looks most "neurotypical" from the siblings. My mother had 2800 g and 56 cm, which is slightly below 5th percentile. But her sibling had 3750 g and 53 cm, which is about 90th percentile. I suppose that her sibling and my brother may have many genes from the family of my mother's father who has 10 siblings (not all of them are still alive), i think that this family is strongly "neurotypical". Mother of my mother had a sister who died when she was about 10, she may have larger somatic problem and intellectual disability. Son of one of my mother's mother brothers started to speak really late (it may be also the result of genetic influence from his maternal side, not paternal, I don't know why he had this trait) - about 4 years old (my grandmother said me so) and his son appears to have ASD from what I listened about him.

Cannot sufficiently say.

I do not think that my sister has developmental delay.

Her behaviors and emotionality looks strangely "Aspergian" to me. I think that she may have difficulties in common joy of giving and getting (Polish: zwykła radość dawania i brania) which is autistic trait. She told me that she has no need of being loved or accepted...

She spend her time mostly alone, with computer. She may be not so interested in typical social contact. And her "child-like" tone of voice... Hmm, looks strangely "Attwoodian" to me... I might notice something "strange" in her voice even earlier.

She may be not NT. She rather not appear to be a gifted child for me. Her inclinations and mentality may be the result of genetic factors (both parents may have low weight to legth birth ratio and they may have some AS traits), not environmental or her bad will. She rather had not more marked perinatal problems.

She liked manga-like drawings (even published them on one of the famous portals when was only about 11). She may be interested in something which may be colloquially named "peoplelogy" (Polish: ludziologia). It looks mysteriously like something which I named "Attwood syndrome".

I heard her laughter yeasterday at night and it sounds strangely "childhish". I think that she may be immature emotionally. Her pattern of interests may be "Attwoodian". Manga, drawings, anime and cats, dogs, horses are often liked by "Aspijkas".

I thought yesterday at night that she is an "Aspijka" and I may be not only Aspie in my home... But she definately is not "robotic-like" Aspie. She may have quite poor some motoric skills (like handwriting), she might learn how to like a bike later than me, she also probably acquired the abitity to tie shoelaces later than typical child. Maybe her case of supposed "Attwood syndrome" is even "bookish"... She has a brother with AS diagnosis (me ).

I think that my parents may have sopmething which is a counterpart of "broader autism phenotype" (or schizoid personality), my sister counterpart of "traditional" Asperger's (or schizotypal disorder) and I may have the counterpart of childhood autism (or schizophrenia). Such an analogy. My brother looks rather more "neurotypical" than my parents to me, maybe the data about birth weight and length can tell something about genes related to PDD traits?

No, I don´t think, that birth weight alone has anything to do with Aspergers/NLD.

My sister is not so weird as I. She is not so dyssemic and at least appear to have better theory of mind than I. She is not "kooky" in my opinion ("kookiness" is not ASD trait, but rather schizophrenia spectrum or McDD).

I think that my sister can have an (unknown?) type of PDD which is characterised by social dysreciprocity, atypicalities in emotionality and unusual pattern of interest. Maybe it is a subtype of "Attwood's syndrome" caused by genetic factors in her case.

Some of her traits gives me to think...

- strange childishness in her voice (somewhat striking for me); I do not talk so much with her; she may appear even rather as "not so bright" than "gifted" to me
- pattern of interests: anime, manga, drawnings, Internet, horses, cats, dogs, politics, rather no fiction literature, she wanted to be a singer
- she told that she do not need being loved or accepted; she may prefer loneliness and be "appreciably" unfeeling; she may be "one-sided" in social contacts
- case of AS in her brother; interesting pattern of birth weigth and length in her family (low percentile - appear to be less NT)
- making "goofs" which are irritating to my mother, rude behaviors towards other memebers of my family
- my mother said that she had "no" friends in early level of elementary school, later she had one girlfriend who was in my home at the time of later elementary school
- my mother also said about some hyperkinetic behaviors of her or poor eye contact; she liked to "roll" on the chair earlier, she has the fear of spiders, do not like open doors (it is not so large problems)
- some symptoms of "clumsiness" (poor handwriting as for a girl, especially at least relative smart girl, late acquisition of the ability of tying shoelaces); possible sensory problems (such as with bathing or hairdo making)

It must be pretty hard to be an objective observer of someone as close as your sister? Maybe the way she is = just the way she is?

She may look for me as "worse" than many Aspijkas from Polish AS forum. She may be superficially "normal", but I suppose that my parents carried some PDD traits which accumulates on me, have appreciable (but significantly milder) impact on my sister and did not hurt my brother so much.

Mother is nervous, she has problems with talking to children due to her impatience and "nervousness". She often use insults and vulgar words. She once said me that she do not like changes as I remember. Nd she has relatively few social contacts in my opinion. She may have some (but mild) eye contact problems and dyssemia. I might hear that she was interested in horses in childhood. She dislikes "messiness" really much, unlike I. She may have a psychiatric problems, looks somewhat "odd" to me. She may carry some ASD genes. Maybe she has (also) some traits of schizophrenia spectrum. Maybe she had SCT or genes of it. She has not driving licence. She is religious, but often can be aggressive for other people. She had birth weight 2800 g and body lenght 56 cm according to my grandmother which placed her below 5th cenile in birth weight/length ratio (BWLR).

Father can be even more aggressive than mother. He also not so rarely uses insults or vulgarisms. He appear to be "cold" for children. He likes collecting stamps when he was younger. He was religious when he was younger, but now is practically atheist. He said me once that he likes toe walking when was younger and likes to play with mucus (repulsive!) when was younger (I also liked this repulsive thing ). I think that he may also have low BWLR, maybe below 5th centile. He was the eldest child in his family. One of his siblings in very intelligent engineer and probably was a gifted child. Child of other of his siblings probably had delayed speech development (started to speak about 3 years old, but I am not sure). My father may carry some ASD genes.

You don't say how old she is, but she sounds just like any teenage girl or young adult, seen through the eyes of an AS person or family.

Based on what you've said, there's absolutely nothing wrong/abnormal about her. It's the family that seem to be the problem. You must be driving her insane!

She is about 13,5 years old. I do not know precisely how "normal" or not she is. She may be not NT. "Aspijkas" may look more normal to me than her. She does not have "classic" AS, it is sure.

Gotcha.. In that case she sounds totally normal for a teenage girl.

edit: sorry for the post edit, but my advice would be to ease up on her, stop judging, and instead listen to her. She'll be the one with the accurate perspective, and the the emotional sensitivity to the truth, and the family can learn a lot from her as time goes by.

My sister had asthma (diagnosed(?) some years earlier) and endocrinological problems (diagnosed quite recently). The pattern of intersts of my sister looks strange to me. She created works on DeviantART (DA) when was about 11. This page may be associated with rather "strange" people. One of Aspijkas from Polish AS forum also was on this DA. And my sister may look for me as even "worse" than this Aspijka (who had severe problems, but had many interesting achievements for me, her story is fascinating for me).

Deviant Art is one of the most popular ( if not THE most popular ) art sharing sites on the internet. It's not in the least bit "strange' for someone to enjoy the site.

I don't mean to be rude, but having different interests to you doesn't mean someone is "strange". It sounds like she's the "normal" one to be honest.

Not all people on DA are not neurotypical, but I think that there may be realtively large share of Aspies in this community. I think that most people on DA are NTs.

I do not exclude the possibility of having a developmental disorder by my sister. For me she looks somewhat "atypical", not fully normal. She may have good nonverbal communcation and theory of mind, but disturbed emotionality. Her interests may be also signs of "Aspergian" genetic influence.

It sounds like any emotion disturbance would be down to the way her family treats her. You say mother and father have problems, and if they've been aggressive, aloof etc, it's bound to have an effect on the poor girl.

Honestly, there's nothing, at least in the details you've described, that sounds in the least bit unusual or "aspie" about her. Of course, I don't know her, but if those points you list are your "evidence", then her "disorders" are entire in your head I'm afraid.

I don't mean to press the point, but it's important. If you and the family treat her, or even look at her as somehow disturbed, you're going to drive her away even more than you have already.

You mention she doesn't relate to her family well. I'm not surprised given her aggressive, aloof mother and father, and you looking at her like she's some kind of weirdo for not being and thinking just like you.

I repeat. It's all in your head and she deserves better. She's 13 for god's sake. She needs love and support, not labels from someone without a clue. Have you ever asked here WHY she doesn't relate well with the family? And actually listened to the answer?