Expert: Catherine Ridenour - 2/4/2009

Question
Hi Catherine,

What a vortex.  My son was diagnosed in June 2006 at the age of 6 with Aspergers by a developmental paediatrician who specializes in autism diagnoses).  Getting to that point was a long journey.  My son is having a lot of difficulty with school (non compliant, oppositional, aggressive, running away, etc.) although he has a great teacher and a wonderful EA who has been with him for 3 years.  So we have sought out more help and support.  We are currently seeing a paediatric psychiatrist who just yesterday told us he doesn't think my son has Aspergers.  He thinks he's gifted (he had a near gifted score on an IQ test from school).  He does not think a person can have Aspergers AND be gifted. He commented that people with Aspgergers just talk smart and seem smart but they don't really have understanding. My son scored nearly the exact same on verbal and non verbal tests indicating left brain and right brain are more or less functioning equally (so does this mean he doesn't have Aspergers).  This has been a real blow.  I want to know the truth of course.  I thought I did.  But he is more high maintenance than all of the Aspergers kids I have met (he also has ADHD and a lot of anxiety).  We will be going to a psychologist to get a thorough "IQ" test done and go from there.  But in the meantime, please comment and guide me to any reading on this subject.
Kind regards,
Salena

Answer
Hi Selena,

I disagree with your psychiatrist. Children can be both gifted and have an autistic spectrum disorder and/or ADHD. Our daughter is one of them. In fact, most of the AS people I have met are very intelligent. The understanding they lack is of the social intelligence kind. Part of his anxiety is that he is smart enough to know he's not fitting in or meeting expectations.

Also, their language comprehension can be impaired by the rigid kind of thinking they are prone to. Once a word has a particular meaning to them, they have a very hard time letting it mean anything else. This is what makes their knowledge seem to lack understanding. They are not flexible in how they use words to communicate what they know.

If you can, get a referral from the developmental pediatrician who did the initial diagnosis. Hopefully, he/she will know of a psychiatrist who does not allow his/her beliefs to get in the way of the evidence.

Keep advocating for your son. You know him better than anyone.

Best wishes,
Catherine