Re: aspergers diagnosis prior to age 5 or 6?

July 17, 2006

Our son is turning 4 this Friday. When he was in the process

of looking for a diagnosis, he was not yet 3. So we heard the same

thing, a lot of reluctance to diagnose him with Aspergers so young.

He did get a generalized Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis from one

Dr, and PDD-NOS from 2 other Dr's. ( and an ADHD with Oppositional

Defiant Disorder from a mean idiot Dr who didn't even properly

evaulate our son.)

I have been taking in Pre-school papers and IEP's and evaluations

from anyone I can find in the hopes of clarifying the diagnosis. The

Dr's seem irked that I want to clarify the diagnosis. As if it

shouldn't matter to me. But to me, Aspergers just fits better, and

that is even what the first people we talked to said it looked like.

THis was a Parents As Teachers evaluator, and the staff at Judevine

who are trained in Autism treatment. Also, I've read and read all

the books I could find. It just seems to be more accurate. Maybe I'm

crazy for wanting to pick at the minute details, maybe I should be

satisfied that he got a diagnosis at all, but I'm not. I want to be

speaking the same language as the people who deal with . That

requires an accurate diagnosis, not throwing a dart at the wall.

Also, the quack we saw that gave the ADHD and ODD diagnosis said

couldn't have Aspergers because only kids over the age of 8

have Aspergers...idiot.

So I'm in the same boat. Waiting for people to justify my thoughts

and get on the same page. Anyone have an idea how to properly handle

it?

Laramy

July 18, 2006

I hope that your doc is wrong, for our kids' sake! I feel like I am hanging on

to every doctor's appt like a lifeline (I don't know why?!) trying to get some

answers as to what is going on in my ds's head and start to get him the kind of

help and therapy that he needs. It's so frustrating!

I am going through the same thing, sort of anyway, trying to get some sort of

diagnosis for my 3 yo ds. You're lucky that you were able to see dev peds

already, we're still waiting! (September 27, and that's only a consult, who

knows how long actual " testing " could take) I'm on my 3rd pediatrician for my

son and finally was able to get a referral to a specialist. The first chalked

it up to " boys being slower to talk than girls " The 2nd sent him to a hearing

doc and then blew us off b/c we were getting ready to move. Finally our 3rd doc

spent about 5 minutes with him and said he wanted to send him to a specialist.

He did hold off for about 2 months and a couple of visits with him before making

the referral just to spend a little more time with him. And so now we wait

again...

The postings here are so helpful and very informative to those of us who are

relatively new to the AS/HFA " world " I wish you all the best for your family

and good luck!

Amy.Jacksic@... wrote:

I have a 26 month old son diagnosed as PDD-NOS. My gut tells me that

he

will evetually be diagnosed as Aspergers which is why I am reading this

list. I have seen two different developmental pediatricians who told me

that you can't give a diagnosis of Aspergers prior to age 5 or 6 but I

have noticed a number of people on this list as indicating that their

child is diagnosed as Aspergers (not just high functioning autism) and

their child is well under age 5 or 6. How are you getting that diagnosis?

Are you like me in assuming that your child will eventually receive the

Asperger label or did a professional in fact diagnose your child at such a

young age?

July 18, 2006

I've always gone by what the child's needs are and not necessarily the

diagnosis. I'm not saying a clear, concise diagnosis isn't helpful...but I

tend

to look at what I am currently dealing with as far as behaviors and then move

forward with therapies and interventions. If we look at the basis for alot

of these diagnoses, they are very hard to pinpoint and there is considerable

overlap from one diagnosis to another. Over time alot of the symptoms and

behaviors can change for the good and not so good. I always try to keep an

open

mind and live in the moment as far as dealing with behaviors. Pam

July 18, 2006

Hi! My son was diagnosed Asperger's at age 3 by a developmental

pediatrician. The dr gave him that actual diagnosis as he felt that

is where he would end up as he got older even though at his age, it

was hard to evaluate some of the areas that are more defined by 5/6.

Since then, we have received a diagnosis of PDD-NOS from a neuropsych

when my son was 3.9 years old. This dr thought that he was too young

for the Asperger's but felt in all likelihood, he would be there as

he got older. Just recently, we had a follow up with the clinic that

originally diagnosed him but we saw a different dr. This new dr gave

me the ASDS (asperger spectrum diagnostic scale) and TABS (behavior

assessment) to complete. Based on those, she said it was very likely

that he would be Asperger's but her official determination was

something like...cerebral dysfunction presenting as austism spectrum

disorder probably Asperger's with anxiety. Odd I thought but

whatever. In any light, 3 dr's had 3 ideas but similar undertones.

Many folks think under 5 is too young for the diagnoses due to the

immature social and cognitive development at 3. I guess they make

huge strides between 3 and 5 in these areas making it obvious when

there is a deficiency as we see with our Asperger's. I truly

believed the diagnoses was accurate at 3 and continues to be

accurate. We have an NT daughter the same age which I think helped

our realization (even though everyone tells you not to compare...it

is hard when you have 2 so close in age). Regardless of the

Asperger's, with the PDD-NOS diagnoses, your son should be getting

services that meet his needs not that meet the diagnoses criteria (if

that makes any sense). Hope that is helpful.

Whitney

>

> I have a 26 month old son diagnosed as PDD-NOS. My gut tells me

that he

> will evetually be diagnosed as Aspergers which is why I am reading

this

> list. I have seen two different developmental pediatricians who

told me

> that you can't give a diagnosis of Aspergers prior to age 5 or 6

but I

> have noticed a number of people on this list as indicating that

their

> child is diagnosed as Aspergers (not just high functioning autism)

and

> their child is well under age 5 or 6. How are you getting that

diagnosis?

> Are you like me in assuming that your child will eventually

receive the

> Asperger label or did a professional in fact diagnose your child at

such a

> young age?

>

July 18, 2006

>

> I have a 26 month old son diagnosed as PDD-NOS. My gut tells me that

he

Hi,

I have a 3yr old daughter that was diagnosed at the age of 2yrs 10

months old. Her ped. never saw a problem with her behavior even though I

kept insisting she send her for evaluations. I thought she was deaf (at

the time) she was just tuning us out. Finally I think to get me off her

back she sent her to an audiologist. That woman was the best and was the

first to tell me her hearing was fine but this baby has some form of

" autism " I was shocked actually. She gave me the name of 2 major

hospitals that had clinics for children. I called TCH (Texas Childrens)

and it had a waiting list of a yr! So the 2nd was UTMB (Galveston) it

had a shorter waiting list so I went with them. That psych. told me calm

down she is fine she looked when I walked in the door she isn't

autistic!

I then got her enrolled in ECI and those wonderful people can't diagnose

(officially) lol but they told me that were sure she was PDD but as time

went on they knew it was AS. Finally out of the blue TCH called and told

me they had an appointment in a week if we wanted it? I took her and the

developmental ped. told me she was probably on the autism spectrum and

ordered blood tests. The blood tests were to rule out fragile x and

other chromosome problems. All those tests were fine. He also referred

us to a psychologist in his clinic.

The wait was on again with no real answers. Finally again out of the

blue TCH calls and tells me they have an opening the next day. We go to

it and she spent 3 hrs. with my daughter doing all sorts of tests. She

then told us she was giving her a diagnosis of AS!!! Yeah! finally

someone listened.

The school district now will not give her a diagnosis of AS because of

her age. They gave her PDD-NOS by their psychologist.

Sorry to make it so long but I just wanted to show you our journey to a

diagnosis. Yes, it is possible you just have to hit upon the right DR.

trained to spot the differences.

Good Luck,

Tammie

July 18, 2006

I am pretty much in the same situation. My son was 4 when he was

diagnosed PDD-NOS, but we were told he is " borderline for

Asperger's " but they didn't like to diagnose the kids as AS when

they are that young. Everyone we have had contact with pretty much

feels he has AS and we expect the diagnosis to change in a couple of

years. In the meantime, I will echo what others have said in that

it's not as important to have the " right " diagnosis as long as they

are getting the services they need for their specific challenges.

Ann

>

> I have a 26 month old son diagnosed as PDD-NOS. My gut tells me

that he

> will evetually be diagnosed as Aspergers which is why I am reading

this

> list. I have seen two different developmental pediatricians who

told me

> that you can't give a diagnosis of Aspergers prior to age 5 or 6

but I

> have noticed a number of people on this list as indicating that

their

> child is diagnosed as Aspergers (not just high functioning autism)

and

> their child is well under age 5 or 6. How are you getting that

diagnosis?

> Are you like me in assuming that your child will eventually

receive the

> Asperger label or did a professional in fact diagnose your child

at such a

> young age?

>

July 18, 2006

hi my son 27 mo. was diagnosed with autism at 18 mo. but i believe he has as or

hfa i dont know what the difference is...

Ann <maryann1@...> wrote: I am pretty much in the

same situation. My son was 4 when he was

diagnosed PDD-NOS, but we were told he is " borderline for

Asperger's " but they didn't like to diagnose the kids as AS when

they are that young. Everyone we have had contact with pretty much

feels he has AS and we expect the diagnosis to change in a couple of

years. In the meantime, I will echo what others have said in that

it's not as important to have the " right " diagnosis as long as they

are getting the services they need for their specific challenges.

Ann

>

> I have a 26 month old son diagnosed as PDD-NOS. My gut tells me

that he

> will evetually be diagnosed as Aspergers which is why I am reading

this

> list. I have seen two different developmental pediatricians who

told me

> that you can't give a diagnosis of Aspergers prior to age 5 or 6

but I

> have noticed a number of people on this list as indicating that

their

> child is diagnosed as Aspergers (not just high functioning autism)

and

> their child is well under age 5 or 6. How are you getting that

diagnosis?

> Are you like me in assuming that your child will eventually

receive the

> Asperger label or did a professional in fact diagnose your child

at such a

> young age?

>

July 18, 2006

My son was 7 when he got the diagnosis of Asperger's. He was originally

diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 3 after almost 10 psych admits. I did research on the

the PDD spectrum and stumbled upon Asperger's, at that time it was a fairly new

diagnosis and his doc. was hesitant to diagnose with this but after going over

material i had found on internet and books he agreed with me and officially

diagnosised Asperger's with extreme ADHD and Bipolar

kjsa3612 <trloe06@...> wrote: