"Things we've been told about our AS Children"

by Linda Newland
(Co-founder of Oregon Parents United)


 

"He's apraxia, aphasia, anomia, no, I feel it's just a phonological / articulation disorder.

The probability of him ever saying more than five word sentences is highly unlikely.

Don't worry, let's just wait and see; some kids develop slower than others.

I don't see a reason to test now, because you can't get an accurate 'base line" (psychology test) done on children for any disability before the age of 6 years 8 months.

He has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

No, it's Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS) for lack of anything better.

We see no autism in this child, it's a language processing problem.

He has Asperger's Syndrome.

The team did not feel he fit the overall profile that children with autism often display.

The best you can hope for is a group home.

No, he has an adjustment disorder with mixed disturbances of conduct.

No I think it is a conduct disorder.

No it is oppositional defiant disorder.

He has sensory integration dysfunction.

Hypersensitive hearing.

He has autistic traits.

It's seizure like activity over the frontal lobes.

I think he has a variant of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome.

I think he is normal.

He has a severe attention problem and impulsively but it is not ADD.

He is obsessive and compulsive.

I think he has a personality disorder.

No, he has an array of learning disabilities.

He is highly intelligent.

He has what you call some 'savant' skills.

He has a fabulous long term memory.

Why can't he remember his own name and why can't he count to five?

No, he has a fabulous rote memory.

He is at the top of his class academically.

His behavior is atrocious; he has no social skills.

We just don't see a problem at school.

He is very violent at home and elsewhere.

What a joy he is to have.

Why do his siblings wish he lived on another planet?

Have you tested for amino acids, enzymes, vitamin or hormone deficiency?

Have you ever had an EEG, MRI, CAT or Pet scan done?

He is autistic.

You're living in denial.

You have a real mess on your hands.

Not only do you need to medicate, you need to use a combination of barbiturates and tranquilizers.

What are we medicating for?

Have you ever heard of environmental medicine?

Did he have a bad reaction to a DPT shot?

Maybe it is neurological, organic, biochemical, environmentally determined brain damage or specific hereditary factors causing brain damage or could it be polygenic hereditary influences?

Could he have traits of many conditions with a developmental course?

What future does he or her have?

I don't know what to tell you.

I've never seem a child like this before.

Quick, "who's on first base?"