My son and I might have AS

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Hi, my son is almost 5 years old and has recently been pre-diagnosed with AS. He will go on with some more tests to confirm or not. He has had therapy for a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder for over a year. I could never be convinced of this ADD. Because it didn´t seem to be his case (but I'm no doctor), altough some things matched. It allways seemed to me more of a social disorder that an attention incapacity. He is very intelligent and sensible when compared to most children his age. And since very small he allways had a lack of interest in children his age and would allways want to be with older children or adults. In subjects of his interest (the planets, google earth, alphabet writing and typing, language skills, human body, usually subjects not appropriate for his age) he has a great focus and ease of learning. And the therapy he was having would disrupt his social behaviour for a day or 2 (the therapist said it is normal). My wife and I began to realize that as long as he was kept in a tight routine his tempers and behaviour would be very good, sometimes 'over' good (he has an uncommon sense of how to please others and bring upon him praise and compliments from adults). But when in a caotic routine or when he could monopolize the attention of an adult (like in therapy or spending a day with grandma) he would come into a 'terrible behaviour state'.

So I've just started to search the net on this AS subject. The first site I opened was psychforums - Asperger's syndrome symptoms. SHOCK! I was a perfect macth!... The 2nd page was on this site - What is Asperger's Syndrome? And went no further. It´s like an explanation for my life. As I see it. I will be looking for a real diagnosis in some time. Not really sure how since no doctor will want you to come in with your own diagnosis and I´ll probably refuse to come out with any other.

Thanks for reading!! Sorry about the long text. I didn´'t mean to but I tend to be very discriptive.

Children and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) do not possess the capability to have "great focus" and stay on task. It is very likely this diagnosis was made in error.

Also, since there is a genetic basis to Asperger's Syndrome, it is very likely that you and your child share this same gene. Yet,
it is not easy to study one's DNA and individual genes.

Same here, Joah, and welcome to WP!

Hi, and welcome to the forums! I just wanted to say that your son sounds almost *EXACTLY* like myself, and I could be described as having "hardcore" AS. But that doesn't mean anything to you. Your best bet would be to seek out a professional in your area, who specializes in (or at least knows about) the autism spectrum.

To WrongPlanet!! !

I was told that it is usual for ADD's to have good skills at their own interests. It is true that at subjects he has no interest and/or has more difficulties he will not pay attention (even refuse to).

Not necessarily. I went in with a strong conviction that I l knew what I had and the therapist was open to the suggestion. I simply mentioned to her at our first meeting (for depression) what my suspicions were and that the possibility had been brought to my attention by loved ones who had had plenty of time to observe me. I even was somewhat apologetic about coming in with a self-diagnosis, but asked her to keep it in mind and see if she thought I might be right. After several weeks of meetings I brought it up again, and she said "You know, if you hadn't mentioned it, I'm not sure I would have thought of that right away, but it certainly seems to fit." She then referred me to a Psychologist who ran me through the testing procedure to confirm.

I have seen some stories related here on WP in which doctors and therapists are somewhat dismissive of patients self-diagnosing, so one never knows. I guess it depends on the MH professional and their personal arrogance. Seems to me someone with AS is probably more qualified to self DX than a person with any other Mental Health issue, other than depression.

Good Luck!

Hyperfocus when engaged in something very interesting is not uncommon in ADHD people, actually. Sometimes the big problem is controlling where the attention goes, not keeping it from constantly changing. But then, hyperfocus is practically ubiquitous among people with autism.

Of course, there's also the possibility of an autism/ADHD combo like what I have, creating a lot of difficulty with organization and requiring heavy external structure (but remember that this external structure must become self-generated, or independence will be impossible!).

Welcome to WP!

I should add that I think this refusal is more about self pride than incapacity. I would say this out loud but no one listened. The doctors say he is very bright and has a knowlege uncommon for his age, so where do you fit attention incapacity? No sense.

By the way, thanks for all responses. He doesn't constantly deviate his attention but he changes matters of interest quite often an intensily. For a few days or weeks he'll be fascinated or almost obcessed with something, usually bigger than his understanding and surprisingly he'll learn a lot more than anyone would expect. Then someday he'll find another matter of interest.