"DS does not have Aspergers. He just has Autism"

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Ok- this is what I got in a letter from the psychologist that has been doing his evals. They are sure he has a sensory processing disorder, sensory integration disorder, severe visual/spatial delays, low tone, low eye tracking and tourettes syndrome, We have our meeting April 14th, (if you have been following my threads, if not here and here and here-- oops I linked those backwards, lol anyways) SO it also stated there is still something vitally important that they talk to dh and I about at our meeting. So how do they mistake Aspergers for Autism? I know Apergers is a form of Autism. I have been telling the psychologist I could not believe Aspergers because of his social skills. So are there more forms of Autism? Will they tell me more at our meeting??? Ugh so frustrated.... Any ideas what the secret that they want to tell me at the meeting could be? Somebody else said in a different thread of mine possibly low IQ??? Any other ideas??? Ugh.... sorry- guess this is more of a vent... I just want to help ds ya know???? But I need to know for sure what I am dealing with. They are positive he has Autism I guess its just the "kind" they are unsure about. How many different forms are there? Or do they just lump anything that isn't Aspergers under Autism Spectrum Disorder? I am sure I will know more on the 14th at our meeting. He is having 1 final observation with the psychologist and the OT this Thursday. (we had 1 at our house already, this one will be at the psychologists office)

[Carrie12345]

Ok- this is what I got in a letter from the psychologist that has been doing his evals. They are sure he has a sensory processing disorder, sensory integration disorder, severe visual/spatial delays, low tone, low eye tracking and tourettes syndrome, We have our meeting April 14th, (if you have been following my threads, if not here and here and here-- oops I linked those backwards, lol anyways) SO it also stated there is still something vitally important that they talk to dh and I about at our meeting. So how do they mistake Aspergers for Autism? I know Apergers is a form of Autism. I have been telling the psychologist I could not believe Aspergers because of his social skills. So are there more forms of Autism? Will they tell me more at our meeting??? Ugh so frustrated.... Any ideas what the secret that they want to tell me at the meeting could be? Somebody else said in a different thread of mine possibly low IQ??? Any other ideas??? Ugh.... sorry- guess this is more of a vent... I just want to help ds ya know???? But I need to know for sure what I am dealing with. They are positive he has Autism I guess its just the "kind" they are unsure about. How many different forms are there? Or do they just lump anything that isn't Aspergers under Autism Spectrum Disorder? I am sure I will know more on the 14th at our meeting. He is having 1 final observation with the psychologist and the OT this Thursday. (we had 1 at our house already, this one will be at the psychologists office)

 

I haven't fully read your other threads yet, but I did want to throw it out there that the new DSM is supposedly "throwing out" Asperger's as a separate diagnosis from Autism. My understanding is that all Autism Spectrum Disorders will have the same classification.

 

There really aren't all *that* many different classifications right now. Classic Autism, PDD-NOS, Asperger's Syndrome, and sometimes PDD (without the NOS) or High Functioning Autism. HOWEVER, each one of those things is going to look different in each person who has them. Perhaps they're just waiting to talk to you about the specifics of your child's manifestations.

 

My initial thought is that they're looking at a PDD diagnosis (NOS or not).

 

Definitely make sure to bring a notebook and pen with you! :)

[PeterPan]

Waiting sure can drive you out of your mind, eh? Try to do some fun things and stop thinking about it. He's the same child as he was before the letter. Get back to doing what you like doing with him. :)

[MamaSheep]

I don't blame you for being confused. The whole autsim research community is confused about this. The researcher I know and speak with fairly regularly was part of a 5-year, $5 million research study with the specific purpose of delineating the difference between autism and Asperger's. What they discovered was that they couldn't do it. There IS no clear difference. He told me last week that what the latest research seems to indicate is that autism has multiple causes and could wind up being 30 or more different disorders. Right now "autism" in whatever form is just a label for a set of observable behaviors, and those behaviors probably have multiple underlying causes, none of which have really been definitively pinned down. As Carrie said, they're lumping them all in together in the upcoming revision of the diagnostic manual. Mostly because they feel the current designations are a bit too arbitrary, I gather.

 

Breaking down an individual child's diagnosis into its constituent deficits, like sensory processing and integration problems, eye tracking, and so forth, seems to be the best way to figure out what therapies might help. So probably you're on a good path. :grouphug:

[SkateLeft]

We've been told that our son absolutely does not have Asperger's, because he has language delays, and Asperger's specifically precludes language delays. That's the only difference I've seen noted, though I'm sure there are more. I've never thought about it going the other way... what separates Aspie kids from other kids with ASD. I guess I just thought of them as ASD kids without language delays, though now that I think about it, I'm sure there's more to it than that. :001_huh:

 

We have a specific medical diagnosis that manifests symptoms of ASD. The problems that makes for the school district though...Ugh! Does he fall under the autism criteria, or the OHI criteria, or the EBD criteria? They like their neat little boxes!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We've been told that our son absolutely does not have Asperger's, because he has language delays, and Asperger's specifically precludes language delays. That's the only difference I've seen noted, though I'm sure there are more. I've never thought about it going the other way... what separates Aspie kids from other kids with ASD. I guess I just thought of them as ASD kids without language delays, though now that I think about it, I'm sure there's more to it than that. :001_huh:

 

We have a specific medical diagnosis that manifests symptoms of ASD. The problems that makes for the school district though...Ugh! Does he fall under the autism criteria, or the OHI criteria, or the EBD criteria? They like their neat little boxes!

 

 

Yes he does have language delays. He never even talked until he was 3.I am going to go look those up and see. IO have not heard any of those terms yet (but again have not finished evals and had the meeting yet either)

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Waiting sure can drive you out of your mind, eh? Try to do some fun things and stop thinking about it. He's the same child as he was before the letter. Get back to doing what you like doing with him. :)

 

 

Oh we have. Infact, knowing what I know now its been better because now I know some of the things he does is not just him being defiant or out right rude. Poor kiddo... I used to get after him (not mean but still) for things he couldn't help. :001_huh:

 

Now i know, and things have been MUCH better :001_smile: And he is still my little buddy :001_wub: LOL. Now I know why he is so emotional also :001_smile:

[PeterPan]

We've been told that our son absolutely does not have Asperger's, because he has language delays, and Asperger's specifically precludes language delays. That's the only difference I've seen noted, though I'm sure there are more. I've never thought about it going the other way... what separates Aspie kids from other kids with ASD. I guess I just thought of them as ASD kids without language delays, though now that I think about it, I'm sure there's more to it than that. :001_huh:

 

We have a specific medical diagnosis that manifests symptoms of ASD. The problems that makes for the school district though...Ugh! Does he fall under the autism criteria, or the OHI criteria, or the EBD criteria? They like their neat little boxes!

 

Not sure exactly what your speech diagnosis is, but apraxia and spectrum disorders frequently go together. Sometimes the child will *appear* on the spectrum and lose the diagnosis once he begins to speak. But yes, they can occur together.

[SkateLeft]

Not sure exactly what your speech diagnosis is, but apraxia and spectrum disorders frequently go together. Sometimes the child will *appear* on the spectrum and lose the diagnosis once he begins to speak. But yes, they can occur together.

 

Yes, that's what I said. :) My son has expressive and receptive language delays, and has a dx of "communication disorder - NOS."

 

However, Asperger's is only one form of ASD. One of the defining characteristics of Asperger's, according to the DSM IV (299.80) is: "(IV) There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)." (http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-aspergers.html)

 

My son carries a dx of classic autism (among other things), and years ago, when I'd asked our neuropsych about Asperger's, he pointed out that because my son has had language delays from the very beginning, his symptoms are incompatible with the DSM criteria for Asperger's. However, he does have a diagnosis of autism under the DSM IV criteria (299.0): http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-autism.html

[Critterfixer]

We've been told that our son absolutely does not have Asperger's, because he has language delays, and Asperger's specifically precludes language delays.

 

That is my understanding as well. I believe that Asperger's also includes as an identifying feature intense absorption in areas of special interest to the child. I imagine that this feature would show up later rather than earlier. I'm considering having my son evaluated again in another year. He has an insatiable interest in fans, in particular the blades of the fans, and rotors of helicopters. He also has a great love of flowers, particularly lilies and tulips, anything with prominent stamens. My son was initially diagnosed as high functioning autism, but I was a little surprised because he started talking well before a year of age. Many of the words he knew and used were not on the form I was given. I mentioned this but it didn't seem to matter. He also used sentences earlier than his twin brother. Also didn't seem to matter. That kind of annoyed me.:glare:

[Dobela]

We've been told that our son absolutely does not have Asperger's, because he has language delays, and Asperger's specifically precludes language delays. That's the only difference I've seen noted, though I'm sure there are more. I've never thought about it going the other way... what separates Aspie kids from other kids with ASD. I guess I just thought of them as ASD kids without language delays, though now that I think about it, I'm sure there's more to it than that. :001_huh:

 

We have a specific medical diagnosis that manifests symptoms of ASD. The problems that makes for the school district though...Ugh! Does he fall under the autism criteria, or the OHI criteria, or the EBD criteria? They like their neat little boxes!

From our experience, while the language delay/no language delay seems to be the determining factor, sometimes it just depends on who is doing the evaluations. My brother was diagnosed with Aspergers by one psychologist. When applying for disability a different psychologist, using the exact same information as the first, decided it was straight high functioning autism and never was Aspergers. The first psychologist, when asked later about this, said he considers it aspergers when the IQ is high and autism when the IQ is low with everything else being the same. The second psychologist looked at language development as the primary determiner (which correlates with the DSM).

 

For what it is worth, my brother has very narrow interests, an above average IQ, but was not talking before age 2.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 15yo certainly presents as a rule-bound Aspie, but she had significant language delays that were caused by an auditory processing delay and very low muscle-tone (which included the muscles in her tongue and face). Once we remediated the auditory processing delay at 4yo most of her speech delay vanished. Strengthening the tongue and facial muscles at 5yo took care of the rest of the speech delay.

 

Up until 3yo, she presented as autistic. By 4yo she presented as high functioning autistic. By 5.5yo, she definitely presented as Aspie. You'd never know there had been any delay in speech.

 

I call her Aspie. She doesn't have a formal diagnosis, but she has seen a neurologist (because of possible seizures) who said that she presented as an Aspie to him.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My 15yo certainly presents as a rule-bound Aspie, but she had significant language delays that were caused by an auditory processing delay and very low muscle-tone (which included the muscles in her tongue and face). Once we remediated the auditory processing delay at 4yo most of her speech delay vanished. Strengthening the tongue and facial muscles at 5yo took care of the rest of the speech delay.

 

Up until 3yo, she presented as autistic. By 4yo she presented as high functioning autistic. By 5.5yo, she definitely presented as Aspie. You'd never know there had been any delay in speech.

 

I call her Aspie. She doesn't have a formal diagnosis, but she has seen a neurologist (because of possible seizures) who said that she presented as an Aspie to him.

 

 

So I wonder if ds's language issues has to do with his low tone. He didn't talk until 3 as I said before, but now he is doing much better (or so I thought) I thought he just had a few sounds to work on but they want him to start intensive speech therapy- but I guess with me knowing where he started and where he is now is why I didn't think that was so bad. What about his other issues, could that have something to do with the language and still be Aspergers? His math scores were very good (he was very advanced with math) but the rest was either low average or below average.

[Critterfixer]

So I wonder if ds's language issues has to do with his low tone. He didn't talk until 3 as I said before, but now he is doing much better (or so I thought) I thought he just had a few sounds to work on but they want him to start intensive speech therapy- but I guess with me knowing where he started and where he is now is why I didn't think that was so bad.

 

I think the speech therapy will be good for him regardless of what they eventually label him with. So much of my son's trouble came from not being able to express exactly what he wanted to say. Once his vocabulary started to include more concrete terms he didn't have to rely as much on his unique descriptions, which I still love to hear.:001_smile:

[Niffercoo]

My 15yo certainly presents as a rule-bound Aspie, but she had significant language delays that were caused by an auditory processing delay and very low muscle-tone (which included the muscles in her tongue and face). Once we remediated the auditory processing delay at 4yo most of her speech delay vanished. Strengthening the tongue and facial muscles at 5yo took care of the rest of the speech delay.

 

Up until 3yo, she presented as autistic. By 4yo she presented as high functioning autistic. By 5.5yo, she definitely presented as Aspie. You'd never know there had been any delay in speech.

 

I call her Aspie. She doesn't have a formal diagnosis, but she has seen a neurologist (because of possible seizures) who said that she presented as an Aspie to him.

 

This seems to be the path my daughter is taking. She wasn't speaking at age 3. We found out that she had a hearing loss in both ears (when the ST sent us to "rule out" hearing problems). Once we fixed the hearing loss, she started speaking - though she used language in a strange way for several years.

 

She was diagnosed PDD-NOS as the age of 3.5, but she had started to come out of herself because she could finally hear and we were getting the sensory stuff addressed. I believe that if she had been diagnosed when she was 2 and I was begging for answers, she would have been classic autism.

 

She is 9 now and she is much higher functioning. She presents like an Aspie - much like her big brother, who coincidentally I think would have been diagnosed HFA/PDD-NOS if he had been diagnosed at age 2-3 instead of at age 10! LOL

 

Personally, I embrace the ASD classification without all the sub-sections. But I know my son identifies as an Aspie and strongly disagrees with me.

[chiguirre]

So I wonder if ds's language issues has to do with his low tone. He didn't talk until 3 as I said before, but now he is doing much better (or so I thought) I thought he just had a few sounds to work on but they want him to start intensive speech therapy- but I guess with me knowing where he started and where he is now is why I didn't think that was so bad. What about his other issues, could that have something to do with the language and still be Aspergers? His math scores were very good (he was very advanced with math) but the rest was either low average or below average.

 

The language delay will probably rule out an Asperger's dx. But, it doesn't matter too much since that dx is going to disappear from the DSM in 2 years anyway. ST is still useful even without articulation issues. Ds2 only had trouble with the th sound but he's still had ST his whole life to work on the social aspects of speech.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I'm not an expert on autism or asperger's by any means but my kiddo was dx with asperger's early of last year.....and it took me a while to figure out it was on the autism spectrum LOL---it can be overwhelming when you go to researching WHAT KIND or autism it is---or more precisely what part of autism it is...becuase there's so much....so many different parts that make up autism....so many little things where it can be one thing and then it can resemble another its' frustrating.....hang in there...........