Testing: words like Excessive, Obsessive, Extreme

finsup

I mentioned in an earlier post that we are currently going through eval's for ASD.  It is suspected that he falls somewhere on the spectrum.

Part of the evaluation process thus far has been questionairres that we and his teachers / therapits fill out.

I'm struggling with how to answer some of the questions - mostly because of the verbiage they use but also because I'm supposed to be comparing him to his peers - and frankly, I don't think I know how "typical" kids develop.  He is my oldest and I have no other frame of refence. 

For example:  "Does your child have temper tantrums or over-react when he doesn't get his way?"  Sure, sometimes he does.  But don't all 3 year olds occassionaly have tempter tantrums?  Whats normal for a 3 year old? 

"Does your child have extreme response to transitions or change in routine".  What I would consider extreme, no.   He most definitely complains when its time to stop playing cars to go take a bath.  Or when its time to leave the playground to go eat dinner.  What *would* be considered extreme? 

There are also questions relating to preferred activities or lining up thing or playing in approrpiatelly with toys.  My boy no doubt prefers cars and trains over anything else.  But, I know a lot of boys who prefer these toys over others.  What is the line here?  If I let him choose between cars and blocks, he'll pick cars 100% of the time.  But if I say "hey, we are doing blocks right now, we'll save cars for later".  I can usually engage him w/ the blocks without too much issue.

With regards to lining up toys - have I seen my kid do it?  Yes.  For sure.  Its not daily, and he doesn't do it in a way that it has to be done the same way every time.  And if I mess up the way he's lined up his cars, he doesn't panic or anything like that.

Any advice on how to do this?  I can certainly ask the psychologist next week, but wondered if any of you could provide input?   

And sorry, this seemed to have posted before I was done typing so I had to edit. 

finsup

Thanks for your response, Auntie. You have definitely given me some things to think about. You are right on about not wanting to "oversell" the behaviors, but I also don't want to minimize them either. Which I think can be pretty easy to do, since I'm his Mom and I think he is amazing and wonderful no matter what. But I imagine that they take that into consideration when analyzing a response from a parent - that its not always easy to be totally objective.

You bring up interesting point about my behavior around him....  I do think I have learned to negotiate around what may cause a big reaction from him.  I give extended warnings when a transition is going to occur - for everything.  So 10 mins before dinner, I start with reminding him that dinner is coming.  Before we leave the playground.  Before the bus comes.  Before Bath, Bed, pretty much everything.  Using this method, I have been able to manage his behavior very well.  I wonder if I stopped what would happen.  I have been doing it so long I don't know anymore. 

I do have an appt scheduled w/ the psychologist on Friday so I'll bring this up then.  Again, thanks.  :-) 

torrey111

This issue is one I think about CONSTANTLY!  You are so right that these questions are hard to answer for the exact reasons you said.  I feel completely that we got a wrong dx because of how I answered the questions in that questionnaire.  I feel like if, Auntie suggested, I could have had a dialogue with an engaged doctor who didn't feel rushed, we would have had a more thorough  dx two years ago.  Sigh...

Autnie- the questions you wrote are so much more compatible to getting to the heart of the matter.  I would think that any evaluator would agree if you shared this with them- and maybe you should.  Has anyone ever tried to bring this to the attention to the community of evaluators at large?  It would save everyone a lot of time, money, and frustration.

finsup

Torrey111 - if you don't mind me asking - what diagnosis did you get and what do you think it should have been?

torrey111

finsup- my DS got ADHD- Inattentive type.  Now I feel like that's only part of what is going on...so, we'll see after evals next month, hopefully.

torrey111

I never replied glowingly, just as honestly as I could.  But as the OP was expressing the nature of the questions are so hard to answer.  I remember the psychologist asking me specifically if he liked jingles.  WTF?  What do you mean does he like jingles?  Yes, a couple (literally 2) have stuck in his head and he likes singing them, not all the time, but isn't that what a jingle is intended to do????  And I got the "Does he like trains" question.  Ummm, yes he did like trains when he was younger (at the time he was 6 and wasn't playing with them anymore).  Before I could talk about how he played with trains, I watched the Dr. scribble down in his notes what I imagine to say, "obsessive play with trains"- when it was never that.

I wish he would have asked me more about how "zoned out" my kid seemed if he wasn't being actively engaged.  The only time I really felt my kid acted normal was when he was playing with a friend or with us- if he was left to his own, he would do nothing.  Literally nothing.  If we were outside in the yard doing yard work, he'd wander around looking at the ground.   If the Dr. would have listened to stories like that, we may have gotten the more accurate dx I fear we didn't and now are looking at.

ntyravgmom

Wow, torrey111, you just described my 8yr old! I think you are searching correctly. It sounds like high-functioning autism to me. (Though I've been reading some of your other posts as well.) I literally had to tell my son to do something specific or he'd just lay on the floor on his hands staring into space. Cub scouts has been so great for him and he's been a lot more active and intentional lately. I hated the trains question. Sure he liked trains, but wasn't obsessed with them. Unfortunately he was one to line everything up and not play functionally with his toys. We actually had to teach him how to play with toy cars. He has no imagination and reading skills are still very difficult for him. The lining up got so bad at one point that he would take every chair we owned and line them up across the house. It took me months to break him of that habit. That was one of the most difficult things I ever had to do. Oh sorry, all that to say, I understand and agree with your fight for a more accurate dx. Well wishes to you.

torrey111

thanks for sharing...see, now, we never had any lining up of anything.  He always played functionally with his toys, but ONLY if we helped him play with them. I've said before, he's always had a room full of toys.  I had bought bins for them all and labeled the outside with what was inside (cars and trucks, balls, books, etc)  He would never just went in his room and played with his toys- unless we made him.  He has never liked being a lone in a room- no issues with being scared, just always wants to be near us.  

My DS also has a really active imagination and when his friends are over they often just play this "game" where they make up different characters with different powers and then play that game.  That has gone on forever.  Also, when he did play trains with my H as a little guy, he was good at participating in the story of what was going on...

We're in scouts as well but we don't go a lot.  He does like it, but at the derby car race he was so focused on his own car that he missed several moments of social interaction.  For example, his car won first place a couple times and when he was walking back from picking up his car several kids held out their hand for a high five and he didn't even notice and walked right by.  Don't think those kids will reach out to him like that again after getting denied! 

MirandaHobbes

Just wanted to add that I really struggled with those evals. As I remember Auntie putting it once, parents are charged with being good "reporters" at this stage, and this stressed me out to no end. On one of our evals they gave us percentages, and DH and I could conceptualize this a bit better 90-100% of the time is great 75% of the time is okay 50% is sometimes etc. I can't remember the specifics, but our doctor had to explain it to us. This helped me think about what's typical and what isn't. For example- eye contact- I never understand that a child should be showing eye contact all of the time. I thought DS was normal because he showed eye contact- but when I stopped to think about it, it was really only once or twice a day.

torrey111

No, he would not explore what was in the bins!  And no, I didn't need to baby proof the house very much because of a curious toddler opening up every drawer...it was was frustrating to have all these toys that he would never play with!  So, are you saying that because of the lack of curiosity to look inside the bins this trait would point more to PDD-NOS or HFA?  

Re: imagination...if using something as a base for play (superpowers for example) is a blurred line which clinicians would consider a repetitive behavior, what are examples of what NT kids do to show imagination?  I don't see how it's different from a little girl pretending to take care of her baby.  She's seen the base model, and enjoys the thought of it, and acts it out.  Little boys creating all sorts of crazy super powers and then acting them out with one another seem like the same thing, no?

When my DS didn't notice the other boys trying to high five him, we couldn't do anything in that moment...there was just too much going on to pull him off to the side to talk about it.  Totally unrealistic.  I think we did mention it later though.  I am totally on board with scouts- we(me and DH) just have to get more involved and dedicated to it.