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Dijac

Aspergers or just gifted?

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Hi,

 

At last, we have started the assessment process for Will (12).

 

This afternoon he saw 2 speech therapists, who did role play, whilst recording him. Then he and I met with one of them to discuss varoius things. She says she feels a lot of his problems are just symptomatic of gifted children, and not Aspergers syndrome. Obviously, he sees others apart from just her, so his diagnosis will be made by a group.

 

But I am now confused. We'd sort of accepted he probably has AS, but now maybe he doesn't!

 

I guess I'll have to be patient and wait till the final meeting in April.

 

Diane

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I think it is important that in life that if any definitions are to be palced upon us that it should be at our own perogative as individuals. I feel this is really important for gifted individuals, the defenition of which I would describe having a limited range of talents which are far beyond normal levels of adult comprehension. In other words i personally feel uncomfortable about comparing children with other children in terms of giftedness.

 

In these terms i have no idea what a couple of adults (speech therapists) playing games in a controled environment have to add to a debate about the whether or not a child is gifted. As such the question is do they think the child had Aspergers or not, or are they qualified to make an assesment. Personally i think not but they may play a part if a diagnosis is appropriate.

 

If the desire is to find out if your child had Aspergers or not why? If you are trying to prove your child is gifted or not then this is i believe not relevent at this stage of their life, that will be their choice to explore the concept in their own time. My belief is if they are truly gifted it will not be through effort on their part rather as a naturally occuring sequence of events.

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Hi,

 

We were trying to get a diagnosis for AS - he was having a lot of problems last year at school - better this year, but on the edge - could go either way. The social services told me he could be entitled to help, but once he gets a diagnosis. So this was the reason we started the process.

 

I think the theraspists thought he wasn't AS as he can look someone in the eye.

 

There is no doubt that he is very advanced - he jumped a year (the proceedure here in France as children aren't banded like in UK), but he is still bored. I don't really like the label gifted eitther. From his grades, I would say he is advanced in everything, rather than in just limited subjects.

 

We see more people again next Monday, then get the full results in April.

 

Diane

 

Diane

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I think that at the mild end of the Spectrum chasing a diagnosis is likely to be a somewhat frustrating experience. You may end you getting words like "Autistic Tendencies" or "On the Spectrum" rather than a hard and fast definition of if he is or is not AS.

 

Also I am not sure whether a diagnosis would help that much. There is no "treatment" for AS nor any single intervention that is magically effective in all cases. Each person on the Spectrum is an individual an ASD impacts various aspects of their lives in various ways. So any child has their own profile of strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed individually.

 

Our son is definitely Autistic, but also gifted. The diagnosis of autism although it has some uses is of virtually no benefit in understanding how to meet his needs. What we have found much more useful has been assessments from Ed Psychs and SALT and OT looking at his individual profile in a range of areas. It is when we get that level of detailed understanding of his strengths and weaknesses that we begin to understand how to provide targetted help.

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It can be very difficult indeed! I have experience with both. My eldest son is gifted, he is about 3 years above academically in all subjects and also talented in art he is on the gifted and talented register and gets to attend special programmes during holidays. It is a HUGE challenge having a gifted child,he has always needed constant stimulation and his behaviour was seen as "naughty" for awhile when little as he would backchat adults and get bored easily. Since year 2 he has been getting more help and is a "teachers pet" he is chairman of school council as well. He has struggled making friends though because many his age have not been able to converse at the same level. The school he is at now worked on this and for the first time he has a good group of friends.

 

I also have two boys with ASD,one HFA and one AS. My son with AS does present similarly to my eldest,esp with speech,because he speech was advanced I never would have suspected he had autism.Many of the things he advanced in I put down to him copying his older brother or being just as smart as him. However there is a big difference in the two. One thing is with AS my son finds it hard to reason,cannot see any other point of view but his. My eldest son can understand when he is disciplined but Sam(AS) cannot,or he can take days to finally understand. Everything is just that much harder,having to re-iterate things over and over. He also finds it hard to understand non-verbal language,and therefore finds it hard to "read" people can't tell when they have had enough this is why he struggles to keep friends. He does well in school,well average(slightly above in maths) he does struggle though.

 

One thing both boys have in common is lack of confidence,though I am the same.

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There are a lot of simularities between HSP (highly sensitive people) which isn't a real diagnosis and AS..

Both are very sensitive! Overal HSP seem to have less problems language and communications wise (but so does a very gifted Aspie ;-) )

 

In my eyes.. it's just a difference in perspective/a different name/view.. but be aware!!:

** A school sees an HSP kid as a special / gífted, and are open to it.. and leave room for the odd behaviour due to extra-sensitiveness: the kid is a miracle!!

** An ASD-kid, aspie or not.. is usually perceived as an extra burden..I'm sorry to say.. most parents cannot but acknowledge this..

 

So: I do agree with R. Covey: The way we perceive the problem.. IS the problem!

 

(the facts remain the same.. the kid is extra-sensitive.. for which it needs help, to make more sense of it all. Occupational Therapy can help a lóad in that!)

 

Hmmmm.. Here in Holland.. a SALT is not even supposed to mention such things as autism (if not diagnosed), for that is not his/her line of work (could even became a court-issue if they would!). They're only allowed to mention specific traits/behaviourisms they notice, ie ...lack of eye contact, lack of interaction, tendency to prefer talking to grown ups, taking things literally, lack of understanding the difference between for instance a slide in the playground and a tiny Playmobil (wanting to use it in therapy..).. etc

Edited by butterfly73

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Dekra that made me laugh :lol: Thank you for asking.

 

Yes, on 22nd Feb(day after my birthday) I finally gave birth to a girl :wub: After a very quick (1hr) active labour.

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Congratulations Justine. And you have time to go on the computer? You must be a lot more organised than I am.

 

A shame she wasn't born today - she would then age very well!!

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Yes, on 22nd Feb(day after my birthday) I finally gave birth to a girl :wub: After a very quick (1hr) active labour.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: Awesome. You have a complete set now. :lol:

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you can still have good amount of eye contact and STILL have AS present as he may have learnt ways around it to adapt and manage it better coping strategies over time so it is still possibility it is there!

 

XKLX

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When I read cmuir's thread about her son (rant) the other day, it was exactly like my son a year ago - So he definitely has problems. We have another full day of assessments tomorrow - then we'll get the results in another month. So we'll see.

 

Butterfly, what is a SALT - we live in France so everyone has different names here anyway -

 

Diane

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Hi Diane, I'm new to all this but if I understand correctly, SALT is Speech and Language Therapist.

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