DOES MY SON SOUND LIKE HE HAS AS

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Our son is now seven - and has an idiopathic disorder that effects his growth and muscle tone etc. Since he was very small (2 years) he has been obsessed with cars - in particular watching the wheels ....at age three he was able to read fluently and would amaze adults with his "adult conversation". He has very little interaction with his peers at school - but it dosen;t seem to bother him...he seems unable to connect with children of his own age - and seeks out adults in the playground to speak with. He can be incredibly unreasonable - for example last week we tried to brush his hair and he ran out the fromt door - and we couldn't find him for 1/2 hour or so. He is affectionate - but will start conversations with adults by asking them what car they drive. He also has a rather scary ability to memorise any licence plate that he sees...Academically he is average - although we get the feeling that he could be much better - given individual coaching .

I would love to hear from anyone who may have some insights - he's different and we love him - but we have spent seven years coping with a physical disorder ..should we get a referal to a mental health person???

We live in Australia - and from what I have read there are many groups here that have formed over the last five years re AS


Thanks



Kay

Your Son seems like an Aspie to me.

yup

Please delete all my posts.

Sounds like it to me. Not being able to connect with peers, but a desire to seek out adults. I can easily sympathize with that.

- Ray M -

yup.
Sounds like my life except for the physical disorder.
Please go and get him diagnosed, and put him in a school where the teachers understand. He may be doing badly (as in 'only' average) academically because he is bored in class and need to be in a school sympathetic to this.

thank you to everyone who has replied - we are going to the next step and getting a referal tomorrow - we - still ilke many parents are hoping there will be a different diagnosis - but all that aside - would like to hear an insight on what will happen from here - we are very use to doctors from a pathological sense - but this will all be new ....Thanks Kay and John

thank you to everyone who has replied - we are going to the next step and getting a referal tomorrow - we - still ilke many parents are hoping there will be a different diagnosis - but all that aside - would like to hear an insight on what will happen from here - we are very use to doctors from a pathological sense - but this will all be new ....Thanks Kay and John

hi kay and john
your sound does sound aspie to lot of people in here and also to me. apart from the physical disorder.
what will probably happen now is you will get reffere to a psychologist who will peform an assesment, this takes one day and is fairly straight forward, and a lot of question will be asked about his birth and upbringin and developmental milestaones etc.
then you will either get a diagnosis of aspergers, or something vague like pdd. which means pervasive developmental disorder
which means he is autistic but the strict criteria for aspergers cannot be fulfilled or due to his age have not been confirmed yet............also be prepared to find out and to look into your and your hubbies famileies past as it is a gentic disorder and it is likely that either of you have it or are carriers.
this is how i found out that i had it.

also a lot of psychologists over 35 havent heard of it or dont nwo what it is and a lot of psych's will confuse it with schiziod disorder as yoru son may actually be acting out a personality that he has learnt to copy and very well from others in his environment an dbehaviour may seem unnatural and acing and forced and he will be seen as schizoid and not aspie unless your psych knows what is going on.
you didnt say what part of australia your in, brisbane has the lead on aspergers as every one there knows about it....the rest of australia is better than the rest of the world but not as good as a qld educated psychologist.

good luck

good luck

thanks for the heads up (my husband hates that term) - we are use to the doctor syndrome - but this one will be differenent - I've looked up the site on QLD so ready to go fi we need too - can;t even begin to descibe the feeling in my stomach.....


K

I know that feeling well. Good luck. Get it over with. Believe me, diagnosis will not make you feel any worse and gradually you will a billion times better.

As soon as you are over the hump I look forward to posts from you telling us about (with the right guidance) how well your son is doing in learning to connect and enjoy time with his peers.

Hi there - James has his review tomorrow to see if he is Aspie or not - thanks to everyone who has written back, given me hope and ideas and for all those kind thought s that I know were being sent Jamie's way.....I let you all know the outcome - K

Kay and John,
How did it all go? Any updates so far?

You must remember that even though your son gets the Asperger diagnosis, he will not change- he'll still be your son, and he'll stay the way he has always been.

See the diagnosis as an opportunity to help him- an opportunity to understand what is going on in your son's head when he gets frustrated because he doesn't understand other people or because someone teases him because he's different- it WILL help you a lot.

If aspergers is diagnosed as early as your son's condition is, you can help him more than you'd believe- he'll grow up almost like any other adult as you'll be able to help him when the problems occur. Also, you can tell him that you understand what he's going through (you may not be able to 100%, but at least you know it's because of aspergers).

Remember, aspergers is not an illness, nor a "condition". It's simply a part of the person who is your son- and you already love him- why would a simple label change this?

You'll get a lot of answers if your son is diagnosed with AS... it will explain a lot.

Your son is happy and will stay that way- and with a diagnosis, he will get the help he needs.

I wish you all the best of luck!

May I ask what the physical disorder is? My son has hypotonia, which eventually led to his AS dx. He has low muscle tone and loose ligaments.

Hello everyone - thanks for the feedback...sorry I haven't replied stright away - we have been digesting the news. The psych we saw was a nice lady - and she is quite confident she can give us - and James 's school the help we need to firstly understand how he thinks (which is the part I find so hard) and how to help him. She has said he is very high functioning and thinks his IQ would be quite high.

If anyone can recommend some reading material for me I'd really appreciate it...you were right we are relieved to get an answer but feel abit overwhelmed at the learning curve ahead....any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated.....we now have situations that we are facing that wer'e not sure how to deal with - ie so that James understands. For example James was recently practising golf and hit his little brother (3) with a golf ball (thank goodness in the thigh not the head) James reaction was not that he was worried or concerned that he had hurt Lachlan - but that we would take away his golf club...no matter how we expained it - he just didn't understand.......these are the sort of things that as a layperson in dealing with Aspie we really need help with.

Thanks K

kay try amazon and type in aspergers, they are all there, in fact there is too much there as everyone is jumping onthe band wagon and is suddenly ab expert on aspergers..tony attwoods books seem to be well written.
as for the golf ball...yeah i can see this as somethign i would do, im aspie m, 34 qld'er.
if ic ant see blood or broken bones then im not oo worried that i my have hurt someone, it is an aspie thing

my best advice to you both tright now is this...aspergers is thought to be genetic and aspie males outnumber apsoie females by 9-1.
but it is thought that an aspie male will have a 90% chance of passing on aspoergers to offspring...so this is a way o fletting you know that either you or partner has it.