My DDs nursery suggested autism/Aspergers testing?

[McSmith]

Hi,

My DDs nursery key worker mentioned yesterday that she thinks it may be worth having my DD tested for autism/Aspergers, which tbh has come as a bolt out of the blue.

She's developing absolutely normally in pretty much every respect (other than her language which is very advanced) and it seems that the one thing the nursery is concerned about is her obsession with (and aptitude for) jigsaw puzzles. I'm looking at our living room floor at the moment and there are 7 of them scattered around, in various stages of completion, each of them having between 20 and 50 pieces. Some of the easier ones she does upside-down to make it more challenging, which I can appreciate may not be very common but surely isn't a reason to think she's got SEN in any way??? I just can't believe that she's anything of the sort, she's a loving, sociable, tactile child who loves being outside, playing with her big brother and other children, is quick to laugh and has lots of different interests. She seems to me to be totally normal, quite bright but not to the extent of G&T, but with one special interest. Do you think the nursery is just being ridiculous, or am I putting my head in the sand?

There are a lot of other possibilities that may result in a passion for and a talent with jigsaws, if that is truly all they are concerned about.
File the info away and remember it, in case you have any future concerns, but does the keyworker have extensive experience of working with children on the spectrum, or has she been on a half-day course on ASCs and is theorising with very little evidence?

how old is DD?

What is her imagination like? Does she have play skills? Does she play well with other children? Does your dd cope with changes in routine well? Autism is a triad of impairments. It affects language, social skills and flexiblity of thinking.

I don't think your dd sounds autistic from your post. Certainly its unlikely she is going to be disabled by any autisitic traits.

My DD loves jigsaws and I don't its a sign of autism. Its a sign of a child with good mechanical aptidude, spacial awareness and concentration skills. Prehaps she will make a good engineer, scientist or a computer programmer one day.

Sorry, should have said she's nearly 2. Loves pretend play (is currently having a 'picnic' on the rug with my DS who's 3, and loves playing with her nursery friends. She's rarely fazed by anything and doesn't exhibit any of the indicators I've read about other than the puzzle thing. I appreciate its unusual for a 23mth old to do 50 piece puzzles but this really is the only odd thing about an otherwise normal, sunny little girl. Was too taken aback to query her key worker's experience on Friday, will ask her on Monday. Thanks :)

DS is 2.5 and is the same as your DD with jigsaws - when the HH gave him a 4 peice peg one at his 2 year check he looked at her like she was a nutter!

I wouldnt worry at all as long as she is developing normally in other ways.

Sounds like the key worker does not know a lot about autism, from your post.

It is very unusual but if there are no concerns, I wouldn't be worried. Shes only 2. Goes her imaginitive play and is her play quite varied or only jigsaws?

My 25 month old DS similarly enjoys puzzles. He does 25 piece puzzles within minutes and he is happy working away on 50 pieces puzzles as well. He began getting interested in jigsaws about 2 or 3 months ago. His cousin, 4 months older, is equally good at puzzles. Perhaps your DD has just realised how much she enjoys them, and also enjoys the reaction she gets from people when she completes them? (especially at nursery, as it seems they are treating this as exceptional!)
I also know it's unusual to complete 25-50 piece puzzles at this age, but I can't believe your nursery have suggested autism/Asbergers on this basis. When you say obsessed, what do you mean? What would her reaction be if you encouraged her to do something else?

*Asperger's

DD was like that at the same age. I thought I've got a genius on my hands .Oh, and she could draw perfect faces (like really perfectly round, with eyes, nose, mouth, ears etc etc in all the right places) at 17-18 months and she did that obsessively. I rememeber mentioning it to the paed and she was surprised but said that it shows very good spatial awarmess and dexterity. Now, at 3, she's lost interest in jigsaws and her drawing, while good, are nothing out of ordinary for her age group. She seems pretty 'normal' to me.

If you haven't got any other concerns, I wouldn't worry.

My Aspie is fantastic at jigsaws. Didn't form part of his diagnosis, however.
That was based on the triad of impairments and the stimuli that led to meltdowns.

DS is 25 months and very similar. Nursery are not qualified to make such suggestions. I would just get on and enjoy your lovely, bright little girl if I were you, and try not to think about it any further.

Sounds like schematic interest to me. Ignore the nursery (said as a nursery manager). If they were that concerned, they would be asking your permission to get the area SENCO in and being told to jog on by them as she is only 2

Only thing my dd2 did with her jigsaws pieces was line them up!
My professional should ever make a suggestion of autism unless they have proper experience of it.
I can spy an aspie kid a mile off but doesn't mean I go and tell parents to get them tested
Girls with Asd do present very differently and dd1 is very different to dd2. Dd1 nursery came to me and said they were concerned she would do the same task over and over, hated being with other kids and refused to eat no hot food for lunch.

Nursery staff are not qualified to diagnose. They could highlight things to you - maybe they are doing that - but they shouldn't in my view be suggesting any particular diagnosis.

I agree with LucyLastik, it could well be her current dominant schema (some basic info on Schemas)

If nursery was really concerned about her development, I would have thought they would have enquired about completing a CAF so that information can be recorded and actions agreed.

For now I would have thought that doing occasional observations on her play may be useful in seeing how her play changes over time. Also the nursery could use the current dominant schema to enhance her learning by expanding upon the interest - jigsaws can be great for learning numbers, letter, animals, colours, places in the world. She may enjoy doing other things as well - maybe threading beads, connecta straws, sticklebricks.

thank you everyone! Think I'm going to work on the basis that I know my little girl best and disregard her key worker. DD will only be in that nursery class for another few weeks before moving up so it's not worth rocking the boat about, but I'm now actually feeling pretty annoyed at her key worker for making me worried for little or no reason. NB Nannynick, that info on schemas was really interesting, thanks.

Jeez. My son's reception teacher suggested to me that my son was autistic because he didn't like to play football with the other boys and preferred to stay in at playtime with his DK book of human anatomy. I just think that some people fancy themselves as medical professionals.

I think I would ask for a formal meeting with the keyworker to discuss what her concerns are. I would hope that she has more concerns/evidence than just a puzzle obsession to make a statement like that to a parent. If the nursery has a SENCO ask for them to attend too. If it turns out to be nothing, then it might be an important lesson for the keyworker not to suggest diagnoses like this!

Hi, just thought I'd update to say I found out who the SENCO is today and had a talk with her. She's never looked after DD directly, but she said part of her job is observing and she's assured me she has no concerns about DD at all. She offered to pursue it formally if I wanted, but I've asked for her to speak off the record with DDs key worker instead - we've always got along well, DD loves her and I wouldn't want her to get into trouble. The SENCO took it seriously so I'm happy to leave it at that. Thanks for all the help, I didn't have a clue about any of this before so your info and advice really helped :)

There is a poster about the board who needs to be treated with a pinch of salt. Good luck with speaking to the senco

Reported post as no need.

OP I wouldn't worry too much. My DS is currently undergoing assessments for ASD and the only person who doesn't think he is on the spectrum is his nursery key worker.