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I have a quick question..my daughter was evaled a month ago and we just got the diagnosis..language disorder..and a few other things...ok that is just fine..actually we were very happy..but then when we talked to the Dev Phy she said she had every characteristic of ausbergers..Ok so WTF? They then left her at: Observation for other Specified Suspected Conditions..ok what is going on..I thought this would be an open shut book thing..was I wrong? When they were doing her eval they brought in the Asbergers scale and the Dr said a majority of everything was on the scale..then we saw the PSYCOLOGist..OH THE PSYCOLOGIST...he was ODD the least to say..ill expand on that another time, anyway has anyone in here had a simple diagnosis and then it be Asbergers or autism or can I say ok awesome we are done with this and continue on..they want to see in her in 1 year. I am so confused and havent been able to get a hold of the dev psy again..any remarks are greatly appreciated! Thanks Jill If the dev ped said she has aspergers then that's what should be listed as her diagnosis. The only thing I cna think of is that the doc wasn't qualified to give that diagnosis (is she just a regular ped? because they cannot diagnose officially) and so she said what she thinks and you need another dr for the aspergers diagnosis. A dev Ped, a psychologist or psychiatrist. I think a ped neurologist can diagnose, too. Be sure to aks them if they work with autism daily. How old is your daughter? Maybe she's too young and they need to wait and see how she develops? That's all I can think of.Yes I was wondering how old she was too. And exactly what is meant by speech disorder there are several. THe boys have apraxia. One of the characteristics of aspergers is no speech delay, so that they are saying aspergers and speech disorder would have my suspicions up, but then they could be talking about anything with speech disorder. Remember too that just because his title is dev pedi doesn't mean he is a good one or competent one. We saw one last spring that just made me go hmmmmm. We had been seeing one in a different state up to then and their opinions were as different as night and day. I was wondering about the guy from the first phone call. He was making a diagnosis over the phone before he ever even saw them. THose drs were as different as night and day and they have the same title. So I would say go with your instincts, you can always get another opinion.[QUOTE=Julie B.]How old is your daughter? Maybe she's too young and they need to wait and see how she develops? That's all I can think of.[/QUOTE] I wondered the same thing. T had speech delays ... but it was not really until she was 6 years old that demands on her speech were enough to show she had semantic and pragmatic language problems! And her Aspie personality traits then became apparent ... I cannot blame the people who saw her before then, but I DO wish they had brought up the possibility, instead of letting me blithely tool along ... Unless she is at least 6, a FIRM dx is often not really possible. Before then, kids develop so unevenly that it really could be just a difference in her developmental rate. Also, MANY girls seems to "outgrow" asd-like symptoms by kindergarten. It is not clear why. Kids with Asperger's DONT HAVE A SPEECH DELAY. That is one of the primary features that makes AS different from Autism or PDD-NOS. If she has a speech delay, she may eventually function as a child with Asperger's (if she catches up in speech) or she may eventully show few, if any ASD symptoms. OR she could be found to have some firm diagnosis. If she is younger than kindergarten age, the true DX will only become apparent later. BUT most school districts INSIST on a DX, so many, many doctors feel pressured by what they know the system demands, so they take their best guess. The truth is that ANY dx of ANY KIND is only someone's best guess. What matters for our kids, no matter what their age, is that their skill level in all areas of development get properly assessed and that they get appropriate help in areas of deficit. "Appropriate" is defined as help that enables the particular child to make "more than trivial progress" during a given school year. Also, the provisions of No Child Left Behind apply, so those parents who are interested in making certain their child meets grade level standards should go to www.wrightslaw.com and become familiar with the requirements of NCLB . These requirements ONLY apply to schools that take Title I funding, which is the majority of public schools. yes how old is you child?Thanks for the responces. Update..ok first she is 7.5 and the dev phy is not able to diagnose on her own. That is what she said. She also said that her opinion is she strongly feels that S is on the spectum for mild autism...that was before she talked to the team. The psycologist said that she didnt have the BRIGHT red flags of AS so the team did not feel she had it. Now her speech may have a lot to do with it. Because she was delayed, but the Dr. said that might not completely rule out AS anymore. They are studying that more closely. So now that I got more of a description I feel that you are all right. I feel that she could not make the diagnosis on her own. After talking to the Dr. I feel that she is right, our daughter does fit most of the criteria but not all. Specifically she said repatition. The exact language part of the diagnosis is Moderate expressive-recptive lang disorder. The last part of the DX as I said earlier is "observaton for other specified sespected conditions" is basically saying the "the problems she has might or might not be a part of a different specific problem" that is what they wrote. So she said that there are some concerns of the right diagnosis, becasue what Susan has "is mild and we may not get everything in one eval." I assume with autism or ausbergers they would get in one eval..I would hope, RIGHT? As long as she is over a certain age. I also have to agree with all of you the key is getting the kids what they need. The team said that she is getting exactly what she needs at home (as far as working with her on extra activites) but she is not getting enough at school. Even when we fight the school as hard as we do. So maybe that is why they want to keep a close eye on her.SKmom~ I have been fighting a year and a half to get z diagnosed. We went through Kaiser and was diagnosed with "Expressive Language Delay". They also recommened that I let go of my child (the youngest of 4) and get myself some counseling. I persisted because I knew he had Autism, he ped dr finally saw it after I pointed out a few things, his cardiologist saw it, the school district saw it, I could keep going but everybody but the people who could diagnose him saw it. I pushed and got a county referral to a psycologist. Needless to say as of 6/20/08 Zack was officially diagnosed with Autism, mid-range Autism so its not like he is high functioning. Anyway after all was said and done, I found out the Kaiser dr that saw him for a dx was still wet behind the ears. She is fairly new at it and apparently I am not the only one she has misdiagnosed. She has had some that she caught but others that were missed. It scared me to think if I listened to what she said Zack wouldnt be getting the help he is, let alone me getting the help and guidance I need to help improve his quality of life. Dont let one dr tell you there is nothing wrong when you know in your gut there is. Dr's are human too and they also make mistakes like we do.
7.5 is much older than typical to just be beginning the whole process of being evaluated. Most children with developmental delays are flagged by their parents before they are 2 years old. Sometimes it takes longer for the doctors to catch up and take the parents' concerns seriously, so the average age for a serious developmental disorder to be diagnosed is 3. It would be more typical for a child with Asperger's to be diagnosed in the school age years, but that is only because the Asperger's kids don't have language delays. The speech delays are what drive the process for 2 and 3 year olds to be evaluated and diagnosed. So, based on what you've said, it sounds like you are dealing with a doctor who is using a very loose definition of Asperger's that does not conform to DSM-IV. I know this is a trend, and Asperger's is getting re-defined by doctors. I am not sure why. I think they intend to mean a child with developmental delays that the believe will be high functioning as an adult. However, the "correct" diagnosis for a child with core deficits in both social and communication areas is PDD-NOS, according to the DSM-IV. But that's all relative. PDD-NOS doesn't really mean a lot- it just means a developmental disorder that is autistic-like, but doesn't meet the full criteria for a classic autism lablel. It's a little difficult to follow exactly what's gone on with your child, but I guess she has always had a language delay, but never had any social deficits identified, so never been diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum before? If that is the case, then it is not uncommon for a child to be much older before the social symptoms to become very clear and be identified. So, if the doctor is seeing it now, she probably is on the autistic spectrum, and technically she has PDD-NOS. Mixed-expressive/receptive language disorder is pretty rare by itself. If a child has no other autistic symptoms, and there is not a strong family history of severe language disorders, (anything with a receptive component is severe), then from my reading, doctors consider this a sign of birth trauma and brain injury.
Thank you you guys..and yes I agree with you Bluebird..I think that her situation is rare. When I saw what her diagnosis was I read up on it and when it said brain trauma I was floored. She has never had anything like that happen. The only thing that she had was the tongs during birth. She also was failure to thrive due to breast feeding but that was taken care of right away. That would be the only thing that I know of. And ya it said that it is 3% of kids have it and 1% of the three is girls so she is very rare. She does fit all the characterists of autism socially to a T..it is just that she really doesnt have any repatition and loves to be social. So that is why I thought she didnt fit the spectrum. She did have a delay till the age of three and a half then she "caught up" and talked so grown up...then the social issues started at 4 and a half and was a concern to the teachers. She did not do imaginitive play, ever still struggles with that. So basically what I guess I am asking everyone is if it was your child and this was as confusing as my situation would you just let it be. See I started to keep a better detailed journal. So that next year when she gets evaled agin I would know more specifics since it is based on 6 months. Let them see for themselves. I am very affraid to even take her to school next year. She is so volnerable and that scares me. I also know that she is not getting what she needs, even the team said that. We need to stay on the school to make sure she is getting what she needs. And no we have never had any speech problems in our family. So I was just wanting to know your opinion..Thanks again! Jill
Just to clarify- if she had mixed-expressive/receptive language disorder without a clear genetic connection, then she would be rare, and doctors would assume that somewhere along the way- prenatally, during birth, or after, she experienced a brain insult. That does not mean it is your fault. This kind of thing can happen in many ways. However, she does not have mixed-expressive/receptive language disorder. She is on the autistic spectrum. You clarified that when you described a social and a language deficit, and the doctors have confirmed it for you. Whether you call it Asperger's or PDD-NOS is up to the doctor and his/her preference. (According to DSM-IV, it's PDD-NOS). Language disorders have three sources; the brain is genetically programmed to the deficit, the brain is damaged, or the brain is simply delayed in developing its full potential. Language disorders in autism probably are caused by all three of these. (Brain damage may occur in early infance due to metabolic deficiencies. Most of the ones that cause autism are unknown today). PS- You asked if it was common to get a langauge disorder diagnosis before an ASD diagnosis. VERY COMMON. Many kids on this board had a verbal apraxia or mixed expressive/receptive language disorder diagnosis before their social deficits became clear.
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