Asperger’s Syndrome expert Tony Attwood spoke with Richard Fidler on his ABC Sydney (Australia) radio show. A brief summary of the show is in text the rest you will need to listen to the audio files by clicking on the link under Attwood’s photograph. This is just a quick update as today is one of our therapy days so I’m heading out the door soon and don’t have time to summarize the audio file. It was very enlightening, especially to me as a mother of a child recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. If you have a spare 45 minutes or so I highly recommend listening to the audio piece.
In honor of National Autism Awareness Month there are two shows airing tomorrow, April 22. The first I have discussed: Nick News with Linda Ellerbee will be focusing on the topic Private Worlds: Kids and Autism. The show will air on 4/22 at 8:30pm ET/PT on Nickelodeon; check your local listings for the broadcast station number.
Another show that will be on tomorrow is called After Thomas. After Thomas is based on the true story of the Gardner family who live in Scotland. The movie focuses on their son Dale’s (Kyle in the movie) bond with the family dog Henry (Thomas in the movie) and the trials and tribulations they face in an era where there wasn’t as much known about autism as their is now. Dale is now a 18 year old who has made tremendous growth when compared to the child depicted in the movie. This will air on BBC America at 8pm ET/PT.
I have my DVR set to record both shows and will give a follow-up review of them early in the week.
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.
