Is it Aspergers?

Peg - posted on 12/29/2010

Oh my Amy, I REALLY PRAY that things improve for all of you. I know how difficult it can become as they get older.I think the hardest thing for me was letting go of the dreams I had for Nick. At 16,he got his learners permit,but was too aggressive behind the wheel..Everybody was a SOB,Ahole,etc etc..so I stopped letting him drive and hoped he'd do better when he was older,but that isn't the case..I wanted him to date.but ended up with Mothers calling me asking if I would stop him from stalking their daughters at school.I gave him a computer and he promptly began exchanging "pictures" with 13 and 14 year old girls which is why he's on probation now.Those dreams died a slow,painful death and I will always be sad over that..

Iridescent - posted on 12/28/2010

I hope things improve for you Peg. It's hard seeing the GAF score and learning what that means. Justin's is only a 15, and we have hope that he'll improve with age but it's a long road with no doubt. Our other son's is currently a 45, which is excellent in my opinion (but not in reality...only compared to his siblings).

Peg - posted on 12/28/2010

Nick's had IEPs for 6 years..The trouble with not getting the right treatment until the teenage years is he thinks the world should adjust to him. His conversations are limited to movies,music,anime cartoons and whatever has caught his fancy that day. He's made no attempt to try any other behaviors that have been suggested,he responds only to my verbal instructions and I'm not gonna be around him often after graduation, so I really hope something has stuck in his mind that he can call on in the future.

Nicole - posted on 12/28/2010

HI My Oldest son is 6 1/2, I saw signs of his adhd very early on around 2 1/2 3 years of age I was told I had to wait until he was age 5 to be diagnosed, So as patience trying as it was I waited and finally the day came when he was diagnosed at first it was adhd, then they said he had aspergers as well.. My son who is not 6 1/2 has shown signs like yours as well almost identical in every way.I am not a doctor but, I can tell you I know exactly what you are dealing with, My son also has a leapster 2 and excells on everything, it is also one of the main things that can keep his attention for long periods of time.My son also uses complex words so much that I have to look them up.Which as a mother that is mind boggeling.I never use complex words, but he always has, he tends to try and figureout every aspect of everything weather it is a question,stategy of a sports game,regualr game, road trips..He is very intelligent. He is on an IEP in school and has a physically developmental delay, he get PT and behavioral, as well as some occupational therapy at school.Did he have early intervention services at an intergrated preschool with a previous IEP. If not your doctor will provide you with information so you can go to the school and meet and develop a learning plan suited for him, that you can agree or disagree with. I have to run right now but If you have anything else youd like to know I maybe can help just give me a hollar.

Peg - posted on 12/28/2010

Hello Kristin,I have custody of 2 grandson..One is 12 and one will be 19 next month. The oldest, Nick, was diagnosed with Aspergers at 8 but had exhibited extremely bad behavior since 3.He needed speech therapy at 4 which helped him communicate better.We had hoped with better verbal skills,the explosion temper would lessen as his frustration levels might drop..Unfortunately,that wasn't the case and Nick was sent back and forth between his parents until 2005 when I found out his Dad had placed him in foster care.Nick has been in therapy for most of his life and I'll never know whether his background of indifference from his parents created the other problems or if he's have developed them anyway.As you probably know,Aspergers is always accompanied by various other MH issues. Nick has ADHD,ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder),RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder),and has recently developed a severe eating disorder..Actually food has always been an issue,but recently it's out of control and he's now up to 270 pounds.A gain of almost 50 pounds in 5 months. He just went back to regular school for his senior year.He had been in a Partial Treatment school for most of the past 2 years. NOW is the time to keep trying to find the right treatment and ,as hard as it might become,NEVER give up trying to reach him..I'll never know what Nicks life might have been with earlier intervention,but I DO know what it is now and I know I've reached the end of my patience and after trying therapists ,medication, and every suggestion from every therapist and teacher and doctor with absolutely no change in his behavior,I've made arrangements for him to go into an Independent Living Group Home after graduation. Nick has a GAF score of 35 which is as low as it can get without being in a secure setting.He has made the Honor roll many times in school,both of them,so I know he's smart enough to understand the reasoning when we talk about his behavior..He chooses not to change it and continues to do EVERYTHING he's been asked to stop doing..His teachers don't have many problems with him in school since he's gotten older,but as recently as 8th grade,he could become openly defiant when pressed.As he's aged,he no longer explodes at school,but has come home and totally destroyed his room,clocks,remotes,cameras,walls,etc. He came to me at 14 but you have a much better opportunity with your son at 5 to make a difference in his world.Please don't give up ,but know that it will take every ounce of patience you have to get him to 18,but it will hopefully make his adult life easier. Sincerely,Peg Robey

Karen - posted on 12/27/2010

Whenever a child has difficult behaviors and is socially lagging, intervention is necessary. It sounds like you are doing a good job with a consistent caregiver, we have a child who is responding well to the DAN therapies, simple biomedical interventions(eg, gluten free, casein free diet, simple foods, no colors or preservatives, extra brain vitamins(fish oil, cod liver oil,etc) as well as some specific detox stuff specific to him. He sounds bright and with good coaching, will learn the social skills and do well. Take your cues from his best days, less people in the class, less chaos around him, more concrete social clues, Preschool intervention is so valuable--gets some things together before the stigma of labels at school, fun, brains still developing and progress is greater. Keep on keeping on!

Jonathon - posted on 12/26/2010

Hi Reannan your brother also sounds like me hehe, i also hafe difficulty with my feelings and i only have 4 emotions that im aware of, Happy, Sad, Angery and Depressed, one of the diffrences though to both your your brother and Kristans son, is i will not react violently in any situation to another person, though i do tend to get violent towards myself because im the one that causes all the problems. My mum is always blaming me for everything that goes wrong, but i dont blame her for it, i just get angery with myself and bang my head against the wall and thigs like that. Often i dont nesicerily uderstand what it is im being blamed for or what i done wrong, and that makes me eaven more angrey with myself, it makes me sad that that i cant make my mum happy, and i dont think there has ever been a week that has gone by when i havent been depressed at some point,as for happy thats a rare thing for me, most of the time when i smile i do it because it is expected, i cant remember many times in my life when i was truley happy, but i know that emotion because when i was accepted in to Queen Alaxandra College for special needs i was truley happy because at the time we all thought that they spechilised in Aspergers Syndrome turns out aspergers syndrome was just a secondary speschiality of theres and there primary spechiality was vishual impairments. Reannan have you considerd sending your brother to a martial arts club, they might be able to teach him the diffrence between undirected violence, and focased violence, martial arts also teaches disipline as you have to all this wired japinise or chinease praying and bowing stuff before you start, in some martial arts you have to learn ceartin japinease or chinease words to shout out before performing certain moves, i seen it on tv in the movies that jackie chan and bruce lee are in, and movies like that require a certain degree of martail arts skill before you can make it in to a movie so just like star trek wich is based 82% on actual science, there must be some fact in martial arts movies espeshaly those with jackie chan and bruce lee in.

Reannan - posted on 12/26/2010

My brother has Aspergers, & he sounds similar to everything everyone has been saying, he is obsessed with routine, if he doesn't have his routine & doesn't stick too it he just simply can't function, he's extremely smart & has excelled in everything Jonathon said, especially music, computers & science but he is also great at maths & english. He's has difficulty expressing his feelings & it's often days before what he's feeling come out, for example we recently had a death in the family & he treated the funeral as a joke if you didn't know him you'd think he was heartless but it's just he doesn't know how to express his feeling or deal with the way he's feeling & it wasn't till a couple days later that it sinked in & he got upset. He also has a tendancy to be an attention seeker & finds it hard to get along with people, now that he's 16 it's not so hard but when he was 10 was when he was the worse because he also had a lazy eye, whenever kids would tease him he would ALWAYS react with violence which resulted in him always being suspended from school, he found it hard if all the attention wasn't on him & still does & finds it extremely hard if he's embarrassed, that seems to be the one feeling/emotion he absolutely can't deal with. He tends to blackout when he gets mad too & wont remember what he's done & i recently experienced when play fighting went to far & he bailed me up in a corner & started kicking & punching me & i had to pin him down & scream at him to stop 3 times. What my mother in law has done is a no or low gluten diet, no preservatives, artifical colours etc etc & also has him on a concotion of vitamins & alot of fibre to help him go to the toilet because im not sure why but if he can't go to the toilet atleast once a day he's impossible to deal with. Hope you sort it all out soon!

Jonathon - posted on 12/26/2010

Oh sorry then i thought you were

Iridescent - posted on 12/26/2010

No, I'm not the same one.

Jonathon - posted on 12/26/2010

I definitly agree with Amys second post, however the first post she made like you Kristan im not to familyer with most of those tests apart from the IQ test and the ADOS. Your son is definitly old enough for the DISCO as well, if i remember correctly i think thats the one were they just ask everyone involved a bunch of questions. From the details you provided in your response i would definitly say he has some form of ASD and given the experieances i have had with aspergers syndrome, the information i know about it and taking an educated guess i would say he probably does have aspergers syndrome. The description you gave of your sons routine and some of his activities sounds just like me. I still sleep with my blankie and my pink bunny teady who i call Lou Lou, i have been obsessed with computers since i was 3, and i also like my room neat and tidy but hate cleaning. While i recognise the dangor that was involved in the ice incident and the importance of pulling him back i can also tell you that to your son walking the full length of the ice was probably a very meningfull act at least to him, wich is why he thew a fit when he wasent able to complete it. As for soschilising i spent years trying to sochilise in the physical world and trying to make friends, and every time i tried to make a friend i failed, it must have been at least 17 years i spent trying to make friends, eventualy i just gave up. I gave up trying to make friends in the physical world and turned to the cyber world, i have thosands of friends in the cyber world but unfortunatly i have never met any of them, and i can count on 10 fingers the number of them i have seen on a webcam. It is vitaly important that you fight for your son to get the ADOS and DISCO assesmeants as soon as possible like Amy says all the profeshonals do is make you wait, (social servises are espeshaly good at that), take this to the courts if you have to, threaten to sue them, go to 10 downing street to see the president, speak to andrew langsley at richmond hous in white hall, these are all things i plan on doing to try and get better support for Aspergers and Dyscalculia anyway, the govermeant seems to think that the only people entitled to support are children and that adults arnt allowed any support, and i intend to sue the govermeant for not providing the same leavel of support to adults with, a late diagnoses of aspergers syndrome and / or servere dyscalculia, as children, i just wish i new how to do it or what a sue was, i just know its some legal thing that can force people to do things for you. Speaking of legalisim if your doctor or your sons doctor pr pediatrichian refuses to refer your son for an ADOS or DISCO assesmeant then you can always use the Disability Discrimination Act, if im not to much mistaking i think there is a section in it about refusing assesmeant of persons with suspected disability. I been obsessed with the DDA ever sinse i was kicked out of Brockenhurst college only 2 weeks after my diagnoses of aspergers syndrome for no apparent reason, and i eaven had a one 2 one aid while i was there, i was studying computers, in the special needs block, and my course was 2 years, i had been there 1 year and i got my diagnoses the day before starting back tow the second term, tow weeks later they kicked me out, now thats got to be disability discrimination, and i been obsessed with the disability discrimination act ever since. Aspergers Syndrome is not inherited, though there is some dispute in the scientific communitys as to wether it is genetic and linked to one of the cromosones or weather its neurological or weather its psycological in some pathalogical sense (there is a single word for psycologcial in some pathalogical sense but i cant remember it, like i said before my vocabulary used to be much larger then it is at the moment). There is also dispute as to weather aspergers syndrome is an asd or seprate from asd's, but at the moment it remains a registerd asd. The sooner you get the ADOS and DISCO assesmeants done the better it will be for your son.

I also have a question for Amy Lea are you the same Amy Lea that was the singer in the band Eveanescence ? I have an obsession with the song Tourniqet, it is probibly the most meaningfull song to me that i ever herd, the lyrics reflect my life so well, and they speak exactly how i feel. Also while i have got most of My Immortal down on keyboard and piano the piano solo after the second verse is the bit that i still cant get, would you be so kind as to help me out with the chords for this section and the notes for the melody, also the song everybodys fool it is the most inspirational song out there i listen to it when ever i want to skip lunch or dinner to loose some weight, it helps so much and the video i love the video i think, bring me to life is another one of my fravrite songs of yours it reminds me so much that there is light at the end of the tunnel, i wish i could have seen you in concert or eaven been able to just see you in the physical world rather then just on an album cover, the fallen is my fravrite album of all time it is a reflection of my life and tells the story of how hard life has been for me and how hard life is for me.

Iridescent - posted on 12/26/2010

You're welcome. Waiting to diagnose an Autism Spectrum Disorder is what many professionals suggest, but in all reality it is the WORST thing they can do. It prevents the child from receiving the help they really need very young in order to learn to function as teens and adults. The older the child is when it's started, the harder it becomes, and eventually it becomes impossible and all that can be done is provide supportive cares and staffing to keep the individual safe and alive, instead of training them to be able to be independent.

Kristin - posted on 12/26/2010

Thank you Amy. I am not familiar with all of the terms, this has only recently been brought up by his therapist. They don't want to officially diagnose him yet, they told me it would require a lot more testing, but they never said what tests. I will ask them about the ADOS and some of the other tests you mentioned. I will also try to find one of the Autism Clinces. Right now they've sent us home with a GADS(Gilliam Asperger's Disorder Scale) and a BASC-2 (Behavior Assessment System fo Children, Second Edition) but the last appointment we had to cancel because our car wasn't working, and I've left messages with his therapist to reschedule, but I think there is something wrong with their voicemail system, because I always have difficulty getting a hold of him, and he often doesn't get my messages. Thank you your input has been very helpful.

Iridescent - posted on 12/26/2010

He is old enough for the ADOS. They have the test designed for specific age and language development groups, from toddler to adult, and verbal and nonverbal in all groups. You do need to look specifically for an Autism Clinic, either one that is a Pediatric Neurologist running it or a group of specialists that will perform the testing and send the results to your pediatrician for review and official medical diagnosis. There are many other tests that are generally done in addition to the ADOS, and I happen to have the list since we have 2 autistic children (one of which was diagnosed 3 weeks ago officially).

For our Autistic child -
WPPSI-III (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence - III) - tests performance IQ, language IQ, full scale IQ and general language composite (ours tested in the borderline mentally retarded range on all)
ADOS Module 2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) - Module is determined by age and language skills (language scored a 4!!! but overall scored an 8, which is diagnostic for autism)
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II, Interview Edition (ours scored between 2 and 5th percentiles compared to other children his age in all areas)
Childhood Autism Rating Scale - Second Edition (CARS-2) - tests 15 domains to measure severity of autism (ours scored a 33, which means mild to moderate symptoms of autism)
Short Sensory Profile - assesses child's response to various sensory input (definite difference in most of the areas, probable difference in the remainder for our son)
Safety/Risk Issues - observations of concerns over and above the norm during the evaluation (runs, plays at stove, climbs, PICA, licks himself and other objects, hits, kicks, breaks things, picks at skin until bleeding, bites electrical cords for our son)
This is followed by a Diagnostic Impression, which is the DSM-IV rated on the five-axis diagnosis. It also gives you an impression of how able he is to survive compared to others his age as Axis V in the form of GAF.

For our son that is NOT autistic, 9 years old, but due to two autistic siblings he was assessed as he's struggling and we didn't know why, the testing was different. They started the same, but quickly changed to identify his problems and needs.
RCMAS-2 (Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale) - self reported anxiety measure that assesses a child's perceptions of current anxieties. It also has trick questions which show anxiety when a child is trying to hide it, intended for very intelligent children.
Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) - self reported depression scale.
CARS-2 - this child scored a 16, which means non-significant symptoms of an autism spectrum disorder (less than necessary to even diagnose ADHD or Asperger's)

This testing took a full 8 months from making the appointment and multiple appointments 4 hours from here, over many days. It IS necessary to find out what is really going on, vs a diagnosis based on a child playing in the room and the professional's subjective opinion to diagnose vs a guideline, which many professionals DO, and it causes misdiagnoses.

Kristin - posted on 12/26/2010

Thank you Jonathon, this has been very helpful. I'm just wondering if he's old enough to be assessed with the AOCS and the DISCO. The last time they did an assessment he didn't want to answer the psychologist's questions, and he started throwing toys at me and the psychologist.

As far as obsessions go, I'm not really sure. He has been obsessed with Batman for the last two years, everything has to be Batman. He also tends to have very specific desires, for example, he would not go to bed unless he had a fleece blanket, he finally gave that up a non-fleece Batman blanket. He also has to have this stuffed toy kitty or he won't go to sleep, and he just got a Pillow Pet for Christmas which he has been asking for months to get one, and the thing has not left his side since he opened it. Before the kitty it was a snuggle blanket, a smaller fleece blanket that he snuggled with. When he lost the blanket, we went through a week of bedtime wars, where he'd finally pass out around midnight.

Other than that he has temporary obsessions, like the other day, we were visiting with family, and the road they live on is very narrow and doesn't have sidewalks. There is one spot on the road where there isn't even any grass to walk in, because the properties on either side have steep hills. We were walking back to the car, and when we got to the point in between the hills, we saw a car coming, we told him to get out of the road and go to the car. He did, but then he noticed a patch of ice behind the car, which extended into the road, he wanted to walk on it so he started walking back towards the road, we told him three times to stop, the last time I was screaming because he was on the edge of the road, and I was getting ready to drop the box I had when my boyfriend grabbed the back of his coat and yanked him back. He missed the car by a hair, but he start throwing a fit because he didn't get to finish walking across the ice, he didn't even seem phased by the fact that he almost got hit by a car.

As far as neatness, he is not neat whatsoever. He enjoys having his room neat, but he doesn't like cleaning. We recently got him to clean his room if we call it "decorating" instead of cleaning.

As far as socializing, as I mentioned he wants to socialize, but isn't very good at it. He does better in smaller groups, and he will interact with kids his own age if prompted by the other child, but he seems to initiate conversation with older children and adults better than with kids his own age.

As far as the martial arts, I have wanted him to get into it, but I don't think he's ready just yet, he doesn't seem to realize the difference between defense and violence just yet. I also worry about it because of the ODD. He gets the ODD from his biological father, and his father has a long criminal record, which includes some violent crimes.

I'm also not sure about a lot of the behaviors because I can remember having the same behaviors as a kid.The striming or stiming, I mentioned to the therapist just to see if there was anything I could do to limit when he does it, but I didn't think it indicated any syndromes or disorders, and I remember doing the same thing as kid because I was fascinated with what sound s I could make, and what I could do with my body, so I figured it was just typical child curiosity. I also remember not wanting to do something if I was asked or told, but I preferred to do things on my own terms.

As mentioned I generally did well in school, but only if i did the work, and I've always had a large vocabulary. This is just a little bit of it, but almost every behavior he has, I had as a child. This is why I'm not sure of his diagnosis because I was never diagnosed with anything other than ADHD (except then it was just called ADD) I'm not sure if Aspergers is hereditary or not, but if it is, and I have it but haven't been diagnosed that would actually make me feel better about it, because although I had trouble in school and with socializing, and I was a very troubled teen, I am now in college and doing well. Although I think my social problems may have developed into a social anxiety disorder, I tend to get really panicky when faced with a large classroom where I don't know a lot of my peers, or when on a job interview. Regardless, if he can do as well as I've done, then I don't really worry about it for my sake, but I worry about how other people with interact with him.

I'm trying to think of any other behaviors I may have missed. I do know he seems to understand jokes. I tried the raining money thing with him, I even said it in a serious mannner and he said you're silly mommy.

Other than that I just want to say how much I appreciate you taking the time to respond, and I think you sound like a very intelligent person. Thanks again!

Jonathon - posted on 12/25/2010

Hi i also have aspergers syndrome, people with aspergers syndrome also tend to go through obseshions, and ushually have great a great talent in either maths, music, computers or science ( there might be other subject areas that i dont know about but these are the subject areas i do know about). I have Aspergers Syndrome, Pathalogical Demand Avoidance Syndrome, Servere Dyscalculia, Mild Dyslexia, Dyslexic Dysgraphia, Reactive Depreshion, Traits of OCD, Epilepsy and Mild Developmental Delay (My Mental Age Is Close To 19 Instead Of 23), i also have emotional and psycological difficulties. Every time i type a b or d i have to say the word bed in my head to figure out wich way round it goes, thats the dyslexia. I was predicted an F in GCSES maths but somehow maniged to get an E though i forgot most of the maths stuff i had to do to get that including how to do tens and units, i couldent tell time till i was 21 and never maniged to figure out divishion or the times tables past 2, 5 and 10, thats the dyscalculia. I am unable to read my own writing when i try to write with a pencil or pen on paper and get pain in my hands after trying to write for 3 miniutes, thats dyslexic dysgraphia. Dispite this most people with Aspergers syndrome do not ushualy have learning difficulties, though some do. As for pathalogical demand avoidance syndrome unless your son prefers to do things when he wants to and not when others tell him to, is very controlling and dosent like being constantly reminded to do the same thing, then i wouldent worry to much about that. Dispite all my difficulties i have 6 qualifications in computers and 1 qualification in music. I am self tought on the keyboard, piano and guitar (and i am still learning the guitar), i cant read music and learn by ear. The first time i got my hands on a computer was when i was 3 and i changed the screen resaloution twice, the first time i got my hands on a keyboard i was 9 and i played fre ra jacker perfectly eaven though i was in the wrong key hehe, the first time i got my hands on a guitar i was 12 same story as when i first got my hands on a keyboard, fre re jacker perfectly but wrong key giggle. Though its not true of myself most Aspergers people like structure, routine, and order, there rooms are ushually tidy and you can ushualy find things very easily, though this is not ture of every one with aspergers like me. Aspergers syndrome is officialy clased as "A Milld Form of High Functining Autisim" it is also a registerd ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder), and it is important to remember that every individual with an ASD regardless of the type of ASD they have is unique to that ASD. There are no tow people with aspergers that have the exact same symptoms, wich makes diagnosing aspergers syndrome quite difficult. Aspergers syndrome is diagnosed by using tow diffrent tests an ADOS and a DISCO (yea when i first herd of the DISCO i thought i was going to a Disco), they are both very long assesmeants and are ushualy done by speschilists. I was diagnosed by tow people that came down from manchester for tow days to see me, my mum, my docter, my teachers and my social worker. They ask you lots of questions, about your history, they will ask your son lots of questions, they will ask him to perform diffrent tasks, i think one of them is to describe what he sees in a book with lots of dots and lines in it ondiffrent couloerd paper, i think there was another one that involves him building something with a box of lego and there was one i remember quite clearly, he will have to draw 10 pictures on 10 bits of diffrent couloerd paper, 1 of wich can be drawn any way he likes, 4 ow wich using only once specific shape, like 1 of the 4 can only be drawn using circles, 1 of the 4 can only be drawn using triangles, 1 of the 4 can only be drawn using squares and the other one of the 4 can only be drawn using rectangles, 5 of wich will have to be drawn using dots, lines, small circles, small squeres, small triangles, they will give him specal pens to use when drawing the drawings using the small shapes wich are used like stamps, and the entire drawing has to be made out of only the one shape, same princapil as the other 4 drawings, the dots and lines drawing is done with an ordinary pen, but with the lines drawing the lines have to be seprate, it cant be a continues line, and each line cant be longer then his littile finger. I remember that bit of the test so well because it took so long and was so boring, there will be an aid in the room with him, to keep him focased, and the entire ADOS and DISCO assesmeant is videoed. your son will be able to ask for a break at any point during the assesmeants. I never really saw the point in the whole drawing thing either. There are 3 things wich are common to all ASD's Communication difficulties, Social Difficulties and Preceptual Difficulties. People with aspergers syndrome do have comunication difficulties, but offten have excelent vocabulary, the difficulties they have is offten with context, timing, and chossing the right words for the right convosation, many people with aspergers syndrome have difficulty communicating with simple words that are shorter, i myself often explain things using very complex vocabulary, and my vocabulary used to be a lot better then it is at the moment. Nearly every one with an ASD will have a diffrent preception of the world around them to a neuro typical person, when i look at a lamp post i see electricity being converted in to photons and thermal waste that could be put to bettor use, if you son has aspergers syndrome then he tow will precieve things around him diffrently, and not just object, his sense of common sense will most likley be diffrent to yours, as will his sense of logic. The same is true with me, my sense of common sense is very diffrent to my mums and so is my sense of logic, i actually have 4 diffrent senses of logic, vulcan logic, street logic, house logic and work logic (though i never had a job), my sense of common sense tells me that it is common sense to prepair a work logic before i get a job, eaven though i dobt it will ever happen since im on DLA (Disability Living Alowence). People with aspergers syndrome offten have a very hard time making friends, i would consider it a good thing that your son is not afraid to get physical and fight, because he is probibly going to be in for a rough time if he has aspergers syndrome, and im speaking from experiance. I was bullied almost constantly though my school years, i was sent to a bording school for kids with Emotional Behavioural Difficulties called Bicknell were i was bullied 24/7 for 4 years. So if your son is not afraid to fight of the bullies in my oppinion that is a good thing, you should enroll him in a martial arts club as soon as possable. But obviously make shure he understands the diffrence between self defence and violence, im shure you dont want him growing up to become a violent teenager or worse a criminal. Most people with aspergers syndrome have difficulties sochilising, i myself still have no physical friends, and all though i have thosands in the cyber world, i never met any of them because they all live to far away and i dont know any of them well enough to meet them. The most important bit of advice i can give you is get your docter to refer your son for the ADOS and DISCO assesmeant staigt away, the sooner he is diagnose the better his life will be, i was diagnose at 18 years, and i have had no spechialist theripy or support, and the one special needs college i whent to that said they spechilised in aspergers, well it turnd out that aspergers syndrome was a secondary spechiality of theres and there priamiry speshiality was vishual imparment, another 4 years of my life went down the drain. Child geniuses are very rare and aspergers syndrome is much more common, and from the discription if i were to take an educated guess, i would say that he probibly does have either aspergers syndrome or another form of Mild High functining Autisim. As for the noises that he makes, that is striming or stiming (i cant remember wich it is called), other behaviours that are clased by the word im on about are spinning on the spot, avoiding cracks in the walkway, hand flaping, walking back and forth, rocking and im shure there are more but those are the ones i know about. There are at least 3 reasons i know of for striming or stiming (wich ever its called), venting frustration, comfort and sensory stimulation. Given the fact that he has 100% achivment in vocabulary, maths, reading and comprehenshion i am again taking an educated guess in saying that it is probibly not related to sensory reasons. However when you get the ADOS and DISCO assesmeants done they will be able to rule this out compleatly. People with aspergers syndrome also have great difficulty in understanding humor and often do not understand jokes, instead they will, as with everything else, take them litiraly. this is one test you can do at home, simple say to him that it is raining money and observe his reaction, if he is getting all excited thats probibly normal behaviour for a 5 year old, if he actually wants to go outside and try to catch some, he probibly took it litraly, or if you dont think thats a sutable thing to say to him, think of something else you could say to him to see if he takes it litraly.
Please feel free to message me if you have any questions, or would like some more detailed information. bye bye