Does my son have Aspergers?

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Hi
I am a 26 yr old mother of two young children. For the last couple years I have been trying to find a diagnosis for my son, the last year involving a doctor and logoped (& soon a psycologist). I have suspected bipolar disorder or adhd but it wasn´t until I did a search on Aspergers (2 days ago) that I found something that really fit him. He has made a lot of progress from the way he was a year ago but he still has some limitations, before I contact his doctor I thought it might help to have some parents of Aspergers children have a look at my son and see if you can spot any similarities (& anything that´s different).

This is Robert (almost 5)
limited vocabulary/unclear speech, small and few sentences
he does better with routines and has a very hard time with any change (from new boots to change in personell at his kindergarten)
has a hard time having the patience/understanding the need to wait his turn
can understand only one intruction at a time, no 1,2,3 steps (& sometimes it needs to be repeated several times)
he has a hard time understanding/finding interest in group games, can eventually "get" ones that have visual instruction but not verbal instructions
still chooses to play mostly with his alltime favorite toys (wooden trains, or brio builder system, he makes amazing contructions like a 6-7 yr old would)
he´s always organizing or arranging things around the house in new and interesting ways
he has a short temper, screams a lot (also screams when he can´t communicate and make himself understood)
when it´s at it´s worst he can scream, throw a fit and it can take 20-30 min till he gets calm again
he doesn´t like to show off his work and get praise for it like most kids, he doesn´t really care much and when you do praise him he´s like "ok whatever"
he has begun to ask his teacher for help/things he wants ..before he didn´t
he is generally happy though and kids don´t tease him for the way he is, they know he speaks funny but say he´s speaking "English" (we live in Sweden)
a year ago he used to space out for longer periods of time and it was hard to get his attention but now that is rare, he does still at times have a sort of blank/lost look on his face
used to never look anyone in the eye when we talked to him, but after much effort and reminder (Robert look at me) he has made progress there
has begun to play with some children his age (before only younger kids if any) one interesting thing is that two girls he plays well with play like a mommy would, explaining everything and telling him what to do. In this way he doesn´t get lost and have to come up with something himself to keep up with the "game"
he doesn´t have any repetetive motor mannerisms, at least that I have notice
the teacher he is closest to is on sick leave for six weeks and because of that Robert doesn´t want to go to kindergarten and it is a daily struggle (but he gets over it pretty quickly once he´s there)
another teacher changed jobs 3 months ago and it still depresses him

Whew that is a long list but I wanted to make it as detailed as possible. It´s quite important I get a diagnosis and help with my son soon as school is just a year away. And it looks like his little 3 yr old sister has the same thing. Thanks for taking the time....

HI Vikinggirl, welcome to the forum.

First off, I want to commend you for pressing on to find answers when what the specialists have told you doesn't fit. An accurate diagnosis can be instrumental to finding answers.

You have listed a number of red flags which indicate your child should have an assessment done by someone with expertise in pediatric Autism assessment: speech delays/differences, struggles with routines, interest in trains (although taken alone that isn't really a clue since Brio is just a great toy), gaze aversion, difficult behaviors. In a young child such as yours play behaviors are fairly often as good of an indicator as other behaviors. How does he do on the following questions if you consider the period from birth to present?

2) Does/did the child
a. Favor objects for play that aren’t typically used as toys by their peers (such as wheels, sticks, magnet letters, etc.)?
b. Seem fascinated or obsessed by objects/topics that aren’t typical for kids of their age (such as numbers, the alphabet, words, math, geography, mechanical things such as air conditioners or vacuum cleaners, things with motors, etc)?
c. Play “differently” with toys or household objects (such as spin them, line them up in straight lines, set them up in formations, etc.)?
d. Exhibit weak or unusual pretend play skills (such as act out memorized scenes from books/films/TV/DVD instead of creating situations and dialogue, move toy trains around but not pretend to be the engineer/go places/pick up passengers, arrange pretend people or action figures but not create imaginary situations with them or have them interact with each other, etc.)?
e. Display behaviors and/or routines that seem unusual or quirky?



I don't know what else you have had done in terms of evaluation but if it hasn't been done I'd encourage you to include a full speech/language evaluation as well as an occupational therapy evaluation for fine motor skills and sensory issues. That difficulty understanding multistep instructions is often due to conditions called language processing and/or central auditory processing disorder. Speech therapy is helpful in that they work on sequencing, etc. that is needed to understand the multistep instructions. When we were at that same age here I did a lot of "translating" just as it sounds like you and your son's little friends do. That specialty area also handles a lot of the social skills help here in the US.

Autism does have a strong genetic component and when parents come looking for answers about their child they frequently find insight into the family as well. Family predictors usually look like this list below:

3) Apart from the child, are there any BIOLOGICAL family members with one or more of the following? (include the child’s parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins)
a. Anxiety issues
b. Obsessive-compulsive tendencies or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
c. Extreme social awkwardness or social anxiety
d. IQ in the superior range and/or “Geekyness”
e. Any of the following disorders: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, PDD, PDD-NOS, Autism, High Functioning Autism, Non-Verbal Learning Disability, Hyperlexia

Pippen gave a great list i can't think of anything to add to it.

I have a 10yr old with Aspergers, he was speaking in complete sentences before he was three and from what I understans [still learning] that is one of the criteria for AS.

From what you have reported you child may be on the autism spectrum. Neuro-psych testing could help.

good luck and keep us posted

Hi Vikinggirl,

He sounds a lot like my daughters. With his delayed language, he doesn't sound like an Aspie kid (at least, going by the American diagnostic criteria), but has some red-flags for an autism spectrum disorder.

My girls are 4.5 years old and autistic. The American DSM-IV critiria for autism is rather vague, and most anecdotal descriptions of autism that I've come across describe more severely affected children than your son and my girls, so I'll give you a couple of links that describe something called Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder. This is the same thing as "high functioning" autism, really, but is not an official diagnosis in the US. It describes my daughters to a "T", though - from the early history through language acquisition, the lack of repetetive behaviors, as you mention, and the nascent social ability, their delays/impairments as well as their relative strengths. Anyway, give them a read and see if you're son's in there. If so, he's probably an HF autistic like my daughters and woudl benefit from some language therapy and perhaps some occupational therapy, and the like.

Here you go:

summary:
http://www.brighttots.com/Semantic_prag ... order.html

more detail:
http://www.hyperlexia.org/sp1.html

The child specialist that has met Robert twice said he suspected Autism at the 1st visit but seeing the amount of progress he has made and how he has changed in the 6 months following ruled it out (but I wonder if he looked into the whole Autism spectrum?) Robert a year ago was truely in his own little world but now is much more social and outgoing and aware of what is happening around him. But he still has speech/behavior problems that set him apart from or behind the average child as well as some areas where he is ahead. The doc said it´s not easy to diagnose Robert as he has had symtoms of various disorders but not enough to fit him under any particular one. Both the logoped and child specialist are agreed that it is not just a speech problem so now the "utveckling" (development) evaluation will include a psycologist and physical therapist as well.

What got me looking into Aspergers was when my brother told me he has suspected for quite some time that his daughter has both OCD and Aspergers (though no official diagnosis). Previous to that no one in my family has been suspected or diagnosed with anything in the Autism spectrum nor any of the other conditions in the list you mentioned, Pippen. I know Robert does not have "classic" Autism as I have a friend whose son has Autism and I have watched him grow up and there is no comparing him and Robert.

Out of the "Does/did the child" list you had Pippen b (fascinated but not obsessed), c & d (definitely weak) fit him and I agree with you on the trains thing. Trains (both real & toy) have fascinated him since he was 2 but not in total exclusion of other toys/interests.

Cozarzs: I did notice before that delayed speech isn´t an Aspergers symptom but one medical site stated "Language acquisition - learning to speak - in some cases can be delayed." so I haven´t ruled it out.

Squaretail: Looks interesting, compared to Aspergers SPD seems to fit Robert more ..the language parts certainly fit him to a "T". Also the parts about paying attention to detail in speech and other things. The logoped (speech therapist) did a test with Robert where she showed pictures and he was supposed to tell her what it was. When she showed him a circle with a spotted pattern, most kids said ball ..he said mushroom. He´s excellent at "matching" games and he can do 100-150 piece puzzles with no effort, he doesn´t take the piece and try to fit it different places he knows exactly where it goes just by looking. I will definitely study up more on SPD.

Well at least I have something to work with. Here it takes 3 months waiting time between any visit to a specialist so I am not waiting around for the doctors to find a diagnosis. I want to know what my son has so I can help him better and also give the docs an idea of something to look for (though they probably won´t like that too much heh). Tks to all of you for your responses.

I previously thought SPD fit my son to a "T" but he doesn´t "speak in long sentences" nor "speak clearly". Those are as listed as skills of child with SPD, could there be exceptions?

I'm sure there are, like anything else. Those traits are actually two of the traits that really stand out with my daughters. Despite having language delays, they speak very clearly (always have) and talk in expansive, run on paragraph length utterances. These utterances are often have grammatical errors (they have trouble with things like verb tense and small verbs (is/are) ), but they can really chatter up a storm.

even the specialist had to discredit his own findings (you see if he had of administered drugs straight away,, he may have been able to prove his findings)

--I know this kid,, you see them everyday... don't worry by the time puberty kicks in, that's when everything will seem more normal (only you the mother will ever see those cute traits that make your child what they are)

--Being an AstroPhysicist ain't all that crash hot... being loved and interested in life (which your kid is) is what is important... forget the diagnosis,, your child has already learnt enough in 6months to take him out of the Autism spectrum ... wait another couple of years and everything will be fine.

One thing the speech therapist pointed out that contributes to my sons unclarity is that he doesn´t open his mouth properly and talks through his teeth. I am hoping we´ll get help with that soon.

His soon to be 3 yr old sister talk with long sentences (mostly sounds like babble, very few understandable words) but she does it with real determination and seriousness like she´s saying something really important. And then looks at us like we´re the stupid ones cause we don´t understand.

I had the exact sam problem.. especially so, because my second language was english,, but it was only later in my teens when I went to a secondary language school for extra marks, that the teacher pioonted out my deficiencies in my given language.

saying The, Three, Free, etc -didn't work fo me untill about 10 -> I actually still have to slightly concetrate to this day, so I never really learnt it that well.... there is something that just doesn't sit quite right with having to have to blow air through your teeth with your tongue.

My mum used to make me eat carrots, She said that they would help me to whistle... I never learnt to whistle, but I learnt to say three!

--> just keep feeding him carrots ... reminding him that he should practise whistling (you never know he maybe able to whoo the girls in later years with his amazing whistle!)

Swedish, is strong in the tongue with whisps?

None of us have crystal balls that allow us to predict what lies in the future for our kids. Some do leave many issues behind. Some need help to overcome problem areas. And many kids actually have far more struggles when they are older than they do in their younger years. Some will benefit from support and help with various struggles (ie it's hard to become a happy astrophysicist if one's anxiety is so severe one hides under the bed when faced with the prospect of leaving home). Every parent needs to assess their own child's strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly. There is no one size fits all prediction for children with traits in the neighborhood of Autism.

Uh! That's what I used to do!! -> mum would have to full on get on her knees and get into the back corner to get me out, dragging me by the feet, with my nails taking some floor boards with it.

-> she cured me by putting all of my belongings under my bed... It didn't stop me... I ended up biulding a wall, where I would get in and close it behind me -> I actually had alot of nights sleep under my bed instead of ontop.
-> guess what cured me? The scariest movie I had ever seen, at the age of 8 my parents 'Let' me watch ALIEN ... once I saw that, there was no-way I was getting under my bed (oh some of the nightmares I had after that movie -> but at least I wasn't thinking about school, and instead used my imagination) --> don't you just love how smart my parents were!

Did you know my Server Password today is the name of a character out of aliens.