To be honest her dad shows signs himself - he is a sock seam freak, and drove my sister mad until she had her daughter and found that it wasn't just socks. He is very controlling but in lots of very surreptitious ways. He is outwardly bubbly and fun loving, but says some very inappropriate things and doesn't seem to have regard for others feelings. He is very worried about what people think of him, but presents outwardly as someone who is very laid back. He had a breakdown when my sister had her daughter. Their relationship is so bad that they no longer sleep in the same room and my sister asked him to leave last year, but relented as she felt sorry for him. My niece is like me in lots of ways (although I have never been highly sociable and she is) and I am sure that I would have been diagnosed with Asperger's as a child. I have lots of things that stress me and I avoid lots of things - those are 37 years of coping mechanisms I think I am worried that if she does have Asperger's she will be a very unhappy girl when she grows. From my experience I hit the age of 8 (became more self aware) and suddenly was not a happy bunny for no apparent reason - thought it was my family life, but my brother and sisters didn't seem to be affected. Have spent most of my life feeling odd and outside, and have been depressed since childhood. Think maybe there was more to the fact that I was in a dream world as a child and was late to speak. Would hate for her to go through that sort of thing too
So busy waffling forgot to answer your question about school - there have been a few times when the school have commented on her dislike of being told what to do, the refusal to hold someone's hand and other issues. On the whole the school have not really said too much to my sister, and my sister's reaction when they have has been very much that they just dislike her child. She has stood up for her child and lied too. When out on a field trip her daughter refused to hold the CT's hand so in the end the CT took her hand. Her daughter immediately said "you are hurting me!!". This then made the CT call in my sister to clarify the matter and ask whether she ever reacted this way at home - my sister said no, only if she is genuinely hurt (not true!!) as she felt that they only called her in as they thought she may take action against the school for hurting her child.
Probably just looking for things that aren't there
KW
