Does my daughter have Aspergers?

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My son was just recently diagnosed with HFA. Before that, I knew nothing about Autism, but have since then been reading. My daughter is 8.

(I apologize for the unorganized blob below, I'm just checking things off in my head)

My daughter has problems socializing. She seems to choose not to interact with kids most days. She acts real awkward when she is around kids, kinda spastic. She's extremely, extremely clumsy. She obsesses over things, like my son. She has an advanced vocabulary and is a great reader.

She doesn't line things up. Never did. She doesn't seem to have a problem with eye contact, but then again, she doesn't interact with kids like typical kids do. She can't tie her shoes, or button her pants, or ride a bike or scooter, or swim. She is very artistic, and a great writer. Sometimes she acts a little younger than most kids her age, and other times she acts like a little adult. She is very articulate. She's always been sweet and humble. She gets overly emotional over little things.

I will post more as I can think of more, but I would like some input from you all. If you can think of anything that I should look for, or any questions you have that maybe I haven't thought of, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks!

The best thing you can do is get a professional to take a look at her. There's really nothing any of us can determine without meeting your daughter in person, even then we're just laymen (bar a few).

The most important thing is that you support her obsessions, and love and accept her. I wish that my parents did that, for me. Acceptance is the best cure. I don't agree with the other cures that the quacks come up with. On that note, I'll go back to listening to The Kinks...

Bring it up with her school or see a specialist.

Can she read facial expressions-- does she use them or use the wrong? Does she have sensory issues? Does she stim? Just things to think about you did not mention.

It sounds like she very well could. I also didn't have a very hard time with eye contact. Some of the stuff she doesn't know how to do sounds a lot like what I went through. I was very rigid with my routines and invested too much time into my interests.

These are just things I can relate but I'm not a doctor. Imo, it would probably help if you got a professional. There are some behaviors among neurotypicals that may mimic aspergers such as shyness, introversion but it does not mean they have aspergers. It could be she has an anxiety disorder except at her age it's probably less likely. It almost sounds like aspergers because poor social skills and motor coordination are the most common factors in aspergers.

yup

Yea, I'd like her to get assessed at her school, for starters. I think I'll call tomorrow and find out what I have to do.

So she has cerebral palsy?
Spastic is considered an insult in here.

It does sound like she has Asperger's though. Only one way to find out - get her diagnosed.
I agree that you should support her obsessions and don't force her to socialise too much.
My mother forced me to socialise a lot which made me feel like well I was a loser. I eventually socialised in my own time.

I wouldn't know from a description over the internet...and even if I met her I wouldn't know. Sorry.

The OP lives in the US. Over here, "spastic" in that context has no connection with CP (only in a medical context)- it just means full of nervous energy, or clumsy. This meaning actually predates the British one by a couple of decades. People in the US don't consider "spastic" to be offensive at all, or at least not any more than "geek" or "nerd". The only reason I even know about "spastic" being used in an offensive way is from stumbling across an explanation of it online.
If you are curious to read more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spastic

To the OP: I agree that the best thing would be to get a professional assessment.

Last edited by LostInSpace on 22 Jan 2010, 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm sorry if I offended you.

Yea, I'm going to call the school tomorrow and see about it.

My mom teaches at her school, and is trying to get her to be more "normal", but I want her to just do whatever makes her happy, even if it's alone, reading a book under a tree.

Since when is spastic an insult?

It's mostly a British thing (although I guess Pensieve lives in Australia). It dates to an incident that occurred on British TV in the 1980s. A guy with CP was on several episodes of a TV show, and was referred to as a "spastic." The word "spastic" (or "spazz") then became an insult much like "ret*d" has.

Yes it's an insult much like "ret*d" or "moron" is.

We also have the Spastic Society over here for people with cerebral palsy. So people that have illness can be called spastic without it being offensive, but people can also use the word to mock people. A politician recently got in trouble for saying 'spack attack'.

OP: All good.