Can kids switch aspergers/autism on and off????

[simplydeb]

Hi everyone it is my 1st time so bear with me. i have a nearly 5 year old little boy who until March of this year we had no probs or worries about at all. he moved to a new nursery and they are coming at us with all sorts eg: repetitive and obsessive behaviour, no interest in the other kids, cant join in, hides behind curtains, walks round objects instead of taking the more direct route and the list goes on and on. we see none of this at home, he has 2 eleven year old sisters and is fine with them and their friends, never demonstrates obsessive or repetitive behaviour, is loving, makes good eye contact etc etc. We are obviously dead worried but cant understand why he is one way at home and another at school. Any ideas we would be really grateful. Thanks in advance.

[bid]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

 

I think it sounds like a case of your son finding school extremely stressful and that's why his 'autistic behaviour' is more apparent in this environment.

 

It's probably small comfort to you, but you'll find it easier to get a Statement for your son if his behaviour is this way round! It's far harder to get the right support if you have a child who struggles to hold things together in school and then has meltdowns at home as a result

 

It is extremely common to have this different behaviour at home and school, in both combinations. Have a think and see if you can remember any other stressful situations outside school when your son has displayed these kinds of behaviours, for example, visiting a strange place, plans suddenly changing, etc...

 

Have you had any assessments yet, or are you still waiting for professional input?

 

Hope this helps...I'm sure there will be other people along soon with more advice!

 

Bid

Edited July 17, 2005 by bid

[simplydeb]

Hi, thankx 4 replying. We have had one meeting with a paeditrician who after 1.5 hrs couldnt say one way or another naturally. We are awaiting another appointment with him which our health visitor is trying to push through sooner.

we cant honestly say we notice changes when faced with new dilemmas or places etc. He is sometimes a bit "naughty" in shops when there is nothing that interests him but he never gets phased by situation ie: flying or being on holiday away from home 4 2 weeks. it could be that we are just used to matt and have adjusted to him over the years but after saying that we are parents to 11 yr old twins and obviously when you have other kids you do comapre them to one another and we never picked up on anything as he was growing. I dunno what to think really, i must say tho that we do notice he is better socially with either older people or younger people. he seems very shy with kids his own age and he isnt what i would call shy 90% of the time anyway. Thanx for your help and i'll keep u posted. Debie

[Canopus]

In the bad old days before AS was known in Britain, such a condition was considered as schizophrenia. It was probably better for a kid to display their AS all the time rather than some of the time because they would be labelled as autistic rather than schizophrenic.

 

My father is a registered mental nurse and has experience with schizophrenic patients. He claimed that I showed certain schizophrenic traits and that it could eventually lead me to a mental hospital as schizophrenia is normally viewed as a DANGEROUS condition. I asked him at what point does fickle become schizo and he still can't answer that question.

 

I have a feeling that AS does have some slighly schizophrenic characteristics in that a kid can act quite normally some of the time, especially when they are doing something that interests them. If they are in an environment that they find boring, frustrating or uncomfortable then they start showing behavioural problems. In contrast, autism tends to show most of the time.

[Klou]

Hi Simplydeb

 

Our boy is four in a couple of months. I can identify with this change in behaviour in different places.

 

Nursery always say he has been good. Although they have said he has problems with social skills, settling to do something, asking for help and stopping doing something he likes/refusing to do something he doesn't. At other people's houses he tends to isolate himself and everyone is amazed by his ability to play on his own. I now see this angelic behaviour as a coping strategy. If others interfere he may do what I call 'spoiling'. I don't know whether it is intentional or not but he will do something drastic that gets him timed out when he gets stressed. I think he tends to be a bit of a loner at nursery.

 

At home it is different. He acts up a lot of the time. Unless he has the TV on or his cup and blanket as comfort. He can play really well with his interest toys but in between times he can be bouncing off the walls. He combines this with noise making and an inability to understand or concentrate. Sometimes I think he is like an overactive puppy. Boundless energy and nothing to do with it.

 

After having sat with me for ten minutes he is now off on one of his 'episodes'.

 

Most people are quite surprised I think there is something wrong - until they think a bit harder about what he is actually doing or see him in a different environment.

 

I have considered dyspraxia - though I think his motor skills/development is too good for this explanation, adhd - more likely though he is not usually how I imagine such a child to be. I think he is too verbal/interactive to be autistic in the classic sense but he does have language problems. I am kind of left thinking he has AS on some days and adhd on others. Occasionally I think it is all in my head and he just seems like a normal lively, curious child.

 

Anyway to resolve this I have sought help and we are finally seeing a psychologist next week. Hopefully I will get some answers to our problems.

 

I am coming to the conclusion that it does seem like some children switch ASD on and off but in reality the disorder is always there. The environment/activity they are in determines how stressed they are and what behaviours appear.

 

I wish you luck in finding out what is going on with your child.

[Lucas]

What may appear to be Schizophrenia is actually a person reacting to an enviroment changing too quickly and having to cope wiht too much stimulation. I used to believe that I don't have a personality, I just assume one for the sake of survival. When things changed, I didn't know what to be projecting.

[Zemanski]

Com was almost the perfect child until Y1 in school - had one tantrum at 18months old!

 

then he became a nightmare, first at home because of stress in school, then when issues weren't resolved and stress levels continued to rise he became a monster in school too

 

this is his pattern.

 

AS is sometimes called the 'jekyll and hyde syndrome' for exactly this reason.

 

manage the environment and the anxiety in school and the behaviour problems usually lessen significantly

 

Also, because AS is largely about social communication which becomes increasingly complex over time children find it increasingly hard to function 'normally' as they get older and so the difficulties become more apparent with age. This is one reason why AS kids are often diagnosed late because their coping mechanisms only break down at later stages of development - often between the ages of 7 and 9.

 

Zemanski

[lsw146]

I have described my daughter to others many times as having an autisitc switch. The short times of conventional behaviour lull us into a false sense of security and then the switch gets flicked and and the autism can be glaring, anything from coming down to breakfast yesterday to find a timetable written for the whole day to singing , twitching, weird talking, screaming and ranting.

 

At the moment that's okay because we know she finds this time of year really stressful but on the days you can't figure out what she is responding to it can be difficult to seperate attention seeking/growing-up kid from desperate and anxious child with AS.

 

By the way we have no diagnosis as yet but have been in the system for 5 years so even though you may not think there is a problem if other professionals have got you in the system ride with it. Coming out and then finding you begin to agree with the opinions of others means going backwards before heading forwards.

 

Good Luck

Jo

[Jericho]

My two boys both behave differently in different situations. My youngest can be almost angelic when other people are around but takes out the stress of this on us at home. Our house often looks as though it's just been ransacked by an entire army of burglars. My eldest is mostly okay at home behaviourally but can sometimes flare up at school.

[mom on a mission]

hi , my son is five and is diagnosed with ASD he is obviously high functioning academicaly and his IQ is felt to be above average and yet he has no usfull intelligence what i mean is that hes very brainy and yet would walk into an on coming car without blinking i think the more interlectual a child with ASD is the harder it is to see the traids as they can pretened to be "normal" very easily i would say if the school as picked up a problem then follow it through and if a diagnosis comes back as AS then take each day as it comes atleast you should have the school supporting you and thats half the battle as most of us on here struggle to get schools to admitt there is a problem my son has a diagnosis and attents a special school and yet they say he functions as a normal five year old does apart from being selectivly mute what they cant see is that selective mutism is an anxiety dissorder that is so bad it prevents the child from speaking outside a familer environment and woh and behold the anxiety steems from him being so confused during the school day that he can not speak , i would take a look at a tread on here called "the passive child pretending to be normal" it may help to give more insite and what ever happens hes still your boy AS wont change that, chin up <'>

[ksasnic]

I know its been a while since I last was here but all kinds of things have been happening..

 

Importantly Nick had his appointment with the clinical psychologist and specialist speech and language person. Hmm is all I can say if they were wanting to see if he had AS then with their questioning theres hope yet I could become a blind successful neurosurgeon !!! The questions asked were not complete to say the least. it followed 3 main points but none really asked anything much. I had expected an indepth train of questioning but no.. Nick had to go off with the speech person whilst I was left with the psychologist???? get me wrong I'd have thought it more useful for Nick to be with the psychologist ??? I don't know. I felt stupid when I left, I felt as if there was no way they could see Nick in the proper way - the way we see him when he's off on one.. No Nick was in a very good mood and so behaved impeccably, but then he does in a strange place at first visit. I suppose they have a check list and if I say yes to one question and how I answer determines what their diagnosis is.. I am frustrated and gob-smacked and to top it off I have to go back tomorrow to see the specialist and find out what these two people really think... I also thought there would be a watching him from behind a 2way mirror maybe that just happens in films.

 

I don't know its pretty thought provoking as to what happens next. hopefully tomorrow I'll have more answers than questions...

 

Good luck to all who are on the same road..