Jade Report post Posted April 22, 2011 Hi, My son age 6.5 is in the diagnostic process at the moment. He has seen the clinical psychologist now and I have done the diagnostic questionaire for ASD (also likely ADHD) though don't have the results yet. Have 2 more questionaires to do if he is ASD to find out where on the spectrum he is. Ed Psych has also seen him and done some tests for cognitive development and produced an interesting report which backs up what the clinical psychologist observed. So everything is falling into place after what feels like a long fight. My concern now however is with his sister age 8. She did have delayed speech, which at the time i thought was due to stress in the family (birth, deaths, relationship breakdown etc). Recently school have thought she is dyslexic and are doing 'Toe by Toe' with her. She has had hearing tests because her hearing has been so bad for quite a while, which only showed that she had a slight problem with low frequency noise. More recently I have become aware that its not so much that she doesn't hear, but that she seems to loose bits of information when you talk to her (does that make sense?). This happens even when you are talking about something really obviously connected to something thats just happened. I've just realized that she doesn't understand expressions such as 'pull your socks up'. My mum said to her are you feeling 'fine and dandy' (odd i know) and she didn't have a clue what she was on about. Also realized she has difficulty reading facial expressions and relating them to what is being said. I have been so focussed on attending to my sons needs and adapting to reduce his anxiety because he is so much more obviously out there with his behaviour, but i'm increasingly concerned about my daughter. I'm not sure i believe that ASD is more prevalent in boys than girls, just that it presents differently? Boys externalise whereas girls internalise. Feel like I should talk to school about my concerns, but i'm worried that they will think i'm being a paranoid mum! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coolblue Report post Posted April 23, 2011 Hi Jade ASD is a set of signs and symptoms. A diagnosis of ASD confirms that someone has signs and symptoms that match those of other people and the label given to them is ASD. It doesn't tell us what is causing those characteristics. Lots of different things could be the cause. Your daughter has problems with auditory processing. It's quite possible that they could have the same underlying cause as your son's signs and symptoms. Whether or not those difficulties are sufficient to get her a diagnosis of ASD is neither here nor there really. What she needs help with is processing auditory information. Have a look at this site. http://www.apduk.org/ A test for cognitive development for your daughter would be useful as it would highlight strengths and weaknesses, but I wouldn't worry too much about a diagnosis for ASD unless she obviously has real difficulty with social interaction and communication and you're sure a diagnosis would get her additional support. cb Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jade Report post Posted April 24, 2011 Thanks Coolblue, I will talk to school about the possibility of auditory processing problem. Have done a bit of research and found this is a common problem for children with dyslexia. It's quite a stressful and anxious time lately and think i'm probably over sensitive to everything to do with my kids at the moment! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
