micki, my boy has a little bit larger head then normal. could you tell me in which book you read about such subgroup of aspergers? thx
psycho told me that he fits aspergers but as he is 4.2 now i personally think that he is more PDD-NOS then asperger. His speech is bad, mostly 2-3 words in sentence, very rarely 5-6 words sentences, and repeats or comments questions already answered many-many times.
The similarities of these diagnoses are so very numerous that your child may not fall into any ONE of them completely and may show signs of numerous autism spectrum disorders. I never got too hung up on the diagnosis and name, as it seems to me they're all just variations in severity of the same brain/bodily disorder--autism.
Adam was originally dx'd with PDD NOS, now the Psych is stating it is more like Aspergers. He is cognitively delayed, and most AS kids are not. Also, speech delay, does not necessarily mean lack of works, however, it does mean lack of meaningfull language.
Adam's speech is very flat. He is working on that with a Psych at the moment. He has a special interest, but does not delve into learning everything he can about it. So does not sound like a little professor.
Yes, I wondered about the speechdelay- I know a few kids who got an as
dx and they had speech delays.
Here is an example of what I ment by 'little professor': We had a friend
visiting who's son has AS. My ds was 4 and talked non-stop about his
special interest at the time 'monsters'. The 3 year old friend just stared at
him and said "It appears to me that you have a very developed
imagination".
[quote]I know two kids with aspergers and they are in some ways very typical:
early speech and reading skills, talking like little professors, little interest
in games with peers, a special interest they know tons about...[/quote]
see, this is why I think my son has PDD-NOS rather than Aspergers. His neurologist dx'd him with PDD-NOS, and then his psychologist dx'd him with Aspergers, but he doesnt really have obsessions and he has a LOT of speech problems and stutters, and he doesn't talk with a flat affect or anything. I am just so confused also!
Jasper's dev. ped. is "leaning toward" a dx of asperger's, as of our last
meeting.
I believe it's mostly based on the fact that he had no speech delay and
tests so high on cognitive tasks. Asperger's kids generally have no
clinically significant speech delays or cognitive delays (average to above
average intelligence)
I'm still waiting for more obsessive topics of interest to appear. It was
trains for a while, but I'm not sure what's next. He gets fixated on things
like language, or telling the same joke over and over. He gets upset if I
sing the wrong words to a song. He HATES to be "wrong" or told "no" and
will go to great lenghts to make up some "logical" excuse for his
behavior.
J. is definitely a little kid, not a "little adult". But I think that whole little
professor thing is just a stereotype. Not all kids with asperger's present
that way. Some are immature, too. (they are developmentally
delayed...makes sense)
He has gotten pretty succesful at talking with adults (though doesn't
understand many social rules) but, does not really interact with children
at all.
He's an early reader(with full comprehension) and uses advanced
language, but he also has many autistic tendencies and TONS of sensory
issues. lots of anxiety too.
Your child does not have to have ADVANCED speech to qualify for
asperger's dx, just not delayed speech.I'll just add that J. doesn't talk with a flat affect either, but his voice is very
unusual. It's just "funny".
You shouldn't get a dx of asperger's if your child had any speech delays at
all. PDD-NOS would make more sense.
J goes to group speech only to address pragmatics and social use of
language. He was speaking in sentences and full paragraphs at two, yet
when he started pre-school, he mostly just sat in the corner with his hands
over his ears, or walked the perimeter of the room, humming and clicking
his toungue whenever they had group activities. He also has many gross
motor skills delays (all sensory in nature)Actually, kids can get an AS diagnosis if they have minor speech delays. Right now a child isn't considered AS if they have a significant or clinical speech delay. The autism consultant for schools in our area told me that the issue of language delay and AS is actually being reconsidered. This was a casual conversation and I didn't think to ask her for her sources. However, the idea that a child needs advanced language skills and absolutely no delay in language development is not entirely true (from what I've been told). WIMomOf239271.5244328704I have often heard AS kids described as sounding like "little professors." In some cases, it may be the child's rich vocabulary that makes them sound like a professor. However, I also think they sound like professors because they tend to "lecture" rather than have a meaningful 2-way conversation.I know two kids with aspergers and they are in some ways very typical:
early speech and reading skills, talking like little professors, little interest
in games with peers, a special interest they know tons about...
My ds got a pdd-nos diagnosis and I was told that he would have gotten
aspergers if his speech was more advanced (it is normal range, he started
talking in sentences at age 3, first words at 12 month). He also seems
more immature than a 'little adult'.
However his special interest has becoming more prounced and suddenly
he is very hung up on rules and 'exact' language. As I read books I see
him more reflected in aspergers these days. (One book even mentioned
that there is a subgroup of asperger kids who have an unusually large
head from birth -my ds really fit the discreption of that group.)
I don't think there is all that much use for a new dx at this time, but I am
curious. Could people with kids with an asprger dx tell me about their kid
and what got them the dx? Thanksive3,
regarding a subgroup of kids with asperger having a large
headcircumfence from birth: The book is 'asperger-syndrome ' by Helmut
Remschmidt. He is one of the leading researchers in Germany. I know he
leactures abroad but I don't think the book is translated yet. However the
references he gives for this are from american researchers:
Gillberg C, Souza L de (2002) Headcircumfence in autism, asperger
syndrome and adhd. Child Psychol Psychiat 30:631-638
Cederlund M, Gillberg C (2004) 100 males with asperger-syndrome:A
clinical study of background and associated factors.Dev Med Child Neurol
46: 652-660
The NIH (national institute of child health and human development) also
had a release this June that a subgroup of kids wih autism had higher
level of growth hormones in addition to a larger headcircumfence and a
higher BMI. Not aspergers specific but interesting nonetheless.It is all so confusing..we got aspergers from pediatrician because Sarah had words..she used <5 a day but she had up to 60 words at 3 so she stated she was autistic probably aspergers since she could also read very well, knew shapes, colors, animals..could count over 200...but then the neurologists stated pdd...the developmental ped. stated mild-mod autism. and now we are at provisional autism with savant abilities and non of these labels fit her to me.
He should be more Aspergers but the language delay. His "speech" is fine--it's the language delay where he can't get the AS dx. So why did the pdoc dx him with HFA over PDD-NOS? He has the criteria for "autism"--but it's so, extremely mild that you can't tell.
[QUOTE=WIMomOf2] Actually, kids can get an AS diagnosis if they have
minor speech delays. Right now a child isn't considered AS if they have a
significant or clinical speech delay. The autism consultant for schools in our
area told me that the issue of language delay and AS is actually being
reconsidered. This was a casual conversation and I didn't think to ask her
for her sources. However, the idea that a child needs advanced language
skills and absolutely no delay in language development is not entirely true
(from what I've been told). [/QUOTE]
True, I have heard the same. I also believe gtto has posted that the lack of
delay in self-help skills may also be revised at some point as well. Lots of
shades of grey for AS (just like the rest of the spectrum!).
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