Behavioural ax-do i tell them it might B Aspergers?

[gromit]

Hello, just a quick question, does anyone think it matters whether I say that I think my son might have aspergers. The appt is on Thursday and am preparing a list of behaviours I'ver noticed about my son. Dont know if my laypersons diagnosis would go down well or not. My instinct says no but would appreciate any views for or against.

[mum22boys]

I can't give you the answer just tell you what i have done.

 

M has not yet been diagnosed although he has been seen by quite a few people. At first i said nothing. CAMHS was first to mention the AS word but still i said nothing. As time went on i was quite convinced it was AS.

In Jan M saw the pead who will eventually assess him. She came outright and asked me what I thought was wrong. This came about because i mentioned visual calendars. I said I thought he had AS or he may be somewhere else on the spectrum. She didn't (because she couldn't )agree or disagree, she said he had a definate communication problem and that she was willing to write to the school to tell them he seemed likely to be on the spectrum.

 

I personally wouldn't just come out right and say it but if you are asked then I see nothing wrong in saying what you feel is wrong.

 

Hope that helps!

 

mum22boys.

 

Oh and good luck at the appointment.

[gromit]

Thankyou for replying, I was kinda thinking along these lines. If they ask me outright I'll tell em and it may be that they will as I'll have lots of info about my boy together with some of the strategies being used in school just now (including a visual diary)

 

Again thanks for that, I think its really great being able to post here about little things like this. Am such a worrier but shouldnt sweat the small stuff eh.

[phasmid]

I think you have to decide on the day depending on the way you feel they are going to percieve your input, if you can see what I mean.

 

In our case by the time I asked our GP to refer we KNEW exactly what we were dealing with and presented him with a fait-au-complait really. When we got to see the peadatrician a couple of months later there was no questioning about whether or not we were asking for the right thing to be looked at or not it was just accepted after we talked about what led us to request an appointment. Had it been a different GP or even the same one on a different day it might have been a different story...who knows?

 

What I'm getting at is your going to have to make your mind up on the day. Either way I hope it goes well.

[jen]

If you present your child symptoms clearly then you are guiding the diagnosis. Some people like to use a diagnosis criteria such as DISCO others perfer not to use such criteria.

Some people in the medical profession will be offended by you saying the diagnosis other will not.

 

Jen

[hollymg]

My two cents is that it couldn't hurt. You see your child around the clock and they only see a little snippet. I felt autism in my gut when my ds was 6 months old but I kept it to myself. He started being evaluated for speech delay at age 1 and followed annually but autism didn't come up officially until he was 4; his behaviours are subtle and inconsistent so during our sessions they didn't see the red flags (and it was on his electrical outlet obsession alone that made them investigate further at 4).

 

If I had said something earlier I think they would have been interested, would have asked more questions, would have visited him outside the office and probably diagnosed him by 2 or 3.

 

In our case I don't think it makes any difference except I would have had the paper to back me up much earlier so I wouldn't have driven myself crazy analyzing things myself, but in another situation it could make a world of difference so I think you should give them your observations, perhaps soothe their egos by saying you want their professional opinion etc. but at least you have given them more information to work with.

[Bullet]

I don't think there can be any harm in asking if they could review him for the possibility of aspergers. That way you're not coming straight out with it, but rather giving them a guide.

[gromit]

Thankyou everyone for your kind replies,

 

 

I think I'll play it by ear as it DEPENDS on so much. One things for sure though, they're gonna be getting loads of information from me and the hubs. Have worked with enough professionals to know that some of them definitely do not like you jumping the gun. So will dutifully play my role and let them do theirs and will suss it out as we go.

 

I'm taking my son too, havnt told him yet but plan on talking it over with my hubs tonight just how to pitch it at him....doont want him worrying so will play it down as much as i can without lying.

 

Oh and BTW since the meeting last week and the new changes were brought in "W" my boy has had a brilliant start to the week. He's been much happier which is soo great to see after all the misery he's went through for weeks. Hope shines again. <'> <'> <'>