Aspergers/Autism/Sensory Integration Chatter #4

[~mamaspice~]

Its kind of in the middle, Skye.
There is:
PDD-NOS -> Aspergers -> Autism

Honey Aspen, what does PDD-NOS stand for?

Earlykids, hope you enjoyed your respite day

We have our first appointment for DD next month. I've been reading a book about Aspergers and DD definately shows some of the traits but not all of them. Just wondering what the PDD-NOS stands for and whether DD is more at that end of the spectrum.

[Early Kids]

PDD-NOS = Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, DS1 has that diagnosis. He didn't tick enough criteria for Autism, for PDD-NOS you don't need to tick as many boxes.

[~mamaspice~]

Thanks early Kids will read into that.

We went to a friends for a play date today. her daughter is the same age as DD and we have all known each other since before our DD's were born. I was telling my friend that I'm getting DD seen to next month and she said that she would have never suspected that my DD had aspergers. But then i guess she does not see a lot of what happens at home. Was hair washing night tonight and DD absolutely cracked it. She HATES the sensation of her hair being wet. She screamed the whole time in the bath. I managed to calm her down afterwards by putting a Dora towell on her pillow (like what mummy does when she goes to bed with her hair a little bit wet, though not a Dora one, Lol)

[christy]

Sorry guys, its been so hard to come in here lately for me, I haven't felt right .

With Lu... My DD1 was diagnosed first, but she and Cyclone were 3 days apart and we started noticing the similarities in them from the time they were 6 months. DD1 is diagnosed with Autism only because her communication was lower... but other than that they are amazingly similar beings.

The thing with PDD-Nos, Asperger's or Autism is that it affects ALL the children differently, yes there is a check list, and yes its hard to figure out but all three are on the same spectrum. Think of it as a Rainbow... some are on the right side in the red, some are in the left in the purple, some are in the middle in yellow... but they are all on the same rainbow (this is how we explain it to our DD's). Matilda is in the yellow somewhere on the right hand side... she is considered high functioning autism but at the same place in the red would be Cyclone. Its all to do with IQ levels and communication abilities. DD1 refuses to communicate, she has a high IQ, medium social IQ but her communication abilities are quite low. She actually has a large vocabulary but is unable to put it together when the smallest amount of stress enters the picture. That is how she crossed the border from Asperger's to Autism. Does that make sense?

Personally, I won't worry too much about where on the spectrum they are, only that once you have a spectrum diagnosis, you can get started on getting help for them for survival in our world.

Over and over I've had people tell me that DD1 doesn't "look" Autistic. I can't believe that people think you should be able to see autism. Its not like she needs a walking frame, its that her brain processes things differently! I want to say back "oh thats funny, because I didn't think you looked ignorant?" instead I say "What does Autism look like to you?" If Matilda is around, I say "Yes well super heros like to hide their super powers in their day to day life".

[Freya]

I guess I should pop in and give you all an update.

R had his Stanford Binet testing last tuesday. We got the report this week. I didnt realise exactly what the testing was looking for but now that I do I feel we wasted our time. Basically its to measure learning ability. The outcome was that he has high average intelligence; so he isnt learning delayed (we already knew that). The assessor said she didnt feel ASD was on the cards as a reason why he is what he is because a) he meets your gaze, b) he understands humour and c) he has no learning difficulty. So from what I gather ASD kids are antisocial and stupid with no sense of humour (Im still trying to figure out how that works for EVERY kid with ASD?). She did query looking into SPD, APD and ADHD (which are things we already have on our possibility list).

So $400 later we're still at square one. Our speechie convinced me to try one more paediatrician to see if we can get a preliminary diagnosis of something and go from there. Im getting tired of caring now, and running back and forth between different paed's and psych's and the like throwing money we dont have at them to be told what he ISNT, instead of what he IS.

[~clover~]

I don't know what that test is, but have you seen an OT yet? Sorry if you have... too tired to remmember.
I've got a list of assessments that need doing, but I'm exhausted right now. Next week I'll organise.

[christy]

freya, thats disappointing.

We were told by one paediatrician after being in his office for 5 minutes that M was not ASD because, she looked her dad in his eyes and engaged in play.

Ummmm WT? He totally wrote us off and told us it was due to bad parenting... seriously...

Matilda loves jokes of one nature, she doesn't get others... the ones that are more sarcastic and illogical she doesn't get, very black and white on "some" jokes, but she loves telling jokes to other kids, and she socialises well at school. I mean she builds cubbies wiht other kids and plays games fine, just no imaginative play for her. But she does cope with that anyway... She has no learning disabilities. She is going grade 2 maths in grade 1, and is reading at the same level as everyone else.

So really, she wouldn't be ASD if going by that evaluation Freya...

clover - the list is daunting isn't it? I suggest going by what if affecting everyday life the most? Is it the SPD symptoms? Go to OT first.... etc etc.... our were SPD symptoms and we started there and started getting awesome results before we got through waiting lists.