Great, thanks every one. We will be doing Medieval History. He spent the summer in Germany and has a ton of pictures of medieval places he visited. He also kept a notebook with impressions and thoughts. Good to know that will be enough. We will be using "The Great Courses" and probably the Oxford History of Medieval Europe and/or the Spielvogel text as well as some original sources.

Do colleges ever ask for writing samples for social studies? I would prefer to base our history class this year entirely on discussion and reading but I am not sure if there needs to be written work. If there needs to be written output I would come up with a couple of longer papers. This child has various issues and last year was extremely stressful. I would like him to have a year where he simply enjoys learning.

Yeah, Tricare can be confuzzling. Our assigned doctor did some basic checks and said he doesn't seem impaired enough to warrant the referral. The codes shouldn't be a problem, when we went through our overseas screening, they said they were looking for diseases like cancer, congestive heart failure and such. OT, PT,.. are all available if one qualifies. The referral to the psych comes through the family doctor. Taking in the report is a good idea.

Both my oldest and youngest were like that at that age only they did not have anxiety or rigidity. The pool was a life saver because the water offered resistance and they couldn't hurt themselves. They loved to crash into things so we bought a big mat which covered a whole side of their room. We spend a lot of time outside, rolling down hills, hitting things (baseball, tennis...), everything to get the proprioceptive system in sync. Jumping on the trampoline was great and eventually I put them in gymnastics three times a week. We bought weighted vests and blankets, wriggly cushions and ate dinner walking around. Our oldest spent 14 years in therapies, it was intense. Now at 15 and 21 my first place to luck for them is in bed or on the couch :sneaky2: The oldest needed a lot of therapy for various issues, the younger one has calmed down on his own over the years, he briefly had OT in school ( 6 months?) when he was 6.

I already talked to the doctor about a referral for OT, they wouldn't write one. I will mosey back to EFMP and inquire a little more persistently :-)

His verbal scores are in the 95th-98th percentile, (very high to very superior), visual scores are in the 16th to 1st percentile (low average to extremely low), processing speed is in the 3rd percentile (very low), working memory is in the 95th percentile (superior). He is also extremely nearsighted and vision is getting worse fast.

It does help. I have always thought of myself as normal. I hit many of the markers but I too have always thought of it as personality traits, not a brain disorder. It certainly never occurred to me I needed help. I figured I just needed to find a job and living situation that suited me (which I did).

I talked to them. They said that since he already has an ASD diagnosis they need some sort of form from the school counseling office, regardless whether he is homeschooled or not. They will contact Soandso and EFMP will take it form there. I have an appointment with the counselor in a few days.

We were in the States when it was done. We moved the day after I received the report. I haven't done much with it over the past few months because there was so much going on and homeschooling has made dealing with some things less urgent. I also may have filled out the questionnaires incorrectly (didn't learn that until a few days ago when I had to fill out a health form for myself. How was I supposed to know that when they say "ever" they mean more than 4 times a year or more than once every 3 months. They made me redo the whole survey.) I really think a behaviorist is our best plan of action, they will be able to puzzle out which behaviors are of concern and which aren't. From there we can form a plan of support and accommodations as needed. Honestly, it is a real relief to have some idea of what to do and where to go. I will still pursue the physical aspect, building muscle and core strength cannot be wrong, and I figure working on vision and fine motor skills will in the worst case do nothing and in the best improve life in some way.

Yes, I think there is enough, to give him that label when all is considered, it just so happens that all the factors that form the label are in the "Other characteristics of autism" category. There are a couple in the "Social Communication" part. He does not often ask for clarifications, and he did talk aloud when he was a preschooler but not since then. My difficulty may be the reorganization of the label. Since it is a spectrum, two people on the spectrum can in theory look very different and have different characteristics. I am still functioning under the autism=..., inability to function in society label. As I mentioned before, I have many more characteristics than he does yet nobody has ever suggested I am autistic. Dang it, I want a clear definition of what autism is :-) In addition, there are probably characteristics that weigh heavier than others. I know if I were a child today, I would not do well. This thread has put much of it together for me. The ASD spectrum encompasses so much that I am still not clear on why ADD and dysgraphia were mentioned separately. Wouldn't a simple ASD diagnosis be enough then if the symptoms and characteristics overlap? Does it matter whether his lack of organization is due to ADD or ASD? (for example, does one diagnosis open a wider range of possible support than the other or do they have a different origin and therefore need to be treated differently?) Are any of these disorders ever diagnosed without ASD? I think if I read the books posters suggested I will have many of my questions answered. Now I am curious what the legal implications of that diagnosis are, I have to read up on that. For example, can a potential employer ask about it during an interview? Could he be fired because of behaviors due to that diagnosis? Oh, and for the person who said start a thread on "normal teen or ASD", my ds would always have been labeled as normal from a written description. When I tried to describe his issues to friends, they always said, "My kids do that too." There weren't any behaviors that were unusual. It was the combination of behaviors and the degree to which he did them that combined to make him clearly ASD and to at times really mess with him and us. That makes total sense. That goes back to what Oh Elizabeth said. I may not see it because I am worse than he is so to me he seems normal and to others he seems normal. I have always looked at his behaviors separately, not as a package of certain combinations.

I truly think the behaviorist is a great idea. I am hoping they would be able to puzzle out what is normal and what is not. The other thing I learned from this thread that had not hit home is that he needs to learn to advocate for himself. I Keep tripping over that 18=legal adult thing.

IQ range is in the mid to high 120s. She said it may not be accurate because the span between visual, processing speed and language is so large. ADD Inattentive and Dysgraphia are the other two diagnoses.

The hospital suggests only that extended time for tests and adaptive technology in school for handwriting might be helpful. It lists several book titles concerning organization. That's all. No mention of an IEP or 504 let alone anything else. I think this is part of where my confusion comes in. I figured an ASD diagnosis would warrant a little more in terms of information, suggestions, pointers what he needs help with and where to get it. If nothing is needed, why bother with the diagnosis? I am the only one who even seems to entertain the idea he may or may not have a bumpy road ahead. That's why I came to this board, I figured I get much better insight here. I I went into this whole thing with concerns about handwriting, fine motor/vision skills and potential problems relating to that. I came out with a diagnosis for ASD and no answers or help. I have never heard of a county board of developmental disabilities, will look it up when we get back stateside. Bringing in a behaviorist sounds helpful, didn't know that was possible.

Should the report mention a support level? What would a low level look like? If he cannot negotiate an alternative assignment he grumbles and does what he is asked to do (he will draw the line at illegal things or things he knows are wrong. Negative peer pressure has never been a problem). He is fine with people in general, it depends on the crowd. Would he relate well to beer drinking, yelling sports fans? He would probably make some conversation about the game, decline the beer and leave at the earliest opportunity. He would behave as most bored people would, besides it's loud, people shove and the situation might escalate.) He is meeting many new people in various situations and from what I hear, he is enjoying himself. Some of the people he meets are kids of my old classmates (so his age) and so far I have only heard positive news (I can ask if he strikes them as awkward, they would tell me). He exchanged information with a few people when he toured a university he is interested in and they plan on staying in touch to work on a project. He met older brother's friends and had a good time there as well. He actually expressed interest in joining a fraternity. :scared: He just doesn't like large crowds and thankfully stayed clear of the demonstrations currently going on in Europe. My life right now isn't different other than that I am down to three people. Less laundry, smaller meals, fewer expenses, no school. He seems to be able to transfer skills. Working on organization for example seems to really have helped. He helped his uncle move and from what I hear he did a nice job sorting, arranging and packing. He did suggest that rather than lugging the heavy boxes, they get a dolly. My mother has no complaints (or at least none I take seriously), his room is clean, he gets up on time, he runs errands satisfactorily. He will try to weasel out of cleaning up dog poop but eventually will do it insisting on using a shovel rather than grabbing it with just the bag over his hand. I am on board with this one. Seeing how he does away from home was actually part of the reason we sent him. It's nice to see his is doing better than I expected.

That's the crux, nobody in the professional arena thinks he is in need of therapy. Therapy has been denied by our insurance and doctors have not been willing to write a referral. He had an OT eval at school and was deemed borderline but still in range.

Thank you, this is really helpful. In the Language Characteristics or Social Communication section there is nothing he consistently exhibits. Under Other Aspects, yes there are several that are always present. Those would/could account for the diagnosis. On the whole I have many more symptoms than he does :-)

It really depends. Some situations are obvious (someone struggling with heavy bags), some situations need more thought (being offered drugs by a close friend in school. After an afternoon of mulling it over, reporting illegal behavior trumped not telling on a friend.) In some situations he has no idea how to help other than to listen and being supportive (friend's dad lost job), there really isn't anything he can do. I haven't thought of empathy in that way though. That is something to pay more attention to.

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My son has a diagnosis of ASD I am not quite sure how they arrived at. I reread it several times over the last few days and don't find anything that let's me conclude he is autistic. His major problems are illegible handwriting, being slow and he could use another dose of common sense. I am not necessarily saying he is not autistic, just that I have no clue how they came to the diagnosis based on the statements in the report. Hubby is of the opinion I expect too much. Just because I knew to never scrape a non-stick pan with a knife at the age of 17 doesn't mean everybody else does too. My worries when he is moving out are the "Will he do the dishes and eat three home-cooked meals a day" variety. We taught all our kids life skills from an early age. He can cook, do laundry and iron, clean, he is knowledgable in first aid and simple medical matters, he can shop and is financially savvy, we studied nutrition and health including drugs, sex-ed and emotional and physical well-being, personal hygiene, he can do light sewing and is the only one in the family with a green thumb. He can do simple home repairs, interior design leaves him cold. As long as everything is functional and he likes the way it looks, he is happy (more power to him). We talked about legal matters (tax returns, rental lease, scams, insurance...). Does he do all these things perfectly? No, but given enough time he does them well enough to get through life. Some things simply do not matter to him, that's fine. I don't care if he makes his bed on daily basis but do want him to be able to do it. His shirts can be wrinkly in everyday life but not for a job interview. Will he remember to do those things and will he ask for help when he is stuck? Will he be able to tell the difference between a small and a big problem and address small problems before they balloon? Hubby says he would be more worried if he did all those things all the time because a dude in his early 20s who doesn't at least occasionally have a sink full of dirty dishes and supports the local pizza joint clearly has issues. Son has no worries because there are such things as automatic deposit, cleaning services, and since he intents to rent an apartment, finding a decent plumber will not be his problem. He has no intention of getting his driver's license soon but he will deal with it when it becomes necessary. He would by far prefer to live in a place with a good public transportation system. He is disorganized and knows it. Over the past year he has made a big leap in terms of using organizational tools to help. He had one late assignment, he tends to not lose stuff anymore because he assigns places to where something goes, and he uses his tablet's reminder functions to keep him on track most of the time. He still tends to get distracted easily. He can focus though when necessary and hates interruptions when thinking because he loses his train of thought (for example when writing a paper or doing his math). He can go into hyperfocus but I see that primarily when he is under time pressure, it isn't related to a particular subject or activity. He does not feel he needs to be productive all the time and doing nothing at times is not a waste of time but valuable because he can recharge. He knows a lot things but I am not sure execution will follow promptly without prompting. For those of you who have older teens or young adults who have an ASD diagnosis, how does it play out in real life? How much support do they need? Do they need support or do they handle life on their own? Do they recognize their difficulties or are they convinced they have no issues? How do they function in the work place?

Ha! It's hubby's fault (he is a MIT grad) :tongue_smilie: In all reality, he will probably be fine but I have worried over him his entire life, it is a hard habit to break. I have these horror visions of crusty refrigerators and piles of dirty dishes in the sink because he doesn't want to touch them. I doubt though he would be the only young dude who doesn't remember to occasionally wash out the fridge or mop the bathroom. What I was saying was that he is more likely to show up late for class than fail it. His first choice of major is computer science, but he also entertains certain types of engineering, urban design, political science or philosophy. I think he has a pretty broad spectrum of interests here. He may end up majoring in one and minoring in another. He briefly thought about setting his sights on MIT and then decided he wanted a more relaxed college experience. We will probably move to Hawaii next year, doesn't get much more relaxed than that. (I also worried about my oldest whether he would pay his rent on time, attend his lectures, remember to vacuum. I can report that his apartment is reasonably clean, his landlord has not yet hounded us for back rent and he just achieved the first perfect score ever given out in a particular class. (His university has a policy of not assigning 100% so this is an awesome achievement. Apparently he does go to class.) All our kids were taught how to clean, cook, do laundry, shop, light sewing, some gardening, financial and other life skills. They all have them to varying degrees but do not necessarily think engaging in them is the best use of their time :sneaky2: As for the OT, I tried private, Tricare didn't authorize it and we couldn't pay for it at the time. I have talked to his doctor at our current duty station but she wasn't willing to give him a referral instead suggested going through the school first. I tried to be sneaky and schedule an eval directly with the OT/PT department but they wanted to see that referral. I talked to the psychs and they said that since he has an ASD diagnosis, it must come through the school. All ASD, no matter the age, is handled through the school. I have an appointment with the school counselor in a few days so we will see what comes of that. If that doesn't work, we will return stateside next year and can then tackle the private option again. Heathermonster, you know, I have read so many threads about 2e kids, it has never occurred to me he could be that because I don't see what I think of learning disabilities. I am beginning to wonder though if I am defining learning disabilities wrong or if I have an incorrect idea of it all to begin with. I always thought of his issues as physical problems, akin to a person who has limited use of their body due to injury. Oh Elizabeth, I will open another thread because I am stumped on the autism aspect (yes, we did fill out those surveys). I really appreciate your insights. You are right, maybe I just don't see it because I am used to it or because we all (our family) have a touch of it or because I have different cultural standards.

They were done in 2013 and 2015. His diagnosis is for ASD, ADD Inattentive, Language Delay, Low Processing Speed and Dysgraphia. The ASD diagnosis made no sense to me because of all my kiddos he is the most emphatic, he has no behavioral issues and gets along fine socially. It was based on the fact that while he answered all questions in a polite and focused manner, he did not ask questions of his own. I am also clueless where the language delay comes from at that age unless it refers to the delay between someone asking a question and him offering the answer (I think that is due to his low processing speed). Yes, he was a late talker and had speech therapy when he was 4 for stuttering as well as a delay with receptive speech. However, on both tests all his language related scores are in the 95th to 98th percentile. He scored high on the Critical Reading and Writing part on the PSAT in 9th grade and did well on the math section. He gets A's in foreign language and English classes, he is bilingual. He was on a debate team, did mock trial and was a member of the Toast Masters. I am really scratching my head here. The 2015 (private practice, well, hospital) report only mentions that he would benefit from accommodations on tests due to his illegible handwriting and low processing speed. The 2013 (school) report states that "even though his scores for visual-motor integration, fine motor integration and sensory sensitivities present as deficits they do not seem to impact educational progress as his standardized test scores are in the above average range (he usually scored near perfect on the tests, his grades were all over the place depending on the teacher but were getting lower with each year) He shows possible signs of dysgraphia due to illegible handwriting, inappropriate letter formation, inappropriate size of letters in same paragraph, improper spacing between letters, inability to write in a straight line or stay on line or stay within borders, abnormal hand position, tiring easily while writing, applying abnormal pressure while writing, refusal to write with a pen." Consider implementation of a 504 for extended time and adaptive technology for writing tasks. The 504 was set up but then we moved and where we moved to it was either you homeschool or you go to PS so it was not really needed. Now however we are in a place where he can take classes at the local high school and I will try to revive the 504. The last OT eval was done in 2013 but since his educational progress was not impacted as per the report, he did not qualify for OT in spite of the deficits. I tried to go through private OT but our insurance wouldn't pay since his issues were not the result of an accident or illness. He also had a PT evaluation but was deemed not to need services. We had worked hard on gross motor all his life so while he is no graceful swan, I am happy with where he is in that area. Same with the sensory issues, still picky and avoidant about many things but he can get through life with where he is at. The most concerning issue there were food textures that made eating an almost intolerable task which led to being grossly underweight. He tolerates many more foods now and his weight is catching up. I am not worried about academic success, every-day-life is my worry. He is more than welcome to live in our non-existent basement but I would prefer he can lead an independent life and keep a job.

He has had several evaluations, some through a school, others through a private neuropsych and one through a developmental optometrist. He was not "cleared" by the developmental optometrist, therapy was not recommended. We were told that his visual difficulties would impact his reading but not his ability to write. Since his reading abilities were superior they didn't think his vision issues were the problem but rather poor motor planning and recommended to see an OT. Much of it didn't make sense to me then and it doesn't make sense to me now. He scored very low on coding, symbol search, relocation, spatial perception and visual integration. He was deemed to need tinted lenses due to light sensitivity and is nearsighted to the point that he will need surgery because they will not be able to correct with glasses much longer. He was evaluated by an OT who said that while his motor planning showed deficits, his hand writing issues would stem from vision and they didn't think OT would help with his handwriting. I am lost with handwriting and fine motor skills because one side says it is a vision problem and the other says it is a motor issue.

Oh Elizabeth, he will be 18 in a few months. I would be ecstatic if he could produce a single legible letter, he can't. I am more than willing to accept what cannot be changed (there is plenty of that left). I don't believe that this cannot be improved at all. Heathermonster's pointing me towards dyspraxia has been priceless. I think I can see now where his hang-ups are and we will try to work with that. He has overcome every other obstacle, I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to jump over this hurdle too. So far the problem seems to be that we have not seen the hurdle because we have been looking in another direction. No wonder we keep running into it. From everything I have learned over the past few days, I need to primarily deal with his visual abilities, not his motor skills.

Our initial appointment was about $600. Not that this qualified him for therapy but at least I had some idea what the problem was/is and could deal with it at home.

Sigh, I thought of that as well as it would allow him to write anything plus he could put the print outs on forms. I just want to scream every time I hear that kids don't need penmanship anymore because they can just type everything. People don't seem to realize how ineffective that is in real life. Thanks to you guys I found some resources though that I think will be of great help