Need Advice Please

[carebear]

Hi im new to the board and looking for some advice.I have 3 daughters,my youngest lady is 8yrs old and has a diagnosis of ADHD and ODD since she was 4yrs.Recently she has been refered for an assessment for AS as her psycologist and myself feel she is showing some autistic traits,but therapists involved in assessment say they are reluctant to diagnose her as they dont want to add another label to my child,they werent interested in her birth history or any developmental delay.

I will list some of the reasons for my concerns and i hope someone here can offer advice.

 

1.Loves routine and gets quiete disstressed when change occurs(eg if a sub teacher in school she refuses to enter classroom)

 

2.Gets very distressed when having hair washed and nails cut.

 

3.Has obbsessive behaviours eg.(sugar has to be placed in centre on top of ceral and milk has to be poured round the edge and cannot touch the sugar,seam on toe of her stockings has to be straight and will repeatedly remove shoes to check this.

 

4.Plays alone in schoolyard and wont interact with peers,has poor eye contact.

 

5.Hates loud noises and crowds and covers her ears,is over anxious.

 

6.Has urealistic fears and suffers night terrors.

 

My dd is due to have the final part of her assessment soon but i dont hold much hope of getting any answers.

Am i right to be concerned or am i taking to much notice of her behaviour which is what doc is telling me.

Any advice is gladly welcomed,I am so worried about her.

Edited May 8, 2007 by carebear

[pearl]

Hello carebear & welcome

I think you are right to be concerned, the behaviours you mention (partic. 1, 4 & 5) do "fit in" with autistic behaviour, I know what they mean about not overloading with labels but if she does indeed have an asd it wont do her any favours to avoid this, its only by a proper label (look on it as a signpost) that she will get the help she needs.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[carebear]

Thanks for your reply pearl,Its been a long road to get this far with my dd to get an assessment(have been waiting 18months to get the appointment) so i dont want my concerns to be just dissmissed by therapists.These behaviours havent just occurred overnight theyve be present for numerous years and shes always had problems at school.Her class teacher and resource teacher have both voiced concerns about her social ability and emotional problems (academically shes doing well)so i hope this will be taken into account.Its not about a label,I just want to be able to get my daughter the help she needs.Thanks again pearl,will keep up updated of the outcome.

[pearl]

Try keeping a log of stuff you're worried about to show them, & ask school to do the same. You know her better than anyone, you are her advocate & your thoughts & concerns should be taken seriously. Sometimes when several conditions are going on in the same child its easy for one to get missed. One of my friends thought for years her son had ADHD & went down that road, only to have him re-diagnosed with Aspergers a few years later.

[JsMum]

Hi just want to say welcome and that I am in the same boat as you, my J diagnosed too with ADHD/ODD so just happy to know that there is others who have had the same issues, I am very surprised that your therapist isnt interested in her early development and that there is disagreement with a possible co mormid, and the comment that she doesnt want to give her another lable is just pathetic, how on earth are you suppose to understand and support her if she hasnt got the Label, what are they saying that any child with more than two lables cant have any more????

 

I am researching at the moment with the relation of ADHD/ODD and Autistic Spectrum and from what I have read and other parents experiences is that there is a lot of children who have more than one lable and even if that child has say several lables then it should be stated so the child can get maximum support for each spersific difficulty they are having and access the right services and support.

 

I would look at explaining to them that if they feel that she does have an ASD then you really dont mind in an extra lable as it can do is provide understanding even just as a parent, never mind, school, friends, clubs ect...

 

JsMum

[carebear]

Hi all,its good to know that theres others facing the same as myself and its great to get some feedback, I have given a detailed list as have the school and the teacher disscussed with them the obbsessional behaviours and lack of social skills plus the meltdowns that she sees in school when they went to observe her there, she explained that my daughter is doing well academically( apart from handwritng, comprehension and composition ie constructing sentances).there are so many red flags to me so i cant understand why they cant see that its more than Adhd/Odd. Ive been told that many ASD traits are also present in ADHD kids so theres a fine line to dx between the two, but your right pearl i do know her best and i know theres something more going on here. I have 2 older daughters both NT aged 18 and 12 so im not clueless and looking for problems that dont exist as i have been made to feel by dd's therapists. Js mum they only briefly went thru birth history,my daughter has a long history of develommental delay,was gone 2yrs before she walked and has lots of problems with balance,co-ordination and fine motor skills since she was a baby which are still ongoing that i think are a factor.But im not giving up,will keep going to do whats best for my daughter.Sometimes i feel so downtrodden by it all.

 

thanks for your posts

Carebear

Edited April 9, 2007 by carebear

[Clare63]

Hi im new to the board and looking for some advice.I have 3 daughters,my youngest lady is 8yrs old and has a diagnosis of ADHD and ODD since she was 4yrs.Recently she has been refered for an assessment for AS as her psycologist and myself feel she is showing some autistic traits,but therapists involved in assessment say they are reluctant to diagnose her as they dont want to add another label to my child,they werent interested in her birth history or any developmental delay.

I will list some of the reasons for my concerns and i hope someone here can offer advice.

 

1.Loves routine and gets quiete disstressed when change occurs(eg if a sub teacher in school she refuses to enter classroom)

 

2.Gets very distressed when having hair washed and nails cut.

 

3.Has obbsessive behaviours eg.(sugar has to be placed in centre on top of ceral and milk has to be poured round the edge and cannot touch the sugar,seam on toe of her stockings has to be straight and will repeatedly remove shoes to check this.

 

4.Plays alone in schoolyard and wont interact with peers,has poor eye contact.

 

5.Hates loud noises and crowds and covers her ears,is over anxious.

 

6.Has urealistic fears and suffers night terrors.

 

My dd is due to have the final part of her assessment soon but i dont hold much hope of getting any answers.

Am i right to be concerned or am i taking to much notice of her behaviour which is what doc is telling me.

Any advice is gladly welcomed,I am so worried about her.

 

Hi Carebear and Welcome,

My 12 year old has aspergers and experiences all of the above with the exception of playing alone he does play with the other kids most of the time but prefers own company. His biggest obbsessive behaviour is the seam on the toe of his socks and repetitive removal of shoes to check this, this makes us late for everything and if we travel by car he continues with the behaviour until it feels just right, our psych said he does this to control his anxiety. As you say its not about a label but getting your child the help they need, sadly though I found the "help" only really came when we had a dx and that "help" you still have to fight dam hard for.

Clare x

[carebear]

Hi all just an update on my previous post. Well we had the home assesement the other day and my little girl was an absoloute angel throughout. (If she had been here that morning when we were getting ready for school she would have seen a completly different child)The therapist still feels that there is not enough obvious ASD behaviours to justify a dx but have agreed that there are concerns around social issues espicially at school so there going to do a review in six months. So no closer yet but at least my concerns wern't just dismissed, will have to wait and see what the outcome of the review is.

 

Thanks all for your help

 

Carebear

[peppa]

Good news that they are at least accepting some issues, i hope you get the support you need and get some answers. We video recorded dd when in meltdown so as to provide evidence(for want of better explanation) as dd also behaved like an angel when being assessed. Its sometimes the only way to get the proffs to take us seriously! Loads of luck x

[pearl]

Thanks for keeping us posted carebear. <'>