Re: Newbie - 11 year old son only just diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome

[Guest guest]

My son sounds more like your son and he has Aspergers. There has never been one thing that he constantly obsesses about, but there have been things over time that he perseverates on. Does that make sense? He went through a major train stage where he loved to watch trains on tapes, play with trains, read about trains, etc... but he was also open to other things too. He just preferred trains when given the choice. Then it moved to Harry Potter, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and now video games. But I can still get him interested in other things (he likes to build w/ legos, for example.) I wouldn't discount this possibility just b/c he doesn't have a main obsession. From what you wrote below, it does sound like he tends to perseverate on some things, just not severely enough to call is an "obsession."

"Over-optimism is waiting for you ship to come in when you haven't sent one out."

From: <sarahcox41@...> Sent: Wed, March 3, 2010 12:51:13 AMSubject: ( ) Newbie - 11 year old son only just diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome

Hi there. My 11 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD/ODD when he was 5 years old. He has been unmedicated in that time although this has been very difficult as his tantrums and rages have been incredibly difficult to manage.With him starting secondary school next year, we thought it prudent to get him reassessed in order to identify any special considerations he may need in terms of his learning. He has difficulty socialising, writing, has speech problems and a few other things that worried us (mainly behavioural) . We attended our local children's hospital (in Melbourne, Australia) where he underwent a full days testing of IQ tests, personality tests, depression tests, ADHD stuff etc. He was interviewed and we were also interviewed extensively about his infant, toddler, younger and current years in terms of developmental milestones, behaviours, etc. It was exhausting and extremely thorough and intensive (far more so than when he got orginally

diagnosed six years ago).At the end of the day, the psychologist took us aside and asked if we had ever been offered any other diagnosis other than ADHD/ODD. We said we hadn't but we had been worried that he might have Bipolar since my sister had recently been diagnosed with Bipolar and he did fly into such rages. She said that he definintely didn't have Bipolar and in fact did not have ADHD/ODD either. She said that whilst they had to scrutinise the results and furnish us with a report and official diagnosis, she was convinced he had Asperger Syndrome. This came as a total shock to us, although in fairness, my husband has always said that he felt our son was on the autistic spectrum because as a young child, he was very ritualistic and went ballistic if things weren't done in a certain way, and he has multiple sensory sensitivities which still affect him today.What is worrying me about the diagnosis is this. Everything of the seven or

eight DMV-IV criteria for Aspergers fits except for the special interest thing. It is true that Jordan is obsessed with playstation, computer games and Nintendo DSI and will oscillate between the three, opting to forgo all else to play them (including food), if allowed to. But does that constitute a special interest? Currently, his obsession is racing and wrestling games, but he will play others if nothing else is available (usually after a tantrum when he can't get one of his favourites to work). He collects crystals, but doesn't have an obsessive interest in them i.e. he doesn't know the names of all his crystals, how they are made, etc., but will always gravitate towards the crystal section of a shop, if they have one. He will always browse the playstation area of a shop too - to the point I can leave him there, go off and do a bit of my own browsing and know that he won't have moved. He is not interested in anything else, other than those things.

My worry is that they have jumped the gun with the diagnosis because he scores so highly in the other areas - eye contact aversion, social isolation, social skills problems, etc. But he doesnt have this innate ability to collect facts on his special area of interest. For example, he can cream anyone at the games that he loves, and he can tell you which cars are the fastest, but he doesn't rattle off endless facts about each of the cars. He just plays the game incessantly, simple as that. Is there varying degrees of aspergers, because the term 'little professor' really doesn't fit my son. I have watched you tube videos of children with Aspergers and they all seem to be super intelligent and rattle off these endless facts about stuff. Jordan scored average on the IQ scale and really isn't 'geeky' at all (sorry for the use of term but I couldn't think of anything else - don't mean to offend).Can anyone shed any light on this for

me.ThanksS in Melbourne.

[Guest guest]

are you still in Melbourne?

Yes my son was originally diagnosed as ADHD at the Royal Childrens at age 5 1/2 - it wasn't until he was reassessed through CAMH'S (Children & Adolescent Mental Health) at age 7 that in fact he had Aspergers - however he is still medicated for the ADHD - he wouldn't be able to function at school without it. So he prob has both but Aspergers being in the forefront with ADHD tendancies. His funding in regards to school help is based on the ADHD as there is no funding for Aspergers or maybe I am thinking of the medication. Anyway we are about to venture across town to a new suburb so it will be interesting what happens at the new school.

He too is obsessive about some things but not at the exclusion of others. At the moment into Yugioh and the trading cards, playstation games but it could also be Transformers, Pokemon (this was the worst - wanted a real Pokemon for chrstmas) and Bakugan. Constantly berates me to buy this trading card or that one off the internet. Shopping is the worst - always always comes away with a toy even though I say No. He puts on a big stink that I get embarrassed. Now I have to shop whilst he is at school or we have to go without.

My problem at the moment is the foul language. Constantly belittles me when he can't get his own way - swears whilst playing on the playstation. He got into trouble at school today for the language - copped inhouse suspension - they were going to send him home but realised that was what he wanted.

From: MacAllister <smacalli@...>Subject: Re: ( ) Newbie - 11 year old son only just diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome Received: Thursday, 4 March, 2010, 1:49 PM

My son sounds more like your son and he has Aspergers. There has never been one thing that he constantly obsesses about, but there have been things over time that he perseverates on. Does that make sense? He went through a major train stage where he loved to watch trains on tapes, play with trains, read about trains, etc... but he was also open to other things too. He just preferred trains when given the choice. Then it moved to Harry Potter, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and now video games. But I can still get him interested in other things (he likes to build w/ legos, for example.) I wouldn't discount this possibility just b/c he doesn't have a main obsession. From what you wrote below, it does sound like he tends to perseverate on some things, just not severely enough to call is an "obsession."

"Over-optimism is waiting for you ship to come in when you haven't sent one out."

From: <sarahcox41gmail (DOT) com> Sent: Wed, March 3, 2010 12:51:13 AMSubject: ( ) Newbie - 11 year old son only just diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome

Hi there. My 11 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD/ODD when he was 5 years old. He has been unmedicated in that time although this has been very difficult as his tantrums and rages have been incredibly difficult to manage.With him starting secondary school next year, we thought it prudent to get him reassessed in order to identify any special considerations he may need in terms of his learning. He has difficulty socialising, writing, has speech problems and a few other things that worried us (mainly behavioural) . We attended our local children's hospital (in Melbourne, Australia) where he underwent a full days testing of IQ tests, personality tests, depression tests, ADHD stuff etc. He was interviewed and we were also interviewed extensively about his infant, toddler, younger and current years in terms of developmental milestones, behaviours, etc. It was exhausting and extremely thorough and intensive (far more so than when he got

orginally diagnosed six years ago).At the end of the day, the psychologist took us aside and asked if we had ever been offered any other diagnosis other than ADHD/ODD. We said we hadn't but we had been worried that he might have Bipolar since my sister had recently been diagnosed with Bipolar and he did fly into such rages. She said that he definintely didn't have Bipolar and in fact did not have ADHD/ODD either. She said that whilst they had to scrutinise the results and furnish us with a report and official diagnosis, she was convinced he had Asperger Syndrome. This came as a total shock to us, although in fairness, my husband has always said that he felt our son was on the autistic spectrum because as a young child, he was very ritualistic and went ballistic if things weren't done in a certain way, and he has multiple sensory sensitivities which still affect him today.What is worrying me about the diagnosis is this. Everything of the

seven or eight DMV-IV criteria for Aspergers fits except for the special interest thing. It is true that Jordan is obsessed with playstation, computer games and Nintendo DSI and will oscillate between the three, opting to forgo all else to play them (including food), if allowed to. But does that constitute a special interest? Currently, his obsession is racing and wrestling games, but he will play others if nothing else is available (usually after a tantrum when he can't get one of his favourites to work). He collects crystals, but doesn't have an obsessive interest in them i.e. he doesn't know the names of all his crystals, how they are made, etc., but will always gravitate towards the crystal section of a shop, if they have one. He will always browse the playstation area of a shop too - to the point I can leave him there, go off and do a bit of my own browsing and know that he won't have moved. He is not interested in anything else, other than those

things. My worry is that they have jumped the gun with the diagnosis because he scores so highly in the other areas - eye contact aversion, social isolation, social skills problems, etc. But he doesnt have this innate ability to collect facts on his special area of interest. For example, he can cream anyone at the games that he loves, and he can tell you which cars are the fastest, but he doesn't rattle off endless facts about each of the cars. He just plays the game incessantly, simple as that. Is there varying degrees of aspergers, because the term 'little professor' really doesn't fit my son. I have watched you tube videos of children with Aspergers and they all seem to be super intelligent and rattle off these endless facts about stuff. Jordan scored average on the IQ scale and really isn't 'geeky' at all (sorry for the use of term but I couldn't think of anything else - don't mean to offend).Can anyone shed any light on this

for me.ThanksS in Melbourne.