Asperger? Hyperactive?

[pingsped]

snowyqueen:

Hi Pingsped,
Thank you very much for enligtening me. I am a mother constantly trying ways to see how to make up for my DD deficency. This phenonmen sorts of confuse me. As the visual memory power of my DD deteriorates, she excels and has been coached by me to be good at application skills (i.e Maths and Science). Or rather she did have the strength in this kind of subjects. Maybe by bringing out her inherent potential (as most people said ASD kids are good at Maths and that was how I put in tremendous effort to coach her to her current standard from a poor standard in P1), her talent of visual memory lost as she is performing more of reasoning skills. However, i still cannot understand if her weakness in english comprehension is more because of her deficiency or her poor vocabulary? She always tell me she cannot understand the passage and most often she would give up even in Exam and anyhow did and picked an answer or write an answer, same for close passages. I really feel a bit at wits end of how to help her in this area. Else, it is difficult to imagine she can did well for Maths and Science but poor in English, very unbalanced. If this is indeed caused by her deficiency, then I can decide the path forward for her and focus on it.

Hi Snowyqueen,

The notion of normalisation is the child with ASD is now able to socialise with peers and strangers (to a large extent). He is also able to deal with demands of daily interaction, ie take small disagreements, unexpected change etc in his stride, like a neurotypical person. He may still exhibits \"quirky\" behv when he is stressed or anxious.

Most children with Asperger have strengths in logical subjects such as science and math. They tend to have normal language development, esp good decoding and grammatical skills, except for comprehension and lg use.

Generally children who are on the spectrum have poor comprehension skills; ie Aspies have poorer or weaker comprehension skills (esp fictional texts), relative to IQ-matched peers. This is due mainly to difficulties in social perception eg reading between the lines, inability to automatically process and relate social situations as well as process typical human response.

A child who is \"normalised\", has comprehension skills that are within age-norms. He may struggle with literature-type texts but is generally able to answer most inference-type questions.

A child who is no longer having meltdowns but generally keeps to himself, still has a social skills problem. There are other criteria for normalisation eg having a few friends, asking strangers/classmates for help, etc.

Helping your girl with comprehension
- try to use visual methods eg concept map and/or timeline (arrange events in chrono order), to help your girl process the text
- managing stress/anxiety
a stressed child cannnot think clearly
- answering questions
Once a child is able to process the text, he is able to answer most qn, except the synonym-type and inferential questions.

Cloze passage - v difficult to advise as it depends on overall lg skills & vocab

(A child with high-functioning autism has a different lg profile)

hope this helps.

[pingsped]

snowyqueen:

Dear Desertwind,
Though I am not sure if your DS is confirmed as a Aspergers but I had gone through the same thing before. My DD has good eye contact but had problem socialising in pre-school and had behaviorial problems (quite serious when she was younger) and tends to be stubborn and rigid in thinking even till now.

Every child is different but I do feel that if it is Aspergers which is only mild Autistic, an early intervention program at young is appropriate and beneficial for the child. I did not do that for my girl as we got the confirmed diagnostic results at K2 so no point to transfer her to another school. Basically she learnt not much thing during her three year pre-school education because of her behavioral problem. If I could turn back the clock, I would have done otherwise.

Hi desertwind

Actually, most children with Aspergers, do not have a history of language delay. Rather, they present as bright or precocious toddlers (below 4 yr old) who memorise things effortlessly. They are able to express their needs logically but have difficulties receptively (understanding SOME instructions or explanations). At that age, they are able to relate to adults better, as opposed to peers (toddlers). Some may have sensory-processing problems. ASD traits tend to be obsession & rigidity (content-based) as opposed sensory behv (eg rocking, flicking). A child with asperger may talk abt cars, as opposed to lining them in straight line. Play looks more \"normal\".

This is the main reason why they tend to be diagnosed later. Parents, caregivers or even teachers may explain away the odd behv as just \"being kids\" or even spoilt. However the behv remains the same until parents find it increasingly difficult to explain the child's behv with using age-norms.

There are exceptions of normal lg devm such as a dual diagnosis of disability eg dyspraxia, or dyslexia.


Of course, there are various schools of thought abt high-functioning autism vs asperger syndrome. I belong to the school that feels that children with asperger syndrome have normal lg development except in areas of lg use and social comprehension.

The label is not very impt as long as the child gets help and parents are able to move on without having to know the exact diagnosis of ASD.

I have helped some kids who were diagnosed with ASD but I personally feel
they have receptive & expressive lg disorder instead. These tend to \"normalise\" very fast. Treating them as having ASD would be counter-productive & yield \"rigid\" results.

So my advice is go for general screening, allow for a provisional label so that u can get subsidised early intervention (if u r not going pte therapy). Without the ASD label, one can't enrol child in AAS, etc. Get formal diagnosis at age 6 - to get further help, or remove that provisional label.

[DesertWind]

pingsped:

The label is not very impt as long as the child gets help and parents are able to move on without having to know the exact diagnosis of ASD.


So my advice is go for general screening, allow for a provisional label so that u can get subsidised early intervention (if u r not going pte therapy). Without the ASD label, one can't enrol child in AAS, etc. Get formal diagnosis at age 6 - to get further help, or remove that provisional label.

Hi Pingsped,
OK, thank you very much for the advice and will bear in mind!
:celebrate:

[snowyqueen]

pingsped:

Most children with Asperger have strengths in logical subjects such as science and math. They tend to have normal language development, esp good decoding and grammatical skills, except for comprehension and lg use.
(A child with high-functioning autism has a different lg profile)

Hi Pingsped,

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and analysis. I wish I had known you earlier :D. I am going to try for the next few months to see if her defiency in comprehension can be improved and if by doing so if she may lose some strength in logical skills, I hope not . It sounds weird to discuss things in this way but I am willing to keep on trying to help her to overcome her weakness. Then, I also leant a lot of things cannot be rush and needs time to materialise. I really hope she can be a normal but I also accept the fact that she is \"special\" and I am amazed by her potential as she grows older though I could possiby encounter the same degree of disappointment at times when she displays her ASD traits.

[sheryl]

Hi All,

My boy is suspected to have mild AS. Did a screening last Sat. The psychologist does not think that he needs a full assessment at this moment. She does not think he will have a problem going to mainstream. She recommended social skills training. My boy has difficulty decoding facial expressions & social situation. Any recommendation for centre that conducts social skill training? Where can I get social stories books?

Thinking of letting him to join team sport. Will this helps his social skills?

[ImMeeMee]

My girl of 3 yo seems to be exhibiting symptoms of Autism. I have posted in the thread on Autism but would also like to ask here for recommendations on who to go to for assessment of the condition.


appreciate the help. TIA.

[pingsped]

snowyqueen:

Hi Pingsped,

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and analysis. I wish I had known you earlier :D. I am going to try for the next few months to see if her defiency in comprehension can be improved and if by doing so if she may lose some strength in logical skills, I hope not . It sounds weird to discuss things in this way but I am willing to keep on trying to help her to overcome her weakness. Then, I also leant a lot of things cannot be rush and needs time to materialise. I really hope she can be a normal but I also accept the fact that she is \"special\" and I am amazed by her potential as she grows older though I could possiby encounter the same degree of disappointment at times when she displays her ASD traits.

hi snowyqueen

you're welcome.

I don't think she'll lose the logic part at all. The affected parts are usu visual & rote memory (still good but not perfect) eg spelling & pattern recognition. There may limitations in \"hard disk\"; as the child learns to process more info, it may become harder to allocate resources for learning/rehearsing Math and Science stuff.

When feelings come into play, decision-making is sometimes \"ïrrational\". It's not like we're illogical or insane, but we may not make best decisions when we're emotional. They may become more like us sometimes. Not sure if that's a good thing.

Learn to take things in your stride. Some parents go thro emotional rollercoasters w each public meltdown cos they hope that the child is cured or has somehow outgrown the condition.


I think you're a great parent. Just keep working at it; that's what I do. Then take breaks to smell flowers sometimes.

Sometimes I wonder abt the differences separating an aspie and extremely stubborn adult at times. Don't worry. There're many adults and kids with poor social skills anyway.

[pingsped]

sheryl:

Hi All,

My boy is suspected to have mild AS. Did a screening last Sat. The psychologist does not think that he needs a full assessment at this moment. She does not think he will have a problem going to mainstream. She recommended social skills training. My boy has difficulty decoding facial expressions & social situation. Any recommendation for centre that conducts social skill training? Where can I get social stories books?

Thinking of letting him to join team sport. Will this helps his social skills?

It's difficult to answer an open qn like this.

How does sports help a child with AS?
I can't think of any direct benefits to social skills although in theory, there are plausible benefits.

if your child is in K2, I think games may work better in getting him to understand what is \"fun\" all about. You can do team sports with family members to familiarise your child with movements & play rules.

for something to be \"fun\",
a) there must genuine laughter & bonding - a sense of camaraderie
b) losing is not threatening
c) winning feels special
d) activities must not too intimidating/difficult so that there is a reasonable chance of winning/succeeding/performing the act of playing


I know of kids with ASD who do at least 3-5 sports/games weekly but do not communicate with peers. They do it to please their parents.

If he has social/communicative intent, then being on a team can help him to establish common talking ground with peers. It will certainly help if he has good coordination. Children with sensory issues tend to do better with simple ball games.

[baong]

pingsped:

Hi Snowyqueen,

The notion of normalisation is the child with ASD is now able to socialise with peers and strangers (to a large extent). He is also able to deal with demands of daily interaction, ie take small disagreements, unexpected change etc in his stride, like a neurotypical person. He may still exhibits \"quirky\" behv when he is stressed or anxious.

Most children with Asperger have strengths in logical subjects such as science and math. They tend to have normal language development, esp good decoding and grammatical skills, except for comprehension and lg use.

Generally children who are on the spectrum have poor comprehension skills; ie Aspies have poorer or weaker comprehension skills (esp fictional texts), relative to IQ-matched peers. This is due mainly to difficulties in social perception eg reading between the lines, inability to automatically process and relate social situations as well as process typical human response.

A child who is \"normalised\", has comprehension skills that are within age-norms. He may struggle with literature-type texts but is generally able to answer most inference-type questions.

A child who is no longer having meltdowns but generally keeps to himself, still has a social skills problem. There are other criteria for normalisation eg having a few friends, asking strangers/classmates for help, etc.

Helping your girl with comprehension
- try to use visual methods eg concept map and/or timeline (arrange events in chrono order), to help your girl process the text
- managing stress/anxiety
a stressed child cannnot think clearly
- answering questions
Once a child is able to process the text, he is able to answer most qn, except the synonym-type and inferential questions.

Cloze passage - v difficult to advise as it depends on overall lg skills & vocab

(A child with high-functioning autism has a different lg profile)

hope this helps.

Hi pingsped,

many thanks for providing all these tips for helping kids with ASD.

I would like to check if you have any tips to help ASD kids for composition writing. From your experience, do kids with ASD have difiiculties writing compositions? From the readings in this topic here do suggest that ASD kids would prefer factual reads than fictional reads as they can comprehend the former more. So will this hinder ASD kids writing creatively? MTIA

baong

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

[quote]Thinking of letting him to join team sport. Will this helps his social skills?[/quote]
What type of social skill is your child missing? From what I have read, there are more boys being diagnosed as asperger than girls. But then, the symptoms found in girls versus boys are totally different.

Mine now picking up football. While others play for fun, he is detailing every movement instead of focusing on the game as a whole. He is not able to read opponent or friends expression hence does have difficulty in passing the ball at the right moment.

My suggestion is for you to observe on what is lacking with your child social skill.

My child told me he is happy to be alone or will socialise when he feels the company is right. I respected his decision and understand that he needs a lot of personal space and time alone. I'm fortunate to be able to find two other families with children age ranging from 3-15 years old. My child is most comfortable to talk to the 15 years old, to the parents or play with the 3 years old.