my 8 is leaving me baffled with her behaviour

[ashley1986]

My daughter is 8 (nearly 9) who is very bright. But likes things to be logical. Great at school work, not so good with people. Theres no grey in her world. She doesn't understand sarcasm etc. Weve always suspected shes mildly aspergus and have no problem with that. But she is also still doing things like pouring creams and shampoo down the toilet or in corners (on my carpet!) I also discovered she had shaken salt all over my kitchen the other morning. Makes me want to pull my hair out!! She is such a bright intelligent girl, i just dont understand this behaviour? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Definitely sounds like she's somewhere on the spectrum (which is very wide indeed), so a trip to a psychologist might help. You need to be able to understand the way her mind works in order to help her, and educational psychologist will be able to help in this respect. If you don't approach this in the right way she could develop other problems, more related to other peoples reactions to her behaviour than the disorder itself - so anxiety or frustration. If the NHS/school faff about get a private assessment. She sounds like a lovely special child.

The thing with Aspergers is that emotional/social development is delayed so no matter how bright they are children with AS often act much younger.

We always thought Dd3's emotional social development was around 2 yrs delayed but her Paediatrician has just told us it could be more like 4 yrs.

So no matter how bright they are they can do really daft things and common sense is definitely high on the priority list!

My Dd3 is amazing I love her to bits but boy she is hard work and needs more supervision that she likes

It is very hard to get girls diagnosed with Aspergers and secondary school can be really hard for our quirky girls. It took 3.5 yrs to get Dd3 diagnosed and now we are trying to ensure that she gets the support she needs when she moves to secondary.

Good luck

Should have said "common sense is not high on the priority list

She sounds spot on for Asperger's Syndrome.

It would probably help her and you for her to be assessed. This will help you understand her condition better and it will also help her to get the support in school that she is very likely to need as she gets older.

My DD1 wasn't assessed until she started high school and couldn't cope. She'd appeared to be fine in school before that. The assessment took most of that year and she was unable to attend school for most of it so missed her first year in high school.

This book is brilliant for parents of children with Asperger's.

Lots of children with Autism Spectrum disorders do that thing with food, shampoo, etc. It's very hard to get your head round your intelligent child suddenly behaving like a toddler but it makes sense in their heads.

Thanks guys, helps a lot to vent and hear other peoples opinions. And its not just me who feels like a headless chicken sometimes! I'm definitely going to push to have her reassessed by the educational psychologist.
When I awoke this morning and no longer felt like pulling out my hair, me and the little one sat down and had a chat about last nights antics..
She told me that she had squirted the cream on the carpet because she wanted to see if her Squinkies ( tiny weird squishy animals ) would stick to it. Which I suppose in her head makes perfect logical sense. Me not so much but still lesson learned, all creams and shampoos are now being moved to the highest shelves!! What's the betting the little monkey soon finds a way round that too!?

You could also try and take a cue from these behaviours that she needs to satisfy that part of her development so do some experiments together with a bowl and a bottle of shampoo.

I second giving her the same experiences in more appropriate ways.

You can also make gloop, playdough, moonsand, etc. Recipes are easy to find on Google. A food bag filled with shaving foam and tied very securely makes a lovely, non-messy, squishy toy.

Your DD's school may refuse to involve the Ed Psych if they have no concerns. Ed Psych time is in very short supply these days. You may be better going to your GP and asking for a referral to a community peadiatrician, developmental paediatrician or CAMHS, depending on how the diagnostic process works in your area.

Don't be surprised to be told that her behaviour is normal at first or to have your parenting questioned. It is normal for this to happen. Just stick to your guns about how different she is from her peers.