My 7 1/2 year old son was diagnosed w/ADHD just before 4 years old. He has seen his pediatrician, a pediatric neurologist and had 2 psych evals done by 2 clinical child psychs, one of which we continue to see.
His grades are average and on the scale, he's exactly where he should be but my husband and I, the child psych and his teacher all agree he may have some processing issues. So the teacher asks me to write a letter asking a full case study be done on my son who is in second grade.
After three 10 minute sessions with my son and observing him in class on three occasions, we get called in to a meeting with the school psych and special ed coordinator. And now this is in advance of our staffing meeting next month.
They basically told us they thought he may have Asperger Syndrome and would like to have the teacher complete the questionnaire along with my husband and myself.
Now, I have read literally everything about anything that overlaps with ADHD and based on the criteria, my son does not meet the criteria, at all. He is full on ADHD with anxiety. The two things that led her down this path were that when she commented on how tall he was for a second grader, she asked "are you sure you're not a fourth grader?" and he responded with, "yes, I'm really in 2nd grade." So she tells us he was unable to tell this was a joke, that concerned her very much. The fact that he is being pulled out of class to meet with someone he's never met has nothing to do with it?? Are you kidding me?
The second incident was that he was very fidgety in class and began biting his nails and was visibly nervous while taking a math test, which he struggles with. Did I mention he has anxiety issues?
So based on these incidents, this is where we are. I asked her how long she's been a school psych, she responded with "I went to school for 8 years." That wasn't my question. Very young, very unseasoned. I also believe she was being led by the spec ed coor who mentioned earlier in the conversation she couldn't believe how many kids in our school district were being diagnosed at such a rapid rate. It sounded to me like they were trying to give this away. I am very confused right now.
So we told them we'd pass this on to our child psych who I called the minute we left. This person has spent hours with my son and was very surprised to hear that's what they were suggesting as a possibly. She flat out said I do not see this in him and assured us not to worry.
And I'm really not worried - if he had this or anything else, what type of parent would I be if I didn't accept it and get him the help he needed?
He takes Concerta and nothing for the anxiety at this point.
Has anyone had a similar encounter??
Mommychat39041.320474537You'll probably have to go along with this, fill out the questionaire and see what they come up with. They should then rule it out. If not, I'm pretty sure you can get an outside consult at their cost if you disagree with the results of the evaluation.
I have a major problem with feeding more information to the school psych than is necessary, which is why I posted the way I did.
Since your psych thinks that your son may actually get some accomodations if you do it, thats a different story. I hope he gets all he needs so he can enjoy school and learn.
barb39041.3885763889I agree with going to an outside expert. Our school district also seems very ASD oriented at the moment, even asking for money in the budget for an autism specialist teacher. Now, I'm sure that there are school districts that need this, but we have exactly two schools in our district: one high school, one elementary. From all the things that I have read in the last year, it seems like autism spectrum disorders are the new "diagnosis du jour, " as adhd was considered for quite a while. I'll probably get letters for saying this, but surely thirty years ago these same kids would have just been considered a little different, that it was just their personality. Do we really have to diagnose our children into a uniform type? Viva la difference!!!
And get an opinion in writing from your own expert who has no fiduciary responsibilities to the school.
You have the right to refuse to allow them to test him or to fill out their questionairre. Send them a letter stating that you have addressed the possibility with his psych and in addition to all the testing which shows he doesn't have it, the psych who has known him for years says there is no way he has it. If you have to, have him send them a letter.
If there are that many kids being diagnosed suddenly, it sounds like its become the flavor of the month. Just tell them the bridge to that diagnosis is closed!
barb39041.3852083333
Yes, our own psych said to absolutely go forward with the questionnaire and have the teacher complete one as well. We have no reservations about going ahead, I do have major concerns about the school psych. I also have made an appt w/our pediatrician to let her know what's going on to get her read on it.
Our psych did say that based on his academic test results and where he is on the scale, he would not qualify for services but may qualify for accommodations at best. If he was diagnosed with AS, that would be a different story. I'm so confused and sad!
Barb & BPQW - thank you! I completely agree. I almost think agreeing to the questionnaire is in some way saying sure, it's a possibility, but we don't have anything to hide so we'll do it and see.
What happens if his teacher fills out her form and they've already tipped her in on what they're thinking, which they assured us would not happen but I don't entirely believe or trust them right now. And my husband and I complete our separate forms and it doesn't jive. Can they just go by what the teacher feels?
We have a meeting with our psych on Monday, 11/27 and she is wonderful. In fact, the school psych was very complementary of her evaluation and how thorough it was, etc. She said she would like to recommend her to families who might need a child psych. Our psych was happy to hear that and thought it would help because she must not think she's a total quack and her opinion would count for something in the end.
Thanks so much for your input! Can I keep you posted on this?? Thanks!
The school can evaluate but they can only give you the information from it to pass on to your psych or ped. They can't legally diagnose in the US. You don't have to worry about them giving a wrong diagnosis. There is no way your psych will diagnose him aspy.
I just have a problem with them jumping on the aspy bandwagon when they have virtually one possible statement that could support their concern. He's been in that school for 2 or 3 years? The fact that no teacher has been concerned up to now should give them reason to doubt the validity of making an issue of one statement.
Well, hopefully they will figure out the processing issue and deal with that while they are at it.
Please do keep us up to date on what is happening.
I believe the school pyschologist has MA degree. She's less educated than a psychologist. I would not have the school diagnose.
Here is an online screening for PDD that was posted a while ago...it is very interesting ....we got a very low number that suggests NO PDD
http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html
Aspergers is closely related to ADHD and ADHD is often the first dx. somebody gets with Aspergers. The main symptoms are the children appear to be very precocious verbally, are often thought of as geeks or weirdos, they tend to obsess over topics (such as the weather, computers, animals, anything, but it's over-the-top), and they have a real deficit in social skills. It exceeds the ADHD social skills deficits. These kids want to make friends, but are so inappropriate with other kids that nobody wants to be around them. They do need help, even though they are usually bright and very anxious, and they DON'T "get" jokes. They are very literal thinkers. They can learn to function in the world, although they will always think differently, but without any help they will end up struggling badly as adults. I'm an adult Aspie. Psycologists aren't that good at diagnosing any sort of autism. A Neuropsych can distinguish ADHD from Aspergers Syndrome because they do a lot of testing. I'm a huge nailbiter myself. I'm not saying that the school psycologist is right, but I do feel she has a point. You may want to take her up on her suggestion, but I'd get a private evaluation with a NeuroPsych. Kids with Aspergers are usually not diagnosed right until they are pre-teens, even by developmental pediatricians. The earlier start your child gets, if he has it, the better his overall outlook for the future. I certainly wouldn't take any school diagnosis seriously, but I'd also not discard it out of hand. Take care. Mom9439042.2746527778If a c hild has dx. of SID, OCD, ADHD, speech delay those are all symptoms of ASD. Whether or not you like the label or you think he has or doesn't have it, getting interventions early on to help these issues really helps the kids function well as adults. The label isn't important, but the interventions are. If you wait to try to fix them until the child is a teenager, the emerging adult is at an extreme disadvantage in life. Instead of stressing on a label, I feel you should get the child help for his problems rather than waiting. A label gets help. That is it's function. Unfortunately, not all kids are just kids. Some really do have serious problems and most can be helped.My ADHD son, who was/is verbally delayed, was thought to be autistic at the age of 2 by early intervention. My son is not autistic, just adhhhd, sensory integration, speech delayed, and also has anxiety,(so don't I and I have none of the other disorders that he has!).
I feel that a lot of these "specialists" are really reaching and trying to label with all this new terminology. I have been told that the reason there are more children with all this disorders is because they have more information on them since when I was growing up and ADHD did not exist, we just had the "bad" kids in class.
I would go with your gut, if you think he may be too young to even get a correct diagnosis, then wait. It is your choice. He is only 7, what is the rush? I would want an accurate diagnosis. It was hell for my husband and I when we were in Early Intervention because they would say he had all these diagnosis just based on him not using words trying to diagnose him, which they weren't supposed to. Even children's hopsital in Boston couldn't diagnose him, with the exception of ruling out autism at the age of 2 1/2.
Be careful of these diagnosis, which can be labeling in their own way, especially by the school "specialiasts"! Why can't we just let these kids be kids then evaluate when you need to so that it is accurate and not a false fire alarm!
Just my opinion
Hello Barb, t
Great link from your post on Aspberger's! Thank you for sharing.
http://barb1.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=autism&acti on=display&thread=1164030347 This will take you to a link that has examples of children with Aspergers. You could compare your son to what you see here to see if there is anything that strikes you as possible Aspergers in him.
I agree with mom94; whatever gives you access to the most services, then
Well, we had our parent/teacher conference and I now know where the suggestion that he may have Asperger came from - his teacher!
She told me she's had an AS child and knows the symptoms. So she's a doctor now? At the same time, when I ask her how he's doing as far as his hyperactivity in class, she says he's fine but on his report card she notes that he's excessively talking, out of his seat, etc. I asked her what behaviors she was seeing in him that are on the AS list but not on the ADHD list, she had no clue. I'm so furious that she would suggest this when she has no right to.
His meds are not perfect and now he's got the anxiety issue. Clearly we need to find the right combination for him.
During our meeting with the school psych last week, I asked if it would be o.k. with the district if our child psych came in to observe my son and they said that would be fine. Of course after talking to her about it, she didn't think that was a good idea because we know what he has and since she has the school psych report, it wasn't necessary to observe him. Aside from the fact that she knows him well.
And my favorite comment during conferences was "and he's got some really great qualities too, you know" like I don't know that. I felt like she was trying to cheer me up and pull me out of the dumps because he's my son. I feel like I have processing issues of my own because it wasn't until 15 minutes later when we got home that I turned to my husband and said "did she just say that to me and get away with it?" I did tell her she wasn't a doctor, neither am I which is why we'd put this in the hands of the doctors.
Academically he's doing average so he's not going to qualify for an IEP unless he's diagnosed with AS. And it takes him a really long time to grasp something so he eventually gets it but it's very hard for him. We'll be able to get him accomodations but I think that's it.
His psych eval clearly states he has processing issues, why are they discarding the ADHD and a report which tells them what he's got and trying to start from scratch? Have you seen these questionnaires for AS? I could fill one out myself and end up with AS depending on how I answered the questions. So are we supposed to answer honestly and know it means he won't get any help or stretch it and get him help? Seriously, that's the position I feel like we've been put in.
I know I'm babbling, sorry. We meet with our child psych tonight. Will keep you posted.
Thanks for listening :)
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