Girls with Asperger's

[katymae]

Could anyone describe their dd's with Asperger's? I'm curious if there are differences between boys and girls. My dd definitely has some tendencies, but there are other behaviors that she doesn't exhibit. Also, did your dd's get diagnosed early, or did their symptoms arise over time?

If you'd like to PM rather than posting, I'd be happy with that as well. Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I am interested in Asperger's too. My friend's 4 year old son is having some problems and I am curious about this disease(?) or syndrome?
Thank you!

 

[missypie]

DS15 has Asperger's. DD10 has a good girl friend ("K")with Asperger's (not surprising - DD sees K's "quirkiness" as normal, since K is so much like her brother!)

Anyway, K is a lot like my son - large "stilted" vocabulary; intense interests (in her case, unicorns and My Little Pony, rather than Yu-Gi-Oh). Because she's slightly built, I think K gets bullied a bit more than my son ever did. K seems so normal to me (since DS is an Aspie) that I forget. When I saw her on "meet the teacher night" I gave her a big hug - she froze solid! I felt bad, because I didn't even think about how she probably wouldn't like to be touched.

 

[1stluvispooh]

Well lets see DD has gotten the dx of Aspergers and Autism so... who do you want to belive? Anyway there are a lot of things she doesn't do that is tipical of AD. She doesn't toe walk, doesn't rock or spin or line toys up but does seperate things by color (skittles, jelly beans, beads) only hand flaps if she is EXTREMELY UPSET. The only self stiming she realy does is run back and forth which ADHD kids also do so it isn't that obvious thats what she is doing to an outsider. She does have expressive receptive language delay. She has her obsessions, pink, bunnies and head bands. (Currently she is wearing a glittery one, a bunny ears one and a tiar thanks to McDonald's) No she didn't get dx early. I was telling Dr's that there was something wrong when she was 2 it wasn't until she was 4 that someone agreed with me and then it was a year and a half waiting list to see the speicalist. So she turned 6 in May and didn't get the final dx until March. I don't know if this has helped anyone if you want any other specifics PM me.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I have always understood the defining difference between Aspergers and Autism was language aquisition. Usually there is no delay in aquiring language with Aspergers , so they are diagnosed later than children with Autism......

My DD was diagnosed very early in part because she just didn't talk.....


One thing that always made her different was she is very physically affectionate. Of course since she was breastfed, and held by a mom who believed kids can't have too much skin to skin contact....she didn't have much choice

 

[cymomtx]

My DD-10 is Aspergers, and we knew this by age 1, as she is a mini of her brother age 16 who was not dx until 6. She is not affectionate (was breastfed 12 months), very much into pokeman, very independent (would not starve if we were not around), does not stim, but can get very frustrated and emotional.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My DS11 has Asperger's. He was diagnosed with PDD (pervasive developmental delay - an autistic spectrum disorder) when he was 5. By the time he was 8, the school psychologist noticed more and more Asperger's characteristics and we, along with several specialists, have agreed on that diagnosis.

I also work in a special ed. preschool classroom so I see lots of kids who are just on the verge of receiving a diagnosis. When they're around 2 or 3, you can usually tell if they're on the spectrum. As we work with them more and assess their language skills, etc., it becomes more apparent if there is an Asperger's component at work.

All kids with Asperger's are different so it's hard to compare symptoms and behaviors. I've seen a few girls with Asperger's who are very similar to my son. Usually the differentiating factor between Asperger's and other autistic spectrum disorders is language and verbal skills. We see 3 year olds in our class with very poor social skills, no eye contact, stimming behaviors, arm flapping, etc., but they know the entire alphabet and can read numbers up to 100. They may still have a language delay but tend to acquire and use language faster than other kids on the spectrum. When those characteristics emerge, we usually start thinking it's Asperger's.

 

[fakereadhed]

The difference I see with a girl with Aspergers/NLD is that she shuts down rather than acting out. On the flip side she gets labeled as "mouthy" if she asks questions that get read as sarcasm rather than taken at face value. She gets labeled as "aggressive" for stomping her feet when she's frustrated, where I think a boy would have to do much more to get labeled aggressive by a teacher. Also, a lot of what girls do is social so she really does not fit in with the other girls- they are into conversations and best friends and she doesn't get into that kind of thing. Also, although she played strangely as a child, lining things up and grouping them, she did do some copying of her sister pretending which sort of hid her symptoms when she was younger. If you listen closely to some of her conversations with people or her pretend play it is usually something someone else said or a line from a cartoon or a video game. She is usually perceived by others as a very bright child who is rude.

 

[In Luv with Disney]

These responses are great, thanks for the helpful info! My son MIGHT have Aspergers, but we still don't know for sure. Can you all describe the symptoms/characteristics your kids are displaying that make the doctors think Aspergers? It would be REALLY helpful. THANKS!