Could this be Asperger's or ADD?

[Louisa13]

Hi my 13 yr old dd is seeing a Physciatrist & psychologist for school refusal. The psychiatrist said initially she is 99% sure she has mild aspergers with some agoraphobia but 8 months later she still hasn't diagnosed yet.

I am also wondering if she has ADD. Either that or she is incredibly lazy and disobedient.

Here are some of her traits / difficulties:-

Very low self esteem
Social difficulties
Sleeping problems
lack of common sense
Clumsy
Have to prompt & ask her to do things over & over & over before it gets done.
Anxiety (school, crowds etc)
Limited interests
Lack of eye contact (not always)
poor sense of time
heightened sensitivities (fussy taste, sensitive smell, fear of loud noises, wont wear certain textures)
Average to above average intelligence
Great difficulty organising herself
Dreamy
scared to take any medication
paranoid about how she looks & things she is ugly (despite everyone telling her she is stunning)
Struggles to record school assignments
When she was younger she was scared of everything, eye tests, injections, clowns, sand, grass, loud noises, fairs etc
Bedroom a messy nightmare
Leaves everything to the last minute
Worries constantly about forthcoming events
Constantly argues with her 6 year old brother
Seems to only think about herself & never wants to put herself out for anybody.

Despite all of this she has a really good sense of humour and is bright, which is why I think the school don?t believe there is anything wrong with her. She is also very very quiet in school.

I am sorry this is so long but I would love some opinions as to what may be the matter with her.

Thanks.

Hi, I'm sorry your daughter is having difficulties. I just wanted to say that I am currently going through a similar situation with my ds 12, and I'm terribly worried some of the time and other times try to tell myself it's just how he is.They are also our lovely bright children. First looked at ADHD for ds, then decided it wasn't, now we are referred to a neurological unit for assessment for ASD and ADHD as they say its not clear what is going on for him. He sound a lot like your dd in several ways; anxious, dreamy, uncoordinated, low self esteem, disorganised,sensory difficulties etc. We are waiting for an appointment. I was wondering how you came to be assessed and if you had any worries about these differences when she was younger ?,Because ours are of a similar age. Also I just wanted to say hi and that I'm in a similar boat .

Thanks for your replies.

It is good to hear how happy & sucsessful you can become despite having aspergers.

Sasquatch sorry to hear about the difficulties your ds is having too. The reason I got dd assessed was because we could no longer get her to high school. She was ok but shy at primary school (she was always a bit different but as she was the oldest child, we had noone really to compare her with) but highschool was totally different.

This is her second high school & now we cannot leave her in the building without her sobbing or having panic attacks. We are anxious to get a diagnosis because the school dont beleive there is anything wrong with her & just constantly shout at her.

How did your ds come to be assessed, and what about when he was younger etc?