High-Functioning Autism (HFA) or Aspie?

[chipotle]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I dont think Trevor (age 8) has just ADHD. Here is what we are going thru:[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He is very moody.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He over reacts to everything if we tell him no on something he goes into a rage throwing himself on the floor or against the wall yelling and screaming and saying mean things, or he will begin to throw things around. Everything and anything will start a fit.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Everything is an argument! I mean everything with everyone![/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He is smelling everything, even if he touches something he has to smell his hands. This is anywhere we are.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He constantly plays in his hair and ***** his tounge (sp?). [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He gets ingrossed in cartoons and has to watch the same ones every morning or he gets really upset!
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He can not tie his shoes no matter how many times we show him (this may be normal kid though).
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He was never flushing the toilet, so we drew him a cartoon with a him coming in going potty then flushing the toilet and going back to play. Now he always flushes the toilet. Seems to respond to visual more than verbal.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]You can tell him something a million times and he just wont get it. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When we put him on time out it will be for 5 minutes starting when he is quiet. He will and has carried on for hours screaming that he will be there forever and ever, no matter how many times we tell him when he is quiet he can get up he carried on for hours.
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He has trouble with eye contact and also when he is in trouble he laughs or smiles like he does not care.


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He can read and reads well. He can add small numbers. He is not stupid, he is actually very smart. Sometimes he sounds so intellegent and others he just seems out there, in his own world. Heplayes better with younger children than he does older or of his own age.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He does have trouble expressing himself and if he cant get his point across he sometimes will push or shove his brothers and sisters. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I am at a loss, trying to get in with a DR but wondering if anyone has any ideas.[/FONT]

 

[BusynMember]

Hi and welcome!
Has he ever seen a neuropsychologist? He sounds like he's on the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) spectrum, or that he COULD be.

 

[howlongto18]

He sounds quite a lot like my son, with some exceptions. My son has been unofficially diagnosis bipolar by several doctors. My son hasn't done any of the habitual types of things like you mention, and like Midwest mom I'd be leaning more toward Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) for those reasons.

Still I second guess myself at every turn so take anything I offer with a large dose of salt.

 

[4timmy]

He sounds a lot like my difficult child too. Is he taking any ADHD medication? (i.e., stimulants?)

My difficult child is 10 and diagnosis'd with ADHD/ODD/Sensory Integration Disorder (SID), but no matter what stimulants we have given him, nothing seems to work for his moodiness thus far. He bounces off the walls though if he doesn't take them. psychiatrist has recently put him on Zyprexa and this doesn't really seem to make a difference either (except make him eat more and gain weight).

He couldn't learn to tie his shoes either, so we gave up trying and always buy him slip-ons. He eventually learned how, but now doesn't like to wear shoes with ties because they take too long to put on. (!!)

He didn't learn to ride a bike until real late either. He was like 7 or 8 when he finally took an interest. This was total drama too. He still won't flush the toilet .... maybe we will draw a picture now too and see if that works! (Thanks) This started when he was real little, he didn't like the sound of the toilet flushing.

Wow, just a lot of your description is so familiar. He would always get agitated if we had to park and walk very far to get somewhere - says it will take too long (hours and hours, forever and ever). Basically, whenever something doesn't go his way, he freaks.

Unfortunately, I have no answers.... we are still trying after 4 years since he was diagnosed to get to the bottom of it. I am new to this site too, and have already gotten really good advice. First thing is a Neuro psychiatric!

All we can tell ourselves is to keep trying and never give up on them.

 

[Nancy423]

hi and welcome!

http://www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html helped me put together something for the neuropsychologist (or psychiatrist) - maybe it's a tool you could use too.

grab a comfy chair and stay awhile

 

[BusynMember]

4timmy, I'd be looking at another evaluation as well. Timmy seems out of the scope of normal for ADHD. He could well have more than that going on and it's always good to have a new, updated evaluation, especially by a neuropsychologist. You will see that many of us really like neuropsychologist evaluations!

 

[Hound dog]

Welcome

I'd be getting another evaluation as well. I agree that NeuroPych evaluations are wonderful for pinpointing problems and dxing.

Many of the behaviors remind me of Travis when he was quite young. Not all, but many.

((hugs))

 

[Marguerite]

Yep. sounds familiar to me, well and truly. We can't diagnose here, but we can say what seems familiar, enoguh to strongly suggest you ask the questions of whoever you see for a referral.

Welcome, let us know how you get on.

Marg

 

[trinityroyal]

Sounds familiar here as well. As Marg said, we can't diagnose, but we can certainly mention things that ring a bell with our own children's development.

What you're describing sounds pretty Autism spectrum-ish to me too.

I second MidwestMom's recommendation for a neuropsychologist evaluation. Might point you in the right direction of a diagnosis, which will enable you to put the right interventions in place.

Welcome!

Trinity

 

[TerryJ2]

Hi Chipotle, welcome.
Here's a margarita and some chips. (With a name like Chipotle, I figure I'm in safe territory. )

Your son sounds a lot like mine.

I like your idea of drawing a picture of flushing the toilet. My son reacts well to written notes and pictures and balks at verbal instructions, too.

My son did not learn to tie his shoes until he was 7. I finally gave up and only bought velcro, but then he was on soccer and baseball and basketball teams and we had to buy laced shoes. The neighbor boy finally taught him, or at least, he was ready to learn from the neighbor at that point. I have no idea why that day was different.

Try reading Asperger's Syndrome and Difficult Moments. The book really helped me, even b4 we had a diagnosis. It's got good ideas for all kids.

Does your son like to tear up books? My son used to tear up our very best books, and ruined all the books and tapes in my car. One day, I had gone in to my husband's for a chiro adjustment and difficult child refused to get out of the car. When I came back out, I found difficult child in the back seat, paper shredded at his feet and all over the carseat. I asked him why he was doing that.
"It relaxes me," he said.
I gave him several old phone books to use when he was raging.
He didn't like them as well as paperbacks. Arrrgh.
He's kind of gotten out of that stage now. The medications really help. And the therapy helps (breathing exercises, walking away, and just plain maturity).

Anyway, welcome!