Happy, But VERY Confused re behavior/thoughts please!

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DS currently being assessed for Aspergers/Autism...

I've had one appt with the Psych, and have filled out many questionnares, awaiting another appt with her.

To cut a long story short, DS has been on a really good run for the past 2weeks or so. It's almost as if he has turned a new leaf... A very different kid...virtually over night!!

His language and speech has picked up tremendously (have only been to 3appt with the speech therapist)
He's been following instructions, very co operative, out of his "world of his own"being kind to his sister, and not insisting on sameness as much...Even able to put up with some noises previously not bareable ie car radio.

My goodness I am stoked at his behavior! But on the same hand I'm confused about the dramatic change and now in doubt about him being on the spectrum...

What do I do? Let things go for the next few weeks/Months to see how he goes and put the assessement on hold or continue on with it?

I know that ASD kids do have good days/weeks... BUT is it to the extent that they drop all of their ASD type behaviors at once for weeks?

I'd really love to hear your opinions/advice... Thank you so much!.

Have you been doing anything differently with DS? Different diet? Different routine? Change in environment?

It could also be that some children with AS "get over things" quicker than others. For example, he might not be insisting on sameness so much because he's realized that minor changes aren't the end of the world. I know that I developed a tolerance for minor changes in routine pretty young. But some children with AS take longer to realize this.

A psychiatrist told me once that under stress, ASD characteristics come out more. It's true for me. I can even "pass as normal" when my life is going smooth, although I still have my traits like special interests and some awkwardness in conversation.

We have the ability to compensate for our syndrome, and the older we get the better we get at it. I'm 40 now and I'm miles away from when I was young.

Also, with certain therapies, like social stories, ASD kids can come a long way and not show traits as often.

Something good is happening for him. Rejoice and try to find out what it is so it won't stop. Maybe he's feeling good because he is finding out he is not alone?

I can only talk about my own experience, but it sounds like he's learning. He's taken some of the random bits of knowledge and skills he's absorbed, which are next to useless in isolation, and put them together. He's made some sense out of the swirling, intimidating confusion of the world and is putting it to use.
I can remember as a kid, no one could teach me to ride a bike and eventually they gave up. Then, one day much later I suddenly realised I knew how to do it and just got on a bike and rode off. The same with tying shoelaces and apparently with learning to speak. (The story is that I was mute until 3 years, then I suddenly started reading aloud all the shop windows in the High Street.)
That's how I learnt - by a series of eureka moments. Sooner or later he'll come across something which doesn't fit his new understanding and the world will become stressful for him again and he'll retreat back into his shell, until he draws together the new information and so on.

I hope this makes sense - it's a difficult thing to describe.

Hello,

I am going through the same thing you are, so I am no expert on the subject, but can share my experience. We got a mild Asperger's diagnosis a few weeks ago, but my son (3 yrs old) has been in preschool since October and started speech January 5th (he get's speech everyday) and OT just started. A couple of weeks ago he had had the best week of school since October, he participated with his class and even interacted with another student!! ! It brought tears to my eyes when his teacher told me that. The following weekend we had a group of people over for dinner and he actually acknowledged their existance and talked and even hugged them! We were very excited and hopeful!! !

Then, he had last week off from school and his services and he totally regressed. He was barely responding to my questions, he ran around and hummed and played with his trains and was not the same kid he was when he was at school. He is back at school this week and I am looking forward to seeing his progress again. I guess they are able to keep him stimulated. I am going to ask his teacher to give me some things to do with him for his April break.

I am not trying to bring you down, just wanted to share my experience. I love being able to read everyone's unique experience on here, it helps me so much! My son has learned a lot since he started school and has retained a lot, and he is a very smart little boy. I am so happy for you and hope that your child continues to make great progress. Services and school really do work and with a diagnosis you most certainly will be able to get them. Gus goes to school 5 days a week (1/2 day), get's speech 5 days a week, and OT 3 days. It seems like a lot, but we feel we are really
getting ahead of this.

Good luck to you!! !! I know the whole evaluation process is confusing and frustrating!

Children are children at the end of the day, whether they are NT or on the spectrum..............and they all have one thing in common...................they enjoy being HAPPY!

Any child on the spectrum if they find the right person/people and find they are SAFE in their company will be in their element...........

Let's hope your child struck lucky and found a great mate or better still is being rewarded, praised and encouraged. It is amazing to see and it DOES HAPPEN. When teachers and professionals just learn that these children WANT to be understood but can't understand what needs understanding.................. If they get love, nurturing and tender loving care, they will grow into wonderful human beings. The lesson is POSTITIVITY.

My advice is to make a diary and still go to the appointment. Nothing ventured nothing gained!! Good luck and ENJOY!

My son is consistently inconsistent. He has good days/weeks and bad days/weeks and there never seems to be any rhyme or reason.

He was diagnosed by a school district psych that looked over all of his school evaluations, testing results and screenings and then gave him the ADOS test, which took a little over an hour. That was followed by a 6-hour interview (ADI-R) with me and my husband.

The day of his meeting with the psych I was also concerned that he may not 'appear' autistic. He'd had a great morning. He wouldn't look at her when she came to get him and during the testing he put it all out there for her. We had only asked him to cooperate with her and do his best. I swear she had her mind made up before she even started the interview with us. It was like she was just confirming her diagnosis the whole way though. I had thought that she was just going to tell us he had severe ADHD or ODD or OCD maybe and not aspergers. She surprised me by diagnosing him with high functioning autism and ADHD.

I would suggest going in and finding out what the psych has to say because they should do testing that will bring out the characteristics if they're there. Plus, around here there are long wait times for evaluations and if you put it off and your son goes back to how he was you might regret having put off the test.

My son was just like yours. He seemed to be in a world of his own for some time, which led us to seek an assessment. We worked at home with him in the mean time, by just encoraging communication and really 'bringing' him into our everyday life.

The change was dramatic, we then wondered if he did just have a language delay as things were going so well. We went to a wonderful Psychiatrist who wouldnt confirm at that time if he had an ASD, he wanted to see him again in six months. But he did tell us that yes, it is possible to make so much progress and have an ASD, and whatever we were doing to keep doing as it was working so well.

So we he had a full multidisiplinary assessment three months later and what do you know, they diagnosed him with a language disorder.

But to make a verrrry long story short, I didnt believe the diagnosis and had him assessed again five months later, it turned out that yes he did have an ASD and was diagnosed with AS. We returned to the first team who assessed him and they reassessed him 9 months after the first time, and they then agreed that they had made a mistake and diagnosed him with Atypical Autism!! ! Thankfully he was already receiving intervention, as we had sought another opinion.

The point of this is, you will know yourself if he has or has not got an ASD. Many times you will doubt your inner thoughts, but the mother always knows deep down. I would recommed that you have an assessment no matter what. It doesnt hurt your son, its not that stressful as most if the assessment is play based. Just make sure you are not avoiding it as maybe you are not ready to hear that he has an ASD. Intervention needs to happen as soon as possible for the best outcome, in the mean time continue what you are doing at home, it obviously works so well for him.

Never know, he may just have a language delay and you can stop stressing and worrying about something that isnt there.

Good Luck xx

my 16 year old's behavior is cyclical.....some weeks are good, some are not..........

Thank you so much for your replies

They've been very helpful

Our child psychologist seems to have made up her mind that he is on the spectrum, with some of the questionares that we have filled out. She said there are strong indicators.

So i believe regardless of his improvements, she is going to place him on the spectrum... i just dont want him labelled unless its a true diagnosis and not a language disorder causing those symptoms... I've had a lengthy talk to the psych, and she does sound very convinced he's on the spectrum even without seeing him.

I'm happy to go through with the assessement... but if it turns out that he is on the spectrum from the info i have given, but he changes in every way for the good, and keeps improving can I have him re assessed later on and the "diagnosis" changed or dropped?

I guess my fear is mainly him being diagnosed on the spectrum, but in reality he's fine and there's nothing to diagnose? This is such a hard thing to do!!

A few weeks ago, I would have been convinced he was on it. I just cant get over the changes since going to school.

Thanks again

I had all the very same thoughts as you do about a year ago. Another mother gave me some great advice, she asked me was I going to sit around wondering if my son is Autistic or not, loosing precious time on intervention, just so that he cannot have a label?

She 'told' me to get a diagnosis and get some intervention, and then in time if it turns out to being just a language delay, hurray.......rip up the diagnosis, afterall it is only a piece of paper!! ! Then the label is gone.

This gave me the strength to carry on the path to diagnosis, knowing I could rip it up at any time. Thankfully I took her advice, he did eventually get a diagnosis PDD-NOS, and I didnt wast any time.

Also with a diagnosis your attitude changes towards your child, you modify EVERYTHING to best suit their needs. Thats worth its weight in gold to your child.

Great you found this website for support, wish I had last year as I was going through this process.

Good Luck x

I walked into this much later than most parents as I am the evil stepmom. My sweet boy was barely 14 when I met him and I was at a loss.

Through it all I see amazing days and other days that I think we should all be locked in our rooms for everyone's safety!

He has SAD, so every winter is incredibly hard, but when spring comes around he's a pleasure in everything, his grades bounce back and most people wouldn't notice that there's anything odd about him in any way.

Everyday is different for every child, it's just that things seem more extreme with him.

Take those days as the shining light they are and fight (against the world, not your child) through the bad days.