Asperger Syndrome Support Group

AS is something that is so hard to wrap one's head around conceptually.

To be honest, though what you've given here for information would certainly fit, it isn't enough to go on. There are far too many other possible causes that would result in the very same things.

Your doctor probably had a lot more to go on, but I couldn't say. I'm not him.

Research is your best bet. A good place to start is to have her take an online screening test. Here are a couple of decent ones:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive...

http://aq.server8.org (A very quick one to give you an idea of whether to look further)

You can even take the tests for her since you should know her well enough, and they aren't meant for diagnosis, just screening to see whether or not to look any further.

The caveat is though, that there are so many "possible" symptoms, many of which she may not even have. Also, any of the ones she does have can also be caused by many other things, including being just plain personality traits.

The real measure is in discovering how "alike" she is to others who have already been diagnosed with AS.

Be aware that the professional world at the consumer level (in other words, they typical doctor you may see about this), is not necessaril very versed in what AS really is.

Your best bet it to start by getting a overview understanding of it, and see how strongly you feel that she may have it. If, the more you look into it you don't feel you're seeing her in AS descriptions, she probably may not, and you may do well to look at other possibilities.

Your quest can be further complicated by two other factors.

1) AS is OFTEN accompanied by other things, incuding but not limited too: ADD, ADHD, Bipolar and many others.

2) If YOU may have AS yourself. AS often does run in families. I and all three of my sons have it. I thought that was unusual. It isn't What makes this significant is in the way you might answer questions on many of the forms the doctors will actually give you for their screenings. Many of the questions ask you to compare specific behaviors of your child to "average" children.

The problem with this is that if YOU have AS and don't know it, you may be likely to answer as if your child IS average, and thus skew the results.

I recommend that any parent suspecting there own child has AS, take the online screening tests themselves as well. If you score high yourself, it could explain why you think your own child's behavior is not out of the norm.

This is what happened to me, and why my own kid's AS was missed for several years even though I was convinced they had it.

It could be AS or she could be developing a psychotic disorder. She could also have been traumatized somehow. These are serious symptoms. I suggest you get her to a good psychiatrist IMMEDIATELY. The sooner she gets treatment, the better she will do.

thankyou both for your advice i found it very helpful.at this moment we are waiting for a refural from our doctor for my daughter to see someone so at the moment its just a waiting game.

carlahud,

The professional world being involved does, unfortunately, mean there will be waiting periods.

What I encourage you to do though is, while waiting, don't hesitate to do your own research.

The more YOU know, the more effective your time will be, when you get the time, with professionals. Doing nothing, and simply waiting on them, can waste a lot of time.

The first time WE ever heard of AS was right after we saw one of our sons running in circles, chanting meaningless phrases over and over, and flapping his hands. My first reaction was, "Hey, that looks like Autism!" My wife began to research Autism right away, and discovered AS. Shortly after that we learned that her brother had been diagnosed with AS some years before.

We brought the AS possibility up with his doctor, and then waited, figuring the doctors should know, and all would be taken over by them. Nothing ever came of it.

That was in or around 1999 or 2000. He was born in February 1998. We did more research over the years, and became more convinced that he more than probably had AS, and continued bringing it up with his doctor. Consistently we got the same reaction. "I don't see it."

In the meantime, we discovered he had a hearing problem, and the school put him on an IEP for it. His younger brother, just a year behind him was put on an IEP for speech problems.

Toward the end of his third year in school, in 2007, the school's case worker for both boys, and the school psychologist called a special IEP meeting for both boys.

At that meeting we were told they had DIAGNOSED both boys with AS!

We had NEVER mentioned AS with either of them! They picked it up on their own with NO input from us.

Six years had gone by since we first brought the subject of AS up with their doctor, and we had never even suspected our youngest son of having it!

Since that time, a lot more progress has been made. The only problem is that there is NO treatment for AS, so the basic reaction of the medical world is, "Yes, he has AS. But there's nothing we can do but learn more about it by watching him and talking to YOU."

What it boils down to is that it is entirely up to US how to deal with our sons, ALL THREE of whom have it.

Whatever the doctors find, it is still going to be almost entirely up to you how you deal with it.

The more you know, the better you will be able to handle it.

Don't wait!

Read!

the doctor rang me today to tell me that he has forwarded on the referal letter and we also have an apointment tomorrow for bedwetting.my daughter seems happy enough in herself but it hurts me to not see my own daughter show any emotions. i have noticed that she twists her hands and fingers around alot.at school she is doing very well and she is above average in alot of core subjects and art.i just worry about her wellbeing and her future as this is her last year at school and she has exams coming up.the last few days i have felt frustrated for her and so angry,i feel like this is my fault.