Aspergers VS Bipolar

Jmollo28

I've posted on here quite a bit and I'm really having some struggling concerns with my SD and her therapists.

My SD has been to 3 different therapist and a psychiatrist and she has been diagnosed with anxiety and bipolar - then she was diagnosed wtih ADHD and now, they are stating that in fact, she doesnt have any diagnosis other than adjustment disorder (my husband and I were married over a year ago and we had a baby in June) - she's had these problems before I even arrived in her life. 

Everything I keep reading is leading me towards Aspergers Syndrome.  I know that I obviously cannot diagnose her based on what I read, as I am no professional by any means.  However, she fits the glove!

She has awkward social interactions.  Her awkward social interactions aren't that she's afraid to make friends.  Her problem is that she becomes attached to 1 particular friend and she becomes overly obsessed.  Will not allow this friend to have other friends and she gets upset if she sees her friend talking to other people.  She also doesn't understand how to interact with her - she talks and talks and talks and doesn't ever ask her friend any questions or acknowledge her friend, only herself.  My DH and I have to constantly suggest to SD that she stop talking and allow the other person to "communicate" and we've explained several times how a conversation has 2 or more people and she has to allow her friend to talk too.  She also does this at home. She talks and talks and doesn't see that we aren't listening or that we are getting annoyed and we.. again, have explained to her over and over that she cannot just talk and expect people to listen constantly.

Also, SD cannot control her anger.  She goes from 0-Rage within a matter of seconds.  She is very aggressive and she hits and runs around the house and starts laughing and she won't stay in time out.  I swear it is like a game to her.  DH and I sit quietly and just walk her over and over and over to her room and she just escapes time out and runs around the house like a mad child!  She calls us stupid and tells us to shut up.  We've taken everything out of her bedroom and had her work for her stuff back.  We've tried positive rewarding with no discipline on the negative.  I've read books and we've been very consistent on scheduling and telling her what is allowed and absolutely NOT allowed in our house.  There is a clear boundary that I feel she is crossing intentionally.

Also.. SD has an odd sense of reality.  She is 10 and still pretends to be a dog and is into things that a 3 year old would be involved in.  She isn't into the stuff that kids her age are into.   She also is obsessive with things like death and depressive stuff like blood / zombies/ and she still is scared of the dark and thinks she hears people coming after her constantly.  She has to sleep with 3 different lights on.  This child even with melatonin will not sleep soundly!

 Here is my issue - I keep reading about Aspergers and there are a few things that do not fit her.. such as the obsession with numbers.  Is this common with all Aspergers diagnosis?  I'm not stating that she definitely has Aspergers, I'm just looking into the symptoms

Do Bipolar and Aspergers favor each other?  Does this seem like something that could be considered Aspergers? How is Aspergers diagnosed and with your situations.. did it take the drs a long time to diagnose aspergers?

Has anyone gone through or is going through what I'm going through?

 

Help

Ginlyn0

I just wanted to add this since I'm a mother of a girl with AS. DD's special interests were definitely not number related. Her interests started with cars especially the little ones that had the doors that could be opened and shut. Then bugs, it was collecting bugs, talking about bugs, playing with toy bugs and she would have meltdowns if she could not collect her bugs each day (which we released at night).  Her current obsessions are music and everything related to it. She sings & dances (in private), can name any song/band currently on the radio and many from the past from her favorite singers/bands. And pokemon...collecting pokemon cards, playing pokemon on her DS, drawing pokemon, browsing the internet for pokemon info, collecting pokemon action figures (not typical for a middle school girl) ect. So it can evolve over time, but my DD's obssessions are much longer lasting and more intense than just a favorite thing. She has had some more girly special interests but these were her long lasting ones (over a year -2 years in duration) HTH!

BeebopandBuddy

It sounds like there are a lot of things going on.  I am not going to weigh in on it all since I am far from an expert, however I do work as a Behavior Specialist with children with ASD, bipolar and a myriad of other disorders.  I am going to make 3 suggestions to you.  One:  timeout for children with ASD does not work.  They already live in their own little world, so "punishing" them by having them sit alone is not a punishment.  Second:  the behavior that you describe is what those of us in the field would identify as attention-seeking and escape-related behaviors.  All of the hitting, the obsession with death and other inappropriate things, the running and laughing- all of these are ways to gain attention from you and escape things that are undesirable.  The more attention you give her for inappropriate behavior and the more she gets out of undesirable tasks, the more that behavior will increase.  When you say that she is crossing the boundaries intentionally, you are correct.  It serves a purpose for her.  My third suggestion would be that you contact the state and ask for behavioral intervention services.  Most states fund some type of service where someone can come to your house and work with you and/or your child to help teach you how to deal with these difficulties.  While it may not seem bad enough for that, it will get worse, so, the sooner you intervene, the better.  GL!