Aspergers?

[peppapigbutty]

Please can anyone tell me at what age children are usually assessed for Aspergers? And who carries out the assessment?

I have a nearly 5 year old who is displaying some behaviour traits of a child with Aspergers. She has not yet started school.

Is it likely that school will pick up on her "Slightly odd" behaviour quickly?

My DS is 5 and at school and 1 to 1 waiting for all assessments to take place.

I have read on various Aspergers sites that the majority of Aspergers children are diagnosed from 5yrs up. Due to the fact they then start social interaction more in that enviroment.

Does your DS go to nursery? If so have they expressed any concerns?

they didnt with mine although i kept telling them and it was so obvious classic ASD behaviours, so if your DC is displaying traits and your worried first stops the GP i went their and was sent to the child development clinic where my DS saw a paed and from there was assesed by different profeshionals they got together check that they have the triad of impairments writes reports ect some areas do it differently my childs under CAMHS now but i hear from other MNrs that the CAMHS dx their child ,you can get a statement before going to school so might be worth looking into that too HTH

Hi coff33pot.

My LO is in foster care with us. She has only been with us for a month. She has never attended nursery. I am not sure what the exact signs of Aspergers is but having had quite a few children placed this LO does present as being "Odd" - although she is also very sweet.

Could I PM you to discuss some of the behaviours she is displaying please?

Thank you BettyBoop.

I was unsure whether a GP would be able to refer or whether it had to be done via school. Thank you for your advice.

I too would say ask the GP to refer to a paed.

My DS is now in year 4 at school, has just been assessed as severely ASD/AS, but also very high functioning. He has been at two schools and both have said there is no way he could be autistic. The first school he spent the first two terms hidden under a table and the school thought that perfectly normal . His new school they have just accepted his quirks and live with them, on presenting a definite dx his teacher suddenly started realising that they weren't quirks they were AS behaviour.
So in my experience no, the school has no clue, def worth getting a GP referal to a developmental/community paed if you are concerned.
When DS had his questionnaires for dx, they wanted to know exactly how he was at age 4-5, then compared it to him at age 8, so guess that is the easiest age to start diagnosing at.

@peppapigbutty (i LOVE that name lol)

You can by all means pm me :) But I must add that you will to be honest get a lot more info from more experienced mothers/carers on here. It is these people that helped me come to terms with the fact that my DS needed help :o

It is on their knowledge and first hand experience that I am trying to get help in the right places!

But you are welcome to pm me to chat anytime :)

Hi peppapigbutty

My ds1 has Aspergers and was diagnosed about 4 weeks ago at the age of 8 and a half. We had been trying to get the school to see a problem right from Reception year, but they insisted he was fine and to be fair, he coped well in infants, but crumbled when it came to infant/junior transition. (Junior transition is a very common time for children to be investigated and/or diagnosed with Aspergers.)

We went for a paediatric referral via the GP as well, as school didn't seem very interested at the time.

I think it very much depends on the individual child, how badly they are affected and in what ways, as to how early its picked up. Girls present differently to boys and can tend to cope or at least mask the signs a lot better than boys as well.

Obviously earlier diagnosis is best, as it means she is likely to access any support she needs sooner and there's lots of evidence that early intervention can reap big rewards.

There is some information on the National Autistic Society's website about Aspergers here and a good book to read to get an insight into AS is Tony Attwoods, Complete Guide to Aspergers.

Maybe an appointment with your GP to raise your concerns might be the best way forwards.

My story is similar to moosemama, we started the assessment process via our GP when Dd3 was in Year 1, she is yr 3 now and now been referred to CAMHS. School still do not see her difficulties and have blocked every attemped we have made to get her needs recognised.

Start the process yourself.

Dd1 was diagnosed at the age of 4.5 and was referred at the age of 2.5.