Hi, I’m new.....Aspie Mommy | Autism PDD

Thank you Karrie...and everyone else...it's just a blessing that I've found this....I figured who can learn by themselves.....

At least here some of you have both been there and done that a hundred times over....so I have the blessing of your wonderful experiance.

Her Story:

I have been watching my little girl very closely since I left her father.
    The reason being that her father had told me at one time that he had bipolar
    disorder, actually his exact words were I have bipolar disorder and I don’t
    need medication! So naturally I watched Jackie for early signs of it.
    
    As she grew older, I noticed unusual behavior that I didn’t think was
    normal...but was always told that it was just that she was different. She
    was able to draw perfect circles at the age of 16 months, at the age of 18
    months, after I met my current husband and while we were walking in D.C. she
    pointed to the Washington monument and said Look, and Obilesk Mommy She has
    been able to color inside the lines of her coloring books since she was 2.
    
    Pretty smart sounding, huh?
    
    She had night terrors until the age of 2 also.
    
    Also, when she was eating on her own she would absolutely have to have her
    bowl in one particular spot, her fork in one particular spot, and her cup in
    one particular spot every single time and you had better NOT ever move
    them...
    
    She is very particular about what sorts of foods she would eat, an extremely
    picky child; for example, I bought a new macaroni and cheese with green
    swirly noodles. Her reply to that was This is NOT macaroni and cheese And
    her tantrums....saying they are extreme would be an understatement. Upon
    provocation or over-stimulation, she thrashes, kicks, screams at the top of
    her lungs, scratches, and bites. During these fits we put her in her room
    where she cannot hurt her brother or us.
    
    Up until the last week, she would not sleep at night...and often times if
    you went in to check on her as late as 1am she would be sitting up in bed.
    Since the doctors recommendation of trying Magnesium Calcium supplements and
    cutting back on the carbs she has shown a remarkable improvement in not only
    her hyperactivity but also her sleep.
    
    When she plays she plays by organizing everything. As you saw from the
    pictures of her room, everything has a place and everything is lined up.
    When we initially took her in to both the psychiatrist and the developmental
    pediatrician, she re-organized their toy boxes.
    She does not understand the concept of playing house or teaparty...trust me
    I tried to teach her....she doesn’t get it.
    
    She would prefer to play with puzzles and legos and color in her color book
    and practice writing out letters.
    
    She does not understand sarcasm or jokes...and in fact they make her upset.
    When my hubby jokes around with me she gets upset and recently has requested
    that we don’t joke around. When she was younger, Iíd say between 2 and 3 she
    took every single thing literally, now I’m talking if you keep that up it’ll
    fall of and that sorts of things...little sarcastic statements we don’t
    usually think about before we say them, well you have to think about it with
    her.
    
    Ah yes, and one more thing...a few months ago, I had gone a bit too long
    without mopping my kitchen floor and Jackie became extremely distressed. So
    I jokingly asked if she wanted to clean it up...I didn’t expect her to grab
    one of my cleaning wipe thingies...you know what I mean right those things
    in the baby wipe like containers...and she began wiping up my floor while
    she happily, no darn near exstatically cleaned my kitchen floor up.
    
    Playing with her, well that’s hard on us.  She has a really big problem with
    human interaction, basically it non existent at times.  She doesn’t really
    understand and to her she’s perfectly fine so long as you are sitting in the
    room with her.  She won’t actually play with you.  She’ll contently play in
    her little ‘bubble’ but won’t outreach too far from it.
    
    It’s very very frustrating for both Adam and myself because we don’t know
    what to do or how to react.  It is so hard to play with a child that doesn’t
    play back.
    
    
    This is Jackie’s regular behavior. I may have left some things out, I have
    accepted my daughter how she is...and no longer pay too much attention to
    what is regular behavior for her.....I have to be more firm with her now as
    the psychologist recommended using Tough Love with her, it sounds harsh to
    me to be that way, but that is the only way she’ll understand.

    I tend to refer people who ask to a website...a
    really good and informative website with links to other website with more
    information.
    
    If you would like to know about Asperger’s Syndrome go here:
    www.aspergersyndrome.org
    
    
    If you have any further questions about Asperger’s or my daughter and how
    she interacts and reacts feel free to ask, I’m open to discussion and more
    than happy to answer questions.
    
    If a child of yours or a family member has been recently diagnosed with
    Asperger’s I recommend reading a few books.  A lot of them you’ll find
    listed at the above website.  Which by the way they also have a book as well
    as a discussion forum.  It’s a truly wonderful website that has been a
    Godsend to us since Jackie’s diagnosis.
    
    I think the hardest thing about Asperger’s is outside acceptance.  My folks
    still don’t 100% accept that there is anything wrong with my daughter.  But
    there are just some behaviors and oddities that they don’t see on a basis of
    just a day or two visit.
    
    My MIL sees what we see as she spends much more time with our daughter.

AspieMommy,

Just wanted to say welcome to the board. This place has been a life saver to me and everyone here is so supportive.  Take care,

Karrie