Hi Sandy.
My son at 8 (he is now 13) was similar to what you are describing, although he never got a formal Aspy dx. Just for a quick background, currently he has a dx of Generalized Anxiety and ADHD Primary Inattentive, as well as Dysthymia (low grade depression). Since age 9, he has taken Zoloft for the anxiety. At age 10, he started on stimulants for the ADHD. We've tried them all. He just finished a trial of Focalin XR, but we are going back to Concerta. My son also had a dx of an auditory processing disorder (APD) at age 5, a mild speech articulation delay when younger, and a language processing disorder. Last, but certainly not least, he tests in the gifted range on IQ tests....although you'd never know it based on his grades (mainly B's, occasional A, some C's). My son is what you call a twice exception child (aka 2E) in the educational world (gifted with learning differences). In short....he's been evaluated by MANY professionals.... speech pathologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, audiologists, neuropsychologists, pediatricians, etc.
My son does have some traits that fall on the mild spectrum of the Aspergers disorder. When he was younger, he used to draw for literally HOURS. Highly detailed pictures of what ever topic he was currently interested in. He went through a phase of drawing detailed houses, roller coasters, boats, cars, etc. He used to get some of my husband's car engine books and re-create the complex engine drawings in them. At Grandma's house.....in additional to playing with regular kid toys.... his favorite thing to do was take all the objects out of her junk drawer and create toys. As he got older, he started playing computer games that require a lot of simulation strategy and building. Games like Rome Total War, Age of Empires, Runescape, etc. He also went through a phase playing the Tycoon games...Zoo Tycoon, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Sim City, Sim City Rush Hour. Some of these games are quite complex in that you have to run entire cities, do budgets, forecast needs, etc. In short.....my son LOVES these games because he is good at them and it is a "world" he feels comfortable with.
I have literally spent years and thousands of dollars trying to figure out my son. I guess my point is that you may (or may not) ever find out what "the root of the problem is" here. Your son, like mine, is just wired this way.
My son struggles with social skills. He too is more of a loner. I've come to accept this and as long as I don't let him completely hibernate from the outside world entirely, I just let him be who he is. I do encourage outside activities (he does band in middle school), but due to his anxiety, he cannot handle multiple activities like many kids can. My son, like yours, never liked reading non fiction. He LOVES fact books of all kinds. He's like a walking encyclopedia sometimes. He also loves researching facts on the internet. He is a history fanatic. One time he memorized, literally, the populations of all the major cities of the US out of an atlas!!
My son also has terrible handwriting and cannot write and spell worth a flip! At this point..... I tell him when he grows up, he better choose an occupation he doesn't have to write and spell well or one he has a secretary to do that for him! He is never going to miraculously become an expert writer or speller.... maybe an OK one, but never expert. Thats OK too. His best subjects are social studies and science...and of course, computers. Math is OK. English and foreign language.....disaster for the most part.
My son was evaluated by a neuropsychologist when he was almost 8 at a local behavioral science department of a major university teaching hospital. I have a 9 page report of his strengths and weaknesses. Very important to have this so you can EMPHASIZE the strengths! I didn't want this info to learn how to correct his weaknesses. Sometimes some learning problems can be remediated, but it is my experience after doing this for literally years.....that its best to play on and groom your child's strengths and interests....than to obsess about "fixing" his weaknesses. He has to learn to compensate around them.
I've rambled on enough. Good luck with your son. Remember.... you may never know all the answers. Just love him for who he is and nurture his interests!
okiemom38862.4897800926Karen
Hi, my son plays a lot by himself as well. It's hard to know what to say when he tells me that he just doesn't understand why no one wants to play with him. We go next week to LSU, he has been accepted into a study they are doing in diagnosing things like Aspergers so hopefully soon we will know for sure if this is what he has or not. It sure would explain a lot for us!! Aaron will be in the 3rd grade next year. I have to try and teach him to type over the summer, he can't seem to write full sentences or paragraphs, at least not like he should. So they want him to learn to type so that maybe they can put his test and such on the computer for him. So far, our public school has really been helpful for us. Now the real test I guess will be this next year, especially if he is dx with the Aspergers!
What do you tell your son about the other children?
You triple your chances of a correct diagnosis by going to a NeuroPsych as they are very attuned to autism/Aspergers are know what to test for and what to look for. A regular psycologist and even some psychiatrists can't find it, but NeuroPsychs are good. It's important to find the root cause so the child can have interventions and a good chance at a somewhat normal adult life. Aspergers can be debilitating--not all Aspies do well as adults--my friend is a Disabilities Nurse and has a lot of Aspie clients. Early intervention for those social deficits are mandatory for many Aspies. I get nervous when I hear "mild" Aspergers. Aspergers is a mild form of autism, but it still needs to be addressed or the kids can grow up "people clueless." And that can affect everything from the ability to hold a job (even if bright) to not knowing how to make friends. Good luck :)Here is my situation:
My son is 8 years old. He was dx with ADHA in kindergarden. He was put on Adderall for the first 2 years. Then it seemed not to be working any longer. So about 4 - 5 months ago, he was placed on Concerta. He has more personality, but the focusing still isn't where it needs to be.
Last week his teacher referred me to an article in a local Magazine about Aspergers. It was very enlightning for me! My son has A LOT of the symptoms that they talk about. I started reading on the internet about it and boy, sounds like a book of my child. Although let me state that I wouldn't say that he was severe but it sure explains why at 6 years old he could tell you what ever you wanted to know about trains or name all the planets. He never cares to hear books about make believe, prefers to hear about how things work, trains, weather etc.... At 8 yrs old, he has one child that he ask to play with, this child is 6 years old. I do have him in ball and although he is really trying to stay in the game, he lacks the interest that the other boys have. He gets angry if attention is called to him for any reason! Especially if it is done by another child, that may just be happy to see him and call out his name?
School: He is in regular class but he is 504, with the IEP ( I think that is the correct term). He gets extended-extended time on test. Extra help from the teachers in making sure he understands the problems in from of him. This year we have been blessed by a very wonderful teacher!! Not only does she try her best to help my son, but she is also trying to look out for him for next year. I got a call from the school that his teacher has asked that we meet for the yearly IEP now for the next school year. When I called her (she has given me both her home and cell number so that we can keep in touch) to ask why we were having it so early she informed me that she just wanted to make sure that what she has started with my son this year gets put in his folder for next year so that if he continues to need this extra help, it will be there for him. I have to applaud her for this! His previous teachers did not ever seem so concerned about helping much less wanting to make sure he was set for the next year! She has started helping him with writing, There are times that he can not write a readable sentence. The only way I know to explain this is, at times his sentences do make sense but his handwriting is so horrible that you can barely make it out. Other times he may be able to write somewhat clearly, but it isn't a structured sentence at all. We have no idea why this is. She has told me that she knows he can answer the questions, if she ask him to tell her the answers he can, but can not put it on paper. So she started either writing for him or having another teacher come in and write for him. I don't believe this is all the time but when she sees he needs the extra help, she sees that he gets it.
Now, I brought my son to his physiologist to discuss the article on the Asperger's. His teacher and I had filled out a survey I found online, the physiologist didn't read the survey that we filled out. He basically said he had recently diagnosed a child with this Asperger's that was somewhat severe. He referred to the way that my son will respond to questions asked, where this other child simply ignored questions. Which I don't think my son has a severe case of this, just that he does have a lot of similarities with the symptoms to warrant a closer look.
He said could do testing on my son, but it could get quite expensive (my son is on Medicaid and he doesn't accept Medicaid so I've been paying him out of pocket). He did some testing on him about 2 years ago. On one hand he said that testing didn't really show anything as far as Asperger's but then again you can't really test for that until they are around 8 or 9. He said he isn't ruling it out, but that if he had that it would be a very mild case of it. Basically so mild that he wasn't sure that it would be worth labeling him with this for the rest of his life. The doctor believes that all my son's problems stem from Anxiety and he wants me to consider putting him on a low dose of Prozac with him staying on Concerta. Which I have to be honest............I do not like the idea of that at all. He did say that there could be a learning disability but that it would take more testing to find this out. Back to the insurance and money issue on that. I think I have covered most everything. I would like to hear from any parents that might have some insight on this. I feel so overwhelmed! I know my child is different, not jus the ADHD, but there is something else but don't know what or exactly how to help him. All I can do for now is to pray for a teacher next year like the one he has been blessed with this year! Please anyone with suggestions as to what I should do next...........I'm open!! Thanks! PS. I will be bringing him back to his regular md doctor to fill her in as well on everything and get her opinion as well! I'm sorry this is so long!Thank you for the link as well! I did register and post there as well!
Thanks!
Thank you for your story! I think I will follow your suggestion! A friend told me yesterday of a Doctor at the University here to try. I just don't agree with giving my son more meds without even trying to find the root of the problem first!
Some days are better than others, but it is very clear that he has more than just ADHD going on! If it were just me then the school and the teachers wouldn't see it, but they do! I will let you know what happens, but thank you for your time and response!! It's nice to just know I'm not alone in this!
This is my experience and suggestion. My kid is Autism Spectrum Disorder. Have him see a Neuropsych. If you find one at a university hospital, normally they do take Medicaid. My son was on it and got twelve hours of testing in two hour increments. THe testing was very intensive and your son has many of the symptoms my son has only my son is more PDD-NOS than Aspergers. He is almost 13 and can't write. He can print, but his capital and small letters are all messed up and he doesn't "get" punctuation. He can recite facts by rote and often sounds like a "little professor." His interests and imagination is limited. These kids do well in smaller class settings imo and need more help than even one kind teacher. My son has an aide with him when he is in his mainstream classes because he can't prioritize enough to take notes and is clueless about how to research or put a report together. While his rote learning skills are excellent, his abstract learning is very poor. He gets one and one equal two. He doesn't know how to answer subjectives, such as, "Write an essay about what you'd like to do on your summer vacation." He has no imagination. He is allowed to give oral answers to tests, rather than writeen and is learning to keyboard. He is disinterested in most sports too, but he's a good swimmer and is on the Swim Team and plays soccer. He would rather watch TV, play videogames and play on the computer--typical for autistic spectrum disorder. Often, they aren't very sociable kids or they ARE, but don't have a clue as to how to make friends. My son is more a loner. Bottom line: Call a university hospital to see if they'll accept an evaluation. I would disregard (just my opinion) the psycologist your son is seeing. He isn't putting forth any effort to performance test your child. THere is no age when you diagnose autism of any kind. If you know how to test for it, you do. He sounds lazy to me (the Psycologist). I wish you luck and hope you get the right interventions for your child. I can't tell you how many tests my son took nor how many forms I filled out. Felt like 100...lol. At the end of the day, my son is doing much better. Whether he is "severe" or "mild" is irrelevant. All autistic spectrum kids need help. A good NeuroPsych or even Psycologist knows how to get autistic kids to answer questions, even if with hand signals and, frnakly, Aspergers kids do talk so I have to wonder if your Psych understands Aspergers at all. I'd move on. I recommend posting your story on this board:
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