Asperger? Hyperactive?
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[quote]I pointed out to the EP that I do see signs of AS, but she concluded that it is simply a trait of a high IQ child. [/quote]
Seems that the test done on your child is comprehensive enough. Have you read the web on the difference between highly gifted and asperger?
http://www.sengifted.org/articles_counseling/Amend_MisdiagnosisOfAspergersDisorder.shtml
Anyway, like what 2ppaamm said in the earlier postings:
[quote]Does not matter if she is AS or not as a mother. Being diagnosed only help us explain her behavior in school. As mothers, we'll love our kids regardless, right?[/quote] -
soup:
Dear Soup,Thanks 2ppaamm, for replying to my old, old post!
Can I ask you and anyone else with experience, is it too early to diagnose a child as Asperger's syndrome at the age of 3-4years old? Will the tests be accurate if conducted at this age? Eg if a lot of Q&A is required, how can a young child focus long enough to answer all of it properly?
Thanks.
As far as I know, it is never too early. It can be disgnosed at very young age. They do not classified the child as AS by just asking a series of questions. The process to confirm which Autism spectrum does the child belong to is a tedious one, at least this is what my gal had gone through in KK. They also watched her during \"play\". to look out for prominent behaviour. One of the traits as I had shared before for AS child is repetitive movement/action. Also, my girl liked to line up her toys and flash cards in a straight line when she was two years old and this was one of the symptoms as well.
The most depressing one is the behavioral problem. Even now though not as often as she was younger, my gal still cannot stop perstering me repetitively saying the same request again and again until I finally oblige to her particular request which can be very unreasonable. Even if I shouted for her to stop crying and talking and screaming. She will never stop and kept fussing until I took out the cane. Mentally, one can go crazy hearing all the fuss and sometimes I even suspect I may have mental depression whenever she dsiplayed this behaviour.
My family did not have the luxury to go shopping and eating in restaurants when she was young because of her bahavioral problem. As a mother, I was not afraid of losing face if she made a scene but I did not have any idea of how to control her in public. There was a period of time also when she was so afraid of crowded places.
If I ever brought her to a friend's house for gathering, she would only play on her own while the rest of the kids could mix and play among themselves. She did not know how to socialise and interact with her peers but she could talk to older Auntie and taxi Uncle for example.
My girl case is defintely a AS case. Things only improved after her P1 SA1 when I drilled her \"heavily\" to bring up her academic performance and by exposing her to different tuitions to increase her chance of interaction with children of her age including the boys. Once her confidence was boosted especially when she could get encouragement and praises from teachers and peers, she started to open up and could slowly make attempt to try to interact with her peers. I always think it is very important to keep building their confidence. A simple word like \"You have done a great job\" is very important for them. -
[quote]They also watched her during \"play\". to look out for prominent behaviour. One of the traits as I had shared before for AS child is repetitive movement/action. Also, my girl liked to line up her toys and flash cards in a straight line when she was two years old and this was one of the symptoms as well. [/quote]
The last test he sat for has this as well. What the psychologist did was to give him his reading material (he is into reading on cars), he was given Torque magazine to read & then interrupted to ask him if he is interested to play with spin top.
Often I have seen he line up his cars, lego too. The psychologist repeatedly ask me if my child does play pretend. I never really observed until this question was posed. So, after the test, I tiptoed to see. True enough all the toys are line up in two rows. But then I heard in a very soft tone, he was muttering while playing. I startled him actually & he told me he was pretending to prepare his toys for a battle.
Does your child line things up in a row with no intention or there is a specific reason to it?
Mine always been asking questions. Chase me and remind me until I find the answer through the internet or at least find the necessary resources so that he can observed what he wants to know. I thought repetitive movement are rigidity in adhering daily schedules? The only thing that is still apparent in the daily schedules that must be met, is my child quirkiness of having to see me 1st thing in the morning unless I have done my diligence by saying good bye (like travelling). Otherwise, he will scream blue murder for hours when he was a toddler. As he grows up, he will take the initiatives to find me the whole house then he will call me up. By now, I usually will wake him and say good bye before leaving the house.
Not sure the result still. The Q & A mostly negative on our observation. Another thing about asperger is their inability to read facial expression. But ds told me he noticed the psychologist frowning while he is doing his WISC. -
soup:
from your 1st post on this thread, your child behaves very much like my boy when he was younger whom KKH diagnosed as ADHD and not Asperger.Thanks 2ppaamm, for replying to my old, old post!
Can I ask you and anyone else with experience, is it too early to diagnose a child as Asperger's syndrome at the age of 3-4years old? Will the tests be accurate if conducted at this age? Eg if a lot of Q&A is required, how can a young child focus long enough to answer all of it properly?
Thanks.
Whatever it is, what is impt is what you intend to do with whichever diagnosis?
Our intention then was to find out why he was such a non-conforming child and get professional advice on how we should manage him. But KKH seemed rather eager to put him on medication to subdue him which we thought was not a good long term solution. In fact, after a couple of weeks, we saw no diff in him with or without medication.
In any case, IMHO, what is important is the parents have to work closely with the caregivers and school teachers. These days, your child will not be alone. My boy's class in P1 had at least a couple of autistic, another AS and another couple of so of ADHD (or it seemed). So it's utmost imprtant for parents to work closely with teahcers to lighten their load. -
Full.Cream:
Some kids respond well to medication, but some do not.
Our intention then was to find out why he was such a non-conforming child and get professional advice on how we should manage him. But KKH seemed rather eager to put him on medication to subdue him which we thought was not a good long term solution. In fact, after a couple of weeks, we saw no diff in him with or without medication.
What they need more than medication is understanding and support from parents, teachers and peers. Even the canteen vendors have to be understanding towards them because they may get rowdy in the canteen and 'cut queues'.
I've worked with a few kids who are not on medication and they are doing well in Secondary school. Leaders in their CCA, have many close friends, good results and learning to be great team players while donig groupwork. They can achieve alot more than others if given the chance and the guidance
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I got it wrong. The medication is actually some stimulant and it acts on the central nervous system.
I think for most cases of ADHD, they will outgrow it. Very often, (I guess) the kids are just too gifted and feeling bored and impatient during regular class.
On hindsight, we are glad we took him off it after a while. We can say this coz we somehow managed to cope despite many hair tearing moments!! :lol:
Whatever it is, AS or ADHD, it's good to work closely with the teachers. Some of these kids does not understand the concept of punishment and if the teachers are unaware and thought their are just misbehaving, itmay do even more harm to them. -
Thank you to all of you with your tips and advice.
I am still not sure of how to help my boy. My 3.5 year old boy, after being at his preschool for the past 2+ months, is still behaving so differently from the rest. Not paying attention in class, wandering about (it's so obvious that when I pick him up, other parents ask me why he is like that :oops: ), no eye contact, no interaction with his classmates, somehow, he knows the names of almost all the teachers in his school, but not a single name of his classmates. He doesn't disturb people, is not disruptive, just wants to go into a corner by himself to read a book or explore a cupboard when everyone else is having lessons (okay, maybe that's disruptive for the teacher). He seems totally unconcerned when the teacher chides him, or when his classmates poke fun at him. Today I saw a classmate try to trip him as he was roaming about, luckily the teacher saw it and told the boy to leave my child alone. I'm just worried that as he gets older, he may become more affected by his peers' reactions to him
I've spoken to the principal who thinks that he is likely to be a special needs child, but that they would like to observe him further before they recommend a referral. She has also noticed that he is a fast learner and hence it's possible that he is just easily bored with classroom routines.
I thought of bringing him to see a paediatrician but my hubby is against this, or any intervention. He says that I worry too much, that there is nothing wrong with being a non-conformist, that we should just leave things alone.
Sigh, maybe guys don't realise the repercussions of odd behaviour in our society... or maybe I am worrying too much.
Anyway, I think I will await the school's principal's and teacher's assessment as to whether any referral is required, for now.
Thanks again, and any further feedback is appreciated. -
soup:
Hi soup, when I was young, I was quite inattentrive and stuff, but now I'm fine. Just nurture and encourage your child from young, and everything will be fine... :hugs:Hi. I first read about Asperger's Syndrome from this forum, from fluffy and 2ppaamm. Thanks to their posts, I started reading up on this.
I wonder if any parents with experience, including fluffy and 2ppaamm, can help me out?
My son is about 3.5 years old. He is an only child. He was started on childcare (half day) 3 months ago. He has not been to any playgroup or enrichment class prior to this. The feedback that I got from his teachers are as follows: very hyperactive (likes to roam around the classroom exploring cupboards etc during lessons), inattentive when teachers are teaching, lack of interaction with peers (much better with adults), lack of eye contact, clumsy, and finally, possibly has a photographic memory.
I wonder if these can be features of Asperger, or hyperactivity syndrome. Or is it still too early to diagnose these at this age?
For those mothers who have kids with Asperger, when did you suspect it?
Or is it our society's tendency to overlabel people? In the past, people would just say these kids were clumsy, or forgetful, or absent-minded, and leave it as that, right? And the kids would have learnt to cope with it eventually...
Any feedback is much appreciated. -
soup:
SoupThank you to all of you with your tips and advice.
I am still not sure of how to help my boy. My 3.5 year old boy, after being at his preschool for the past 2+ months, is still behaving so differently from the rest. Not paying attention in class, wandering about (it's so obvious that when I pick him up, other parents ask me why he is like that :oops: ), no eye contact, no interaction with his classmates, somehow, he knows the names of almost all the teachers in his school, but not a single name of his classmates. He doesn't disturb people, is not disruptive, just wants to go into a corner by himself to read a book or explore a cupboard when everyone else is having lessons (okay, maybe that's disruptive for the teacher). He seems totally unconcerned when the teacher chides him, or when his classmates poke fun at him. Today I saw a classmate try to trip him as he was roaming about, luckily the teacher saw it and told the boy to leave my child alone. I'm just worried that as he gets older, he may become more affected by his peers' reactions to him
I've spoken to the principal who thinks that he is likely to be a special needs child, but that they would like to observe him further before they recommend a referral. She has also noticed that he is a fast learner and hence it's possible that he is just easily bored with classroom routines.
I thought of bringing him to see a paediatrician but my hubby is against this, or any intervention. He says that I worry too much, that there is nothing wrong with being a non-conformist, that we should just leave things alone.
Sigh, maybe guys don't realise the repercussions of odd behaviour in our society... or maybe I am worrying too much.
Anyway, I think I will await the school's principal's and teacher's assessment as to whether any referral is required, for now.
Thanks again, and any further feedback is appreciated.
other than him wandering around, do u face other problems?
Eg, lack of manner, lack of respect for his peers, lack of respect for elders, lack sense of boundary (dunno what is out of bounds), lack compassion?
these are geniune concerns but if you are not facing this, then not much to worry abt. -
soup:
Hi. I first read about Asperger's Syndrome from this forum, from fluffy and 2ppaamm. Thanks to their posts, I started reading up on this.
I wonder if any parents with experience, including fluffy and 2ppaamm, can help me out?
My son is about 3.5 years old. He is an only child. He was started on childcare (half day) 3 months ago. He has not been to any playgroup or enrichment class prior to this. The feedback that I got from his teachers are as follows: very hyperactive (likes to roam around the classroom exploring cupboards etc during lessons), inattentive when teachers are teaching, lack of interaction with peers (much better with adults), lack of eye contact, clumsy, and finally, possibly has a photographic memory.
I wonder if these can be features of Asperger, or hyperactivity syndrome. Or is it still too early to diagnose these at this age?
For those mothers who have kids with Asperger, when did you suspect it?
Or is it our society's tendency to overlabel people? In the past, people would just say these kids were clumsy, or forgetful, or absent-minded, and leave it as that, right? And the kids would have learnt to cope with it eventually...
Any feedback is much appreciated.
Your son sounds almost like my boy
My boy's teachers, both in his nursery/kindergarten/Chinese enrichment class, all commented that he does not pay attention and does not speak to teachers/classmates. One teacher asked me whether he knows how to speak at all. She also commented that he has the ability to remember chinese words after looking at them only once. I doubt that her observation is accurate, because my boy may have learned the words at home, since we read Chinese books to him everyday.
I never think that there is anything wrong with him. In fact, I think he is a very normal boy. At home, he speaks from morning to night non-stop. He just does not like to speak in school. His attention span was only a few minutes at 3 years old, that is normal for kids at that age. Now at 5 years 6 months old, his attention span is still not very long, but he is able to read about 800 words from an English story book in less than 10 mins, so it is not bad. Whenever I speak seriously to him, he likes to roll his eyes upwards, but I know he is just being playful.
Teacher's observations may not be accurate, especially since they have to handle so many kids. Some kids behave differently in school, and there can be many reasons. Mommies should always believe in their own instincts.
Actually I get quite frustrated when teachers complain that he cannot pay attention. I teach him to read English at home, and I am able to single-handedly teach him to read very well before the age of 5. He does have a short attention span, so it is the teacher's responsiblity to try to attract his attention, which is what I have been able to do at home.
Yes I do think that it is our society's tendency to over-label people. We are trying to teach kids too much when they are too young. Kids are not supposed to sit down and pay attention at 3 years old. They are supposed to run around and play until they are 6 years old.
Actually I think that one reason why teachers complain about a child, may be because they are afraid that parents may blame the teachers when their kids don't learn anything from school. It is better for parents to suspect that their kids have some sort of syndrome.
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