Aspberger's Syndrome--How Did You Know Your Child Has It?

I have ADHD, all four of my kids have ADHD, my third also has spectrum.

The biggest difference between my older son and my younger son (the one with spectrum) was my older son can control his temper, my younger son could not. Well this is when they were little. At this point it is that my older son does get some social cues, younger one can only memorize them and adapt. In other words social cues, social constructs, they are just not intuitively learned by a kid with spectrum.

I understand my younger son, we speak the same language, you normal folk, I haven't a clue why you communicate as you do but I can adapt and understand, he cannot.

My younger two are on meds, my older two were on meds when they were younger. Meds help their minds work close to normal which allows them to focus on behavioral issues. The best course is meds and behavior therapy. One without the other tends not to work well

Oh my, I have to walk out the door but just want to say Gamma hasn't a clue what ADHD is or does.

Sorry, back, ADHD effects executive function. Without medication, which increases the levels of neurotransmitters in our brains, we lack the ability to control the flow of information. So we have trouble blocking things out and keeping things in. More so retrieval of information stored in our brain is wonky at best. What it looks like in practice is the inability to block out the trees and pay attention to the teacher, blurting out answers before you are called on, not remembering appointments, lists, stuff, and suddenly remembering it, again blurting it out, while someone else is talking.

I think that a lot of people confuse discipline issues with ADHD. I know many kids, my own included, that were always model children, no discipline issues at all. I have also seen out of control kids where the parents cram pills in their mouth every time they act up. That is not the ADHD that is parents that don't want to discipline their kids and blame the ADHD for this issues.

I particularly despise these parents because their kids are the face of ADHD not mine and because of this all the kids get a bad reputation. :(

My son is 7, was diagnosed at 4 with PDD-NOS (aspergers isn't a diagnosis anymore). He has an amazing vocabulary, but his challenges are more with social communication, etc. Symptoms are different from person to person, and actually from situation to situation - for example - eye contact - my son has it with his parents and close family, but it is more difficult for him with strangers (overwhelming).

Please feel free to visit my blog - spectrumperspectives.wordpress.com - it has a LOT of links to other parents, and to adults on the spectrum. I also recommend a blog called adiaryofamom.wordpress.com - it's great. Feel free to click my name and PM me if you like.

There's a saying in the autistic community "Behavior is Communication" - the issues MAY be caused by sensory or other processing problems that are hard for him to explain and not obvious to our typical brains (noises he can hear that you can't, textures that wouldn't be a problem for us but hurt him), etc. If he can communicate this kind of thing, do what you can to figure out what might be behind the behavior. But remember that communication challenges are a BIG part of autism, and that it won't be easy for him to explain.

Hope this helps!

I think you need to wait for a diagnosis and then have conversations with the doctor or psychologist. This isn't really something you can make decisions about ahead of time.

My son has a diagnosis of Social Pragmatic Communicative Disorder. Basically it's just like Aspberger's but is not on the Autism Spectrum. It's a new diagnosis, but it fits him to a tee. We've discussed things with his psychologist, his teachers and his speech teacher and are working together to help him. This is really something we wouldn't have been ready to do before the diagnosis.

He is also showing signs of ADHD, but is only 5 years old. That's in the back of our minds as a possibility. We'll keep our eyes open, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Try to hang in there. I know waiting is hard, but that's what you really need to do.

My son who will be 8 on Sunday is diagnosed with PDD-NOS. He was diagnosed when he was about 2. He was in therapy for a speech delay and his therapist actually recommended me have him formally evaluated. I took him to 3 different evaluations because it is a serious diagnosis and I wanted to be sure. He received 40 hours of wrap around services plus speech therapy plus behavior physical and occupational therapies. He received these therapies until about a year ago when he finally met most age appropriate goals. He still has his "quirks" and they do differ from child to child. My son has mostly social issues. Eye contact is a very hard thing for him to do, along with touching someone or having someone touch him. He was also non verbal until he was about 3.5, not that he didn't have words he just didn't use them. He is still a very quiet boy. He only speaks when he has to.

My suggestion is do your research and once your child is formally diagnosed if you aren't 100% sure you can always have a second opinion. It doesn't hurt to be sure!

Good luck with everything!

Also, if your child is diagnosed, make sure you look into a support group. It helped me out a lot!!

My youngest was diagnosed with ADHD. I was bound and determined not to medicate because of the side effects and the long term effects that most of the meds cause. In my determination, I researched until I was almost blind reading everything I could get my hands on. I put my daughter on an absorbable multivitamin to detox her body and I detoxed our home (simply removing synthetic chemicals is not a detox). Eight weeks later at her next doctors appointment the doctor was amazed at her behavior. Her diagnosis was removed....too many are diagnosed with many outside stimuli affecting behavior. In order to get a proper diagnosis of anything, there must be a baseline of good health. That is not possible in a toxic home (one that uses Pledge, Lysol, Windex and the like...Nero-toxins) and exposed to toxicities in "clean" daycares and churches (that are required to clean with bleach).

My daughter was Classic ADHD, not focused, hyper, couldn't form a sentence or read at the age of seven. Eight weeks after I detoxed, she was on grade level reading and finally sleeping at night without tapping her feet. I will be glad to tell you specifics of what I did if you're interested. When I finally stepped away from the medical community and started from scratch, our lives changed for the better.

God bless,
M.

ADHD is a biological illness where the brain is not firing in sync. It's randomly firing here and there. If it's true ADHD it can be influenced by many things but that usually only effects behaviors. The focus and ability to concentrate on tasks is not effected very much.

Medication usually speeds the brain function up and it sync's up. Then the brain is functioning like it should so it works correctly and kiddo is able to go to school, do their work, and sit still.

Our guy takes Ritalin. It's like miracle drug to us. He is able to take a whole pill in the morning, half at noon, and if he has somewhere to be after school where he needs to sit still and pay attention we give him another half pill but this is a once in a while thing, NOT very often at all.

Ritalin is a good med because it lasts about 3.5-4 hours then it's gone, completely from his system. It does not build up, it does not time release, it is completely out of his system in a few hours.

That's one thing I really like about it. Some drugs build up over time and if the kiddo is having a reaction to it they have to live with them until that med is out of their system. Some drugs take a week or more to leave all the way.

If you've ever driven an old beater car where it runs horrible driving down the street at 35-40 but when you hit 45 it smooths out and runs wonderful.

That's the ADHD brain and how medication feels. Speed up the brain firing and it suddenly starts going where it's supposed to go and the world makes sense.

Updated

ADHD is a biological illness where the brain is not firing in sync. It's randomly firing here and there. If it's true ADHD it can be influenced by many things but that usually only effects behaviors. The focus and ability to concentrate on tasks is not effected very much.

Medication usually speeds the brain function up and it sync's up. Then the brain is functioning like it should so it works correctly and kiddo is able to go to school, do their work, and sit still.

Our guy takes Ritalin. It's like miracle drug to us. He is able to take a whole pill in the morning, half at noon, and if he has somewhere to be after school where he needs to sit still and pay attention we give him another half pill but this is a once in a while thing, NOT very often at all.

Ritalin is a good med because it lasts about 3.5-4 hours then it's gone, completely from his system. It does not build up, it does not time release, it is completely out of his system in a few hours.

That's one thing I really like about it. Some drugs build up over time and if the kiddo is having a reaction to it they have to live with them until that med is out of their system. Some drugs take a week or more to leave all the way.

If you've ever driven an old beater car where it runs horrible driving down the street at 35-40 but when you hit 45 it smooths out and runs wonderful.

That's the ADHD brain and how medication feels. Speed up the brain firing and it suddenly starts going where it's supposed to go and the world makes sense.

We have one with both diagnoses. We saw signs as early as 2 (sensitivity to sounds, touch...angry outbursts, little eye contact). Got diagnosed formally in K, and got the ADHD about a month ago (1st grade).
In behavior therapy right now; seems to be working. Also have tried caffeine for ADHD-works a bit, and I'm more comfortable with that (for now) than drugs.
ETA: Asperger's most certainly IS still a condition AND a diagnosis. It is a subset of ASD.

Initially my middle daughter was diagnosed with PDD-NOS "with global learning delays and strong signs of Asperger's Disorder." With probably 18 months, she was re-evaluated with a more firm diagnosis of Classic Autism, ADD, ODD, and related learning delays and cognitive delays.

I suspected first. I kept a journal... well my blog, really... and one day I just took a list of signs and symptoms that I had been collecting for two years and stuck them into Google. Up popped Autism Spectrum Disorder. Then I did a lot of research with reputable sites and in the library, and I discovered that many food allergies and intolerances and sensitivities can mimic Autism disorders. We did a series of elimination diets and discovered that she's lactose intolerant, sensitive to man-made food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, caramel coloring, and anything too processed. We started to follow a modified Feingold Diet.

Her behaviors improved dramatically and yet... AND YET... we were still left with some very dramatic and serious autistic behaviors. Therefore we had her officially evaluated by a child psychiatrist and then later by a pediatric neurologist as well as the school system in order to be placed for special services. The neurological-psychological evaluation is what is used to help make a diagnosis.

My eldest daughter has severe ADHD and ODD. Both of these daughters also have Sensory Processing Disorder. My youngest daughter is blissfully neurotypical. We are a very neuro-diverse household.

EDIT: Hit send too soon.

My middle daughter is on Intuniv for the ADD. She is on Lamictal for seizures. The combination has been wonderful for helping with her most challenging ASD behaviors. There are reasons for it working out that way, but I don't feel like going into all of the research. It has to do with Lamictal also being used for migraines (which she also gets but has had under control with the Lamictal) and for patients that have Bi-Polar.