an unusual walk and eye contact problems are common

She does not like making eye contact if she nervous or upset, her walk is fine.

she may rub parts of her body consistently when agitated. or tap or rock.

hi, not sure how old she is.

Another common thing is a deep and narrow interest in a subject or subjects, tending to want to talk to adults about those interests (especially if they can further that interest.)

It depends on her age. There are some common threads that you will see throughout their lives, but it can manifest itself differently depending on where she is developmentally otherwise.

I have two grown sons who are diagnosed Asperger's and Autistic. My son with Asperger's does self-stimulating/comforting behaviors and has since he was little. He does hand-flapping primarily. My other son who is Autistic does not do any of that but is the more severely affected one. My older son is physically awkward and will not look you in the eye. My younger son much less so. They both have an astonishing vocabulary, even the Autistic one, despite his having been labeled "language delayed" for several years in school.

They will ask you a lot of questions about her development as part of the diagnostic process. Some of these questions may seem very intrusive. Don't let it derail you. It is a difficult condition to diagnose. My older son was a good student and never in trouble, and that is one of the reasons he wasn't diagnosed until after he was an adult. Good for you that you're looking at this now.

The one thing I think would be helpful for you to bear in mind as you go through this process is that the term "spectrum" is used for a reason. On a scale of 1 to 10, you may see some behaviors in the extreme and others hardly at all. There's a ton of misinformation out there in the media as well. Asperger's/Austim is a neurobiological condition. It can lead to other conditions secondary to that - including anxiety and depression.

Hope this helps. Hugs...

Thank you all for your input. She is 15 and we have been in Therapy since she was 7,We have been dx. with everything but Aspergers and Bi Polar. treated and even had her in residential treatment for 7 mos.(That was very hard on us all) nothing has seemed to help. she has been om meds and off meds and on meds. it is roller coaster of a ride for her. She has things she obsesses about and she has very narrow thinking, She use to chew on her hands but we finally stopped that. although her knuckles are scarred from it.She listens to music over and over. and she was very delayed in talking.but once she started talking she never shut up. she does not make good eye contact. and she shows signs of anxiety in certian situtations.people make her nervous even people she has known her whole lfe.She has meltdowns and rages. tends to make poor choices unless you guide her. She does well in school but can stress really bad over things. and by the time she gets home from school she is tired of being around people all day and keeping her composure up that she tends to fall apart at home, when she was youger and sometimes now she has no emotions showing on her face so you have to guess how she is feeling, it was worse when she younger her expression never changed much. she wouldjust stare sometimes at you and sometines not, I am really hoping they are headed down the right path with her, not that I want her to have Aspergers,but at least we will know what we are dealing with and how to help her and get her feeling good about herself. She does not like being on a roller coaster, again thank you.

It is hard to figure out sometimes. Here is a site that I went to that has tons of information and support. As well the Autism Speaks site, www.autismspeaks.org has a ton of info as well. They also have a 100 day packet for Asperger's. What it is is a packet for newly dx'd parents to help them through the first 100 days of diagnosis. It has all kinds of resources that are very helpful in getting services and such. Here is the other site, http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/

Tony Atwood is a expert on Asperger's so if you do a search with either Asperger's Syndrome or Tony Atwood you will be on the right track.

My son is 14 and was dx'd with Asperger's at the age of 9, he was later also dx'd with bipolar disorder. There are many signs really. I wish I had time to write all that I want but have to get busy today.

If you need any support or help just let me know. I have researched and learned about Asperger's for several years now and have a lot of information.

Good luck and hang in there, there are a lot of services but one thing I have found is NOBODY readily tells you what they are, It will be up to you and family to search and seek. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Harry made a very good point, most Aspie's have a strange gait. They are clumsy in their motor skills, have trouble catching a ball, or running for instance.

I have found however that it's not always true with Aspie's that they have trouble with eye contact. My son is fully Asperger's but in some instances has no trouble meeting one's gaze.

What state are you in and maybe I can find some things for you that might be of assistance. Who is the appointment on the 30th with? Is it a neurologist, a specialist in Autism/Asperger's? Please don't take your daughter to just a regular psychiatrist, so many want to overlook Asperger's and just dx PDD or PDD/NOS. That's what they did with my son.

The problem with that is if they are dx'd PDD/NOS they won't get the services they normally would when dx'd Asperger's. So just make sure that the doc specializes in Autism and/or Asperger's.

Good Luck, keep us posted.
Kimmers48

My daughter does not have a awkard gait and she is a very good volleyball player, she does have trouble with handwriting and doing small things with her hands, cutting and holding her sliverware correctly. cutting is with scissors or knife she struggles with both. tying shoes. she can do reallywell in volleyball but is not the best at running. one thingshe can do real good is type on the keyboard and I mean type with no mistakes, almost 200 words a minute. she has never been able to write in cursive. we have a great support team we work with through the counseling center she goes too, so we are lucky there. her school is very supportive too.

It is really hard to tell. My husband is going in for an eval for spectrum disorder this week, and I think my son will need to go soon after. But then other times I'm not so sure it's necessary for my son. I always thought he was just a tiny bit "off" as a baby. He was my 4th child and SO different from the other three. When he was about 6 months old, he lay on a pillow and flipped the tag back and forth, completely mesmerized for over an hour staring at this thing so intensely. I thought he must be really smart he is reading that tag! Then later, I was reading a book my a mother of an Asperger's girl and she described the exact same thing happening with her baby.
Another thing to look for is an over the top resistance to any change in routine. My son was terrified of anything new. I picked him up from nursery school once in a rental car when our van was being repaired. He had a complete meltdown and refused to get in the car. I had to drag him in and secure him in his carseat while he was kicking, screaming, and hitting me. He was absolutely terrified. My son can catch and throw a ball well, but his running is extremely awkward. He is on a Tball team and does fine till it's time to run the bases and then he sort of skips or runs sideways. He also could not pedal a tricycle until he was almost 4. He is ambidextrous but has a lot of difficulty with fine motor skills. His handwriting is barely legible but that isn't remarkable for a kindergartner.
Lately, I have noticed that when someone speaks to him..like when his school principal greets him with Good Morning Nicholas, he doesn't respond, even after she repeats it three times. He isn't being rude, it's like he doesn't seem to register that she is talking to him.
My son has a very difficult time describing events. When asked what he did at school, or why he did X or Y, he seems confused..like he isn't sure how to put the words together. That could just be developmental delay, but most kids I have seen are able to articulate on these matters long before six years old.
Also, my son hates to be wet, even just a few drops of water on his sleeve drives him crazy. He hates to wear shirts with big tags in the collar and he absolutely HATES to get his hands dirty or play in mud. Recently, we made a garden stone together using an ooey mud and plaster mix and I told him to put his hands in the mix because it is like a kid's dream to get squishy wet mud between their fingers. But my son was horrified at the thought of it.
And the narrow interests can be tricky when their young, but I took notice when my son showed no interest whatsoever in the shiny new toys at the toy stores. I would try to interest him in dinosaurs, transformer guys ANYTHING..but he just didn't care. He may as well have been in a doily shop. But he LOVED anything to do with bowling and was singularly obsessed with it for some time.

NTout,

WOW, you just described my son to a T. It is all those things that I have documented but just moved and can't find. Back when he was 6 or 7 I started writing things I remembered from him growing up and things that he was currently doing. I had reached a point of frustration because his psychiatrist wouldn't believe me about the rages, meltdowns, and the obsessions. At that time he was totally obsessed with boxes. No matter what size or condition he had to have it.

It's so hard for me to write everything out and be so explanatory as you did. I loved reading your post. Mainly because it reminds me how far we have come in this battle. My little man was in residential treatment for well over 18 months. All the staff and doctors there stated that they had never had a patient be in that long. He was so bad. The meltdowns had turned into physical threats and a few times he even succeeded in hitting and hurting me. He got to a point where he was threatening to burn the house down with his brothers and I in it.

Now, just to make it clear this is NOT all signs of Asperger's. I finally got the doctors to look into other things. At about the age of 6 he started hallucinating. The one quack we were seeing said he was making it up. If you could have seen him, there was no way a 6 year old would even be able to describe a hallucination let alone act as frightened and terrified as he was.

He was also dx'd bipolar type I while in residential. They finally got him on a regime of Lithium along with other medication, we got him therapy, both in home and out, and a few other services. He is doing fairly well but is now going through puberty and is out of control. LOL

So now we deal with the Asperger's and puberty. It's time to start reading again.

Good luck to you!

Hello
My daughter got diagnosed in December 2009 with having traits of Aspergers Syndrome, then had a definite diagnosis of having it in April 2010. The more I read and learn about it the obvious it seems. My daughter gets different the older she gets. She is not where she should be with her education she is quite below. Aspergers Syndrome is where the individual struggles with Social, imagination and communication skills.
Everyone is different and noone is the same they have their own coping skliis and difficulties. It is more common in boys then girls, although my honest opionion is it is just not easily noticed in girls.
They can get tics, have an odd gait, or not. May not like eye contact. They can have one specific interest which they become obsessed with or change the topic lots of times but have an obsession about each one. My daughter struggles with her motor skills, is accident prone, is too polite for her own good.
I hope this helps but honestly it is not a bad thing. It is a daily challenge though. Lots of special moments. My son also has traits and he is completely different. He can get angry and does not like hugs. He has a daily routine and no one can sit where he sits everyday.
The more you read the more you see in your child. Also lots of people will try to talk you out of it. There is a bit of Aspergers/Autism in all of us :).
Aspergers syndrome is Autism. Autism = autistic spectrum. Aspergers syndrome is high functioning autism.
ADHD/ADD, Dyslexia, dyspraxia, Aspergers Syndrome etc are on the spectrum.

ADHD and AS are not the same thing, although they may look the same in some instances. There are specific criteria for diagnosing each. Here is the diagnostic criteria for AS.


DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR ASPERGER'S DISORDER

A.Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(1) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(2) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(3) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
(4) lack of social or emotional reciprocity

B.Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(1) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(2) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(3) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(4) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

C.The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

D.There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

E.There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

F.Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.

GILLBERG'S CRITERIA FOR ASPERGER'S DISORDER

1.Severe impairment in reciprocal social interaction
(at least two of the following)
(a) inability to interact with peers
(b) lack of desire to interact with peers
(c) lack of appreciation of social cues
(d) socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior

2.All-absorbing narrow interest
(at least one of the following)
(a) exclusion of other activities
(b) repetitive adherence
(c) more rote than meaning

3.Imposition of routines and interests
(at least one of the following)
(a) on self, in aspects of life
(b) on others

4.Speech and language problems
(at least three of the following)
(a) delayed development
(b) superficially perfect expressive language
(c) formal, pedantic language
(d) odd prosody, peculiar voice characteristics
(e) impairment of comprehension including misinterpretations of literal/implied meanings

5.Non-verbal communication problems
(at least one of the following)
(a) limited use of gestures
(b) clumsy/gauche body language
(c) limited facial expression
(d) inappropriate expression
(e) peculiar, stiff gaze

6.Motor clumsiness: poor performance on neurodevelopmental examination

(All six criteria must be met for confirmation of diagnosis.)

DSM-IV DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR ASPERGER'S DISORDER

A.Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

(1) marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
(2) failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
(3) a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
(4) lack of social or emotional reciprocity

B.Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

(1) encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
(2) apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
(3) stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
(4) persistent preoccupation with parts of objects

C.The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

D.There is no clinically significant general delay in language (e.g., single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years).

E.There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self-help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction), and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

F.Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.

GILLBERG'S CRITERIA FOR ASPERGER'S DISORDER

1.Severe impairment in reciprocal social interaction
(at least two of the following)
(a) inability to interact with peers
(b) lack of desire to interact with peers
(c) lack of appreciation of social cues
(d) socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior

2.All-absorbing narrow interest
(at least one of the following)
(a) exclusion of other activities
(b) repetitive adherence
(c) more rote than meaning

3.Imposition of routines and interests
(at least one of the following)
(a) on self, in aspects of life
(b) on others

4.Speech and language problems
(at least three of the following)
(a) delayed development
(b) superficially perfect expressive language
(c) formal, pedantic language
(d) odd prosody, peculiar voice characteristics
(e) impairment of comprehension including misinterpretations of literal/implied meanings

5.Non-verbal communication problems
(at least one of the following)
(a) limited use of gestures
(b) clumsy/gauche body language
(c) limited facial expression
(d) inappropriate expression
(e) peculiar, stiff gaze

6.Motor clumsiness: poor performance on neurodevelopmental examination

(All six criteria must be met for confirmation of diagnosis.)

Aspergers Syndrome is on The Autistic Spectrum but it is a higher functioning autism

Thank you all for your comments, very helpful. Hopefully the docter who we like a lot will be helpful. I am thinking we are going to be doing some changes on her IEP next fall in school to better fit her needs. We shall see anyway. Music is her main coping skill, she loves to listen to it, she does however tend to listen to the same song over and over, almost like it was written for her. I am hoping we can just get the right help so she can go into this world and function and have a life. she is very immature.. we have a great therapist and she has other people who work with her. and I have all of you,, thank you so much,