View Full Version : aspergers - whats the criteria?
today i took my DS#1 who is 5 to my GP who refered us to get him tested for aspergers.
my cousins son has it, and whilst his mother and i notice xand has alot of the same traits he doesnt 'explode' the way her son does, he mainly hyperventilates and cries..
im coming from a huge nieve place here... ive read that aspie kids have huge violent outburts.. is it the same for them all?
also, is a monotone voice always apparent?
i'm in a place where i know he doesnt act like 99% of kids ive encountered...but he doesnt seem as extreme in some areas that ive read about being typically aspie?
Mrs Awesome
29-07-2010, 22:39
I wish I could help mischa, but I don't know anything about it. I am sure someone on here will come along with some info for you soon. Until then, sending you big hugs!
MummaBear03
29-07-2010, 22:41
It's extremely complex and there's loads of testing to be done. Can take years. Took about 4 years for us.
That's a long time...
It took 6 months to get a diagnosis for my cousins son.. but she skipped the pead and went straight to psychologist...
I don't know a lot about it really either.
I have one friend who has an Aspie boy.
He doesn't have outbursts that I know of.
He does seem to have obsessions, though. Like when he was little, he would climb door frames. Not just for the heck of it, but like he HAD to do it.
From what I know, Aspie, children are so hard to diagnose, because they are all different.
BUT if you are feeling there is an issue, then make sure you are heard, when you see the paed. AND make sure you mention the things you have noticed with his behaviour.
Write it all down, so you don't forget anything. Often it is not one or even two characteristics, that make this diagnosis, but a whole heap of little things that when put together add up.
The learning delays, and the speech etc. Not all aspie kids are going to fit the exact criteria either. Which is why it can be really hard to get the diagnosis.
MummaBear03
30-07-2010, 07:38
DD has no violent outbursts. She has meltdowns in the way of anxiety attacks and has difficulty breathing.
There isn't really any criteria it's just a number of behaviours that overall can be very unique and individual to a child that make up aspergers. My DS1 just got diagnosed officially today and he displays obsessive behaviours, can have meltdowns over trivial things, like things being exact and very particular about things. He is also socially awkward, BUT he is super smart and has an incredible memory recall of things, he remembers the unit number we stayed in for my sisters wedding in Fiji and things like that. He has improved a lot in the last few years, but he still has some difficulty with change, new people and situations and i wanted to assess him so we can be prepared for challenges as he's off to school next year. If you have some concerns, no harm in finding out for sure. I am relieved we finally have some answers as to why he behaves the way he does and glad to have some references to follow up in order to help him. Goodluck :hugs:
There's actually very specific criteria. For most diagnoses you'll find that there are several sections that contain subcategories and a patient needs to meet a certain number of these to warrant a diagnosis.
Check out http://www.autreat.com/dsm4-aspergers.html for the details for Asperger's. This is the criteria a psych MUST use in order to give a diagnosis of Asperger's.
ETA: a child I'm close to with Asperger's is the sweetest natured soul you'll ever find; no, violent outbursts are not a pre-requisite. Best of luck with the diagnosis, if I can offer any advice it's that this time is key. Get the best diagnosis you can afford, treatment is much easier with the correct diagnosis. There are only certain psychs qualified to do the tests, keep an ear out for the word ADOS and you'll be on the right track.
thanks very much ladies.
we have been to a psycholgist for his opinion, on monday, aspergers has been ruled out due to his speech issues (expressive language disorder) but he does show red flags for being on the autistic spectrum. the clinical asessment with this particular professional is $1000 dollars and we just cant afford that. AT ALL... our speech pathologist is in the process of contacting a psych she knows, and talking to them about our situation, we will find out more when we see her on friday..
$1000 is incredibly steep! I've heard of $400, $500, but wow...
Good luck, I'm sure someone a bit more reasonably priced can be found :hugs:.
That's the assessment we had too called ADOS. Sorry i guess i gave incorrect info, only found out today so still trying to wrap my head around it. We waited 12 months to get to this stage, but we didn't have to pay anything cause we went public and just waited till there was an appt available, plus they had such dramas referring us to the proper people.
yeah $1000 dollars knocked my socks off, i was...mortified and devastated at the same time. especially since we were told that due to his age and speech issues, the asessment will provide hard to be accurate and will need to be revised every 6-12 months...eesh...we just cant go through that. so..
if this new lead provides unhelpful we too will go through public.
some days i think hes fine and im making it all up in my head. but other times...i see him at a birthday party, not talking to anyone, not doing anything but watching...and then he says he had the best time...
who would find that awesome?!?! he thinks his whole class at school are his friends, yet tells me they say he cant play because he is too weird..
hmm.
Did you read the criteria in the link I copied? I think parents often recognise the correct diagnosis when they see it broken down like that, it can set off a few light bulbs about certain behaviours.
i did yup thank you. we are ruled out for apsie in particular tho because of the language issues.
its all so much to process and so far we are just on the possibilities... i guess all i can do is hope our next step is a helpful one.
mum of 3
05-08-2010, 00:59
my ds is in the process of being assessed for aspergers atm we have gone to a private clinic but if on a hcc they bulk bill and if your not you can go to your gp and ask then to fill out a mental health act form which will get you from memory 20 sessions at a highly redused rate if not free. sckope and autism aus will be able to give you info on what there is near you and can assist in finding someone that can assess him.
mischa my ds nearly 7 has aspergers. im pretty sure that violent outbursts are not part of the diagnostic criteria iykwim?
we live in a similar area to you and our initial consult was with a psych at the R.E.A.D clinic in gosford. cant rmember how much it cost but was nowhere near 1000:eek:. my gp did a mental health plan too to make it cheaper. so that psych gave him an initial diagnosis of aspergeres/ ODD/ADD which had to backed by a paed and was. we has had to have a speechi asessment who declared my son didnt have the typical aspie speech characteristics although he was delayed and as a toddler had been significantly delayed. diagnosis still stands nearly 2 years later although the ADD was dropped it is being reconsidered again now.
good luck if u want me to i can pm you any info re: who we see/have seen
i did yup thank you. we are ruled out for apsie in particular tho because of the language issues.
its all so much to process and so far we are just on the possibilities... i guess all i can do is hope our next step is a helpful one.
Sorry, you did say that. It is a lot to process. One helpful way of thinking I've encountered is this: the Autistic Spectrum is called a spectrum for a reason; every human being falls on it somewhere. It may just be that your DS falls in a spot where he needs a bit more understanding and/or treatment. :hugs:
Super mum of 3 the read clinic is where I went the initial visit was 150 that was with the mental health plan which we have and I get some back from Medicare but for the actual assessment it's $180x3 hours then $410 for the report. I can only get back on Medicare for that if a pead refers us, but the pead costs a couple of hundred too and even then it only drops the cost to $865 so there's no real point. I'm not going back there it seems like they just want to cash in on people's desperation for answers.
They also misdiagnosed my cousins aspie child as ADHD. So I'm not too impressed by their skills.
Thanks lambjam :) it would b really nice to have some more help with him that's all I keep focusing on.
Thanks everyone for replying it's helped alot.
Supermum of 3 thanks I will pm u.. I'm hoping our speechy can give the psych she knows a good insight to xands speech issues and my concerns before I get there it's nice to not walk into a place feeling like u have to plead your case.
wow we didnt have anywhere near those amounts of expense at the same clinic? although it was 2yrs ago. i think the costs rack up no matter where u go though:(
let me know where u end up going as id be interested in getting another opinion
its my understanding that aspergers is difficult to diagnose and it is often isdiagnosed as something else originally. where did your nephew end up getting his diagnosis?
through a psychiatrist, she skipped everything and just got a referal from a gp for the guy who was recommended by a friend. if u want the details i can ask :)
5 yrs ago the R.E.A.D clinic cost her $600 for the wrongful diagnosis of ADHD..
i just didnt get a good vibe from them.. i dunno but i was so shocked when the receptionist told me how much it would be... :|
wow! i think i paid initial consult of a few hundred (got some back from medicare)and they gave him a prelim diagnosis then he went there every week for like 100ish(again some back) for behavioural technique sorta stuff which didnt help. perhaps we saw different dr's there:confused: . obviously i then had to go to paed and speechie so each one was a few hundred and it added up, but yeah wow
we havent seen a psychiatrist at all but yeah id love the details is u dont mind
There is a set of diagnostic criteria for Aspergers in the DSM IV (mental health) manual, however, Tony Attwood the 'guru' of Asperger's Syndrome has developed a more comprehensive diagnostic criteria. I have attached the link below. There is another diagnosis known as PDD-NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder - No Other Symptoms) and it sits on the autism spectrum but is very high functioning. One of the criteria is a speech delay.
http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/Articles/The-Australian-Scale-for-Asperger-s-Syndrome.aspx
My son was diagnosed by a developmental paediatrician and I then sought confirmation of the diagnosis by a paediatric psychologist.
I only know a little bit about aspergers, my psychologist told us that aspergers is the very beginning of the ASD line, but some kids may or may not continue to develop an actual ASD, I have 2 sons with autism and I initially thought that they had aspergers, its a lot of mucking around getting them diagnosed.
My dd has pdd-nos and we were told it's the bottom of the spectrum so why would they class that as high functioning?? My ds has autism
Georgias Mummy
10-08-2010, 22:01
Aspi kids are a lot like a Cat ! They are great children when you understand them..
They dont like being touched by surprise, enjoy being alone, very clever and particular interests in something - maps or dinosaurs and others and can tell you great details about their interest they may prefer typing than writing. They are often mis diagnosed with ADHD. They have trouble understanding and identifying sarcasm/ facial expressions and cant predict the consequences for their actions however often are very sorry for their actions.
If you think this is your son see another doc and get a referral also schools can help in this process of diagnosis. So important you get onto it early to give him the best chance of learning to learn and succeed and avoid being labeled as naughty because people don't understand him.
Just to clarify, autism, Asperger's and PDD-NOS ALL sit on the Autism spectrum. In fact in the DSM V coming out, they are proposing that the label Asperger's is left out and children are diagnosed as autistic - be it high functioning or low functioning. I can't see the Aspie community agreeing with this, but that is what is planned.
PDD-NOS means there are not enough symptoms to diagnose autism or Asperger's and sometimes down the track the child is given one of those labels. PDD-NOS is high functioning. The difference in diagnostic criteria between Asperger's and High functioning autism, is no speech delay in Asperger's.
Bel - I think they mean bottom of the spectrum ie. toward neurotypical behaviour.
My son has Aspergers and he never has had violent outbursts, he has meltdowns where he runs away and cries and screams but is never violent, he has sensory issues, is extremely emotional and cries over the smallest things, has repetative behaviors and is socially awkward, one characteristic is a higher than normal I.Q, he is so smart and has a great memory.
...oh the monotone voice is not in all Aspies and they can have Aspergers and have great speech but they can also have speech issues not related to Asperger's..
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