My son is 10, he has always been different I would say since the first grade. I constantly argued with is teacher who I though was wrong, she would tell me he could not concentrate, pay attention, stay focused in circle time etc. I thought it was her and could not wait for second grade to come. During secnod grade I got the same complaints, then came third grade where i decided to move to a different area and try a different school. When the same problems came up I decided to take him to the doctor, one doctor diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder, then i freaked out went to a developmental pediatrician for a second opinion who then diagnosed ADD. He is now on Concerta 54 mg. The teacher says he is better, but he still cannot focus as well as she would want him to, he looses things, and his writting is bad. He does bad on open book tests F's. go figure.
But now my problem is he also has a speech problem, social skills problem. He would rather have one friend than a group of friends. He talks about things out of subject, does not have eye contact, is clumsy and does not act his age. He stays in his room playing videogames and watching TV most of the time, he is to himself. His speech is broken when he talks and he studders a little and takes a while to come up with a good conversation and then cannot hold it, which is where the social skill problem kicks in. After discussing this with several of my friends at work they suggest that he has Asberger's and not ADHD. AFter reading about it it scared me. Are children being diagnosed with ADHD and it is really Asberger's Syndrome.
my son is 4 and was diagnosed with adhd at 3 and a half. asberger was brought up a couple of times by his teacher but a development peditrican ruled it out but he has 2 or 3 friends. he also talks about things out of subject and don't make good eye contact, he studdered alittle but doesn't now kind of like a stage. and he is friendly to strangers but runs out of something to say. i know my son has adhd for he can't stay focused and is impulsive but wondered if his adhd is combined with asberger syndrome which i've read adhd can be combined with another disorder. we work with my son at making eye contact when we talk to him by getting on his level and getting him to look at us when we talk to him which has seem to have improved. i've wondered how doctors can tell adhd from asberger apart. let me know if find out anything on asbergers
Hi, I'm sorry your son is having so much trouble. Sometimes the symptoms are not so clear-cut. I'll give you a link to the Autism-PDD forum so maybe you can learn more there.
Also, try to educate yourself as much as you can about ADHD and Asperger's syndrome so you can be the best advocate for your son that you can be. It is possible that he has BOTH, by the way. Perhaps you should have him evaluated by a neuropsychologist to get a good baseline of his cognitive abilities. This will reveal any learning disorders, ADHD, or Autism. This testing should take a few days.
It may be possible for him to have some kind of learning disorder, resulting in his F's at school. Also, have the school system do an evaluation to see if he would qualify for more services at school. It is called an IEP. Check out the Schools forum here for more info. Also, Wrightslaw.com has a ton of information on getting school services. Good Luck.
ms.mom39098.9007638889thanks barb for the site. i did the test and it scored mild pdd. alot of the questions don't relate to my son but some of the questions like a lot of fear and the social interations does . but when i was little i had a lot of fears like didn't ride a merry go round till around 7. wouldn't go through a car wash but now i don't have these fears so maybe a nervous thing runs in my family and we out grow these . i hope . or maybe i had a touch of apbergers then i don't know alot about this disorder but back 3o years ago people didn't know about adhd or asberger so i never heard of these till a year ago when my son started having trouble. and the bad thing is i live in a rural area and have to go a hour away to the doctors that are even qualified in adhd. its a crying shame their is not enough education on adhd around my area for i know my son is not the only child in my county.lesnathan39081.4948148148thanks for the forum cando. i think it makes my son even more unique. he is even more cautious than most boys his age so not any unexpected trips to the er. he goes on the 4th of next month to the marcus institute which is a hour away but i seemed to have got better results from them than any where else,seems like they are better at answering questions and took more time with my son by testing his skills instead of looking at us with the answers, have you heard of it?If my child was exhibiting those symptoms, I would definitely consider aspergers or high functioning autism. Kids with aspergers are commonly misdiagnosed with ADHD initially, and treating them for ADHD doesn't work.
I would go in for further testing or go back to the original dr who diagnosed the aspergers and ask him why he thinks it is that rather than ADHD. If you are satisfied, I'd then ask him what steps you need to take to help your son.
The PDD Assessment Scale/ Screening Questionnaire http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html at the bottom you will find a clickable link to a place that explains how to rate this.
barb39081.4356712963My two cents worth for what it is worth...
I agree with some of the others. Take it one day at a time. Try not to panic as it would be best for you and your child. Aspergers can be scarey but at least the right professionals can work with it and help. I did a lot of reading on this as it was suggested that my son might have Aspergers. He doesn't, but he did have some of the characteristics.
Sometimes, though, I wonder if we over diagnose as parents because of all the reading we do to be that "perfect" parent. I think we scare ourselves.
I have had a few kids at school with Aspergers and with the right care from their doctors and families we were able to work hand in hand with the students and their support sources outside of school. These kids can grow up to be quite successful and productive citizens with the right support.
Goodluck in finding the right help for your child.
i think these kids being different is what makes them so special and unique . they have their own personality . i think my son is so funny sometimes the things he can come up with.My son was tested for Aspergers when he turned 5. It was the most