Both my boys are high functioning. With Evan we had concerns from an early age (about 3) about his level of anxiety & obsessive behaviours. As the years went on & school approached he become more anxious & the agressive meltdowns started. He has a very high need for his expectations to be met, if things change or don't go the way he had set in his head, no matter how unrealistic his expectations are, he has a fit. The meltdowns can last hours. Our pead first said Aspergers but then said PDD-NOS. But she is reassessing that as I do feel aspergers is him all over. Evan is really single minded. its his way or the highway. He will argue for HOURS about things he has no idea about because he thinks he is right.
Glenn, to be honest I completely missed, said eh was a drama queen, middle child syndrome & a sook. It wasn't until the end of last year just after he turned 6 that I questioned his over the top reaction to things. He would get out of the car for school & drop his bag & he would react like he just witnessed his beloved pet cat get run over or something. His teacher agreed that he was much more a "sook" then other kids his age. So we were concerned that he was suffering with depression. Then I met my SIL's son when we moved to cairns who is PDD-NOS & they are so alike. Glenn also spins & runs in circles, he use to lick metal things & mirrors. He doesn't remember any of the kids names in his class, he switches off & will seem like he is in a bubble when we go out to the shops or crowded places. He doesn't respond to his name unless you scream it at him. He has little to no empathy, he thinks jokes about death & dieing are pretty funny. He comments inappropriately about peoples appearance (weight etc) He also has meltdowns but in a different way to Evan, One of Glenn's big triggers is not being listened too. So if he talking about something & trying to explain something & you cut him off & don't let him finish he freaks out. Because of his speech he can be hard to understand at times & he really struggles when someone doesn't understand what he means, Last term at school he pushed his desk over because he didn't get to finsih telling the teacher why he wanted to do something, she just cut him off & said NO its time to go inside. He would have been ok with that IF she just let him say "But I wanted to do XYZ first" she could have then said, No im sorry Glenn its time to come in. But she didn't she just cut him off & said No. Glenn was also speech delayed. The pead has diagnosed Glenn with High functioning Autism.

Both boys also have other processing issues. Evan has a diagnosed visual processing disorder. Glenn we suspect has an auditory processing problem, his hearing is fine but he just doesn't respond like he should. He will have that tested once he has turned 7.

Both boys though, its the social side that is most effected, Evan mostly he just has no idea how to play with kids his age.

Iain, is my next one on the list, he seems to be speech delayed also & has behaviours that concern me so I will be having a chat with the pead & see what she says, I think he is fine BUT its hard not to be paranoid.