My son had a follow-up appointment with his psychiatrist today and I brought up my concerns about his social issues, anxiety, regimental to routines, obsessions with numbers specifically miles and minutes, etc. We first saw the psychiatrist almost two years ago when we were concerned that Alexander may have ADHD. We have since seen her on a regular basis and started medicine to help control the ADHD symptoms in October. She knows Alexander’s history and knows the family. She is also the parent of a child with Asperger’s Syndrome. She said that Alexander does have Asperger’s Syndrome and suggested Tony Attwood’s new book The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome and said that in addition to the play therapy we really need to get him into a social skills group as soon as possible.
So I’m left wondering, is it just anxiety or is it truly Asperger’s Syndrome. The psychiatrist seemed to look at the big picture – not just the DSM-IV criteria. The psychologist adminstered a battery of standardized tests and my son showed deficits in social development and also scored in the very likely range on an Asperger diagnostic scale. While the psychologist agreed that Alexander met the DSM-IV criteria for Asperger’s Syndrome she felt that anxiety was a more accurate diagnosis. The psychiatrist feels that the anxiety, the sensory issues, the feeding issues, the motor planning issues, etc are all part of a bigger picture and when looking at those as well as the DSM-IV you get a clear picture of what is going on.
While I was relieved to hear the anxiety diagnosis it just didn’t feel complete. I wasn’t ready to hear that my oldest child was also on the autism spectrum so I welcomed the anxiety diagnosis. In the few weeks it’s been since then it just hasn’t felt right. He definitely has anxiety but it just doesn’t seem to answer for all of his quirks. My husband and my mom both readily accepted the psychiatrist’s assessment of the situation as that is what they’ve suspected all along. My mom is a public school teacher and has a student with Asperger’s Syndrome so is somewhat familiar with it. My husband is just my husband – no experience with it but he said it made sense.
So right now I have conflicting diagnoses but if I go with my momma’s instinct I think the psychiatrist has a more accurate assessment of the situation. She has not only known him longer but has parental experience in addition to clinical experience plus she looks at the whole child vs. just the criteria set forth in the DSM-IV.
Subscribe to the Mutterings of a Mindless Mommy RSS feed!
Related posts:
- Let’s Chat About Asperger Syndrome
- It’s not Asperger Syndrome, It’s Anxiety
- A Neat Little Package Called Asperger’s Syndrome
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I always thought that anxiety was a symptom or side effect of Aspergers. Every kid I have ever met with Aspergers has anxiety – in crowds, in new situations, during transitions, or social situations. Hmmm. Makes me think.
Kathleen,
That is how the psychiatrist described it to me. It is anxiety but that is not the end-all be-all answer, the anxiety is a result of the Asperger’s Syndrome. The AS diagnosis answers all the other questions I had that an anxiety diagnosis just didn’t answer. I’ve been reading a lot this week and it makes so much more sense.