Expert: James Michael Roan - 2/8/2009

Question
My 3.5 year old son seems to be different than others his age. He seems to remember a lot of things from the past, he is very perceptive, has had meltdowns but not very often, he flaps his hands when excited or angry, he spins around sometimes (don't know if he's doing it to get dizzy or what?!?), he speaks loudly and sometimes seems not to want to whisper when he's supposed to, he makes limited eye contact esp. with others but it's ok with us, he is very sensitive/emotional (i.e. certain songs make him cry), he asks a lot of "why" questions even when we have given him an answer, has a couple of friends at Montessori, he sometimes takes jokes literally but then other times laughs (but then when do children start to understand jokes and figures of speech?!?), he also started talking late - at the age of 2. He seems to be imaginative, makes joint attention, his gross and fine motor skills are great - started walking at 12 mos., was climbing stairs early, has been able to ride a tricycle for over a year, has good coordination/motor skills for his age...anyway, i still think he is quite quirky and so i told his pediatrician about this and he referred us to a neurological pediatrician. First of all, his pediatrician doesn't think he is a child with a PDD but then he only saw him for about 15 mins. The neurological pediatrician talked to us for about an hour and a half and was observing my son and talking to him as well and at the end he told us that in his opinion he definitely is not autistic and he doesn't think he will develop AS...he did say that he thinks he is different and probably average to higher than average intelligence and that we need to work on social skills with him through role playing. We are also going to have him assessed by a psychologist just to make sure everything is fine. My question is: How valid is the opinion of the neurological pediatrician after spending about an hour or so with him? But then I know that AS cannot be diagnosed until a later age so could he be wrong after all? Also, I want to know whether or not ALL children with AS are clumsy or have poor motor skills - or rather is that a characteristic that they all possess?
Thank you.

Answer
Hi Sophie;

To successfully diagnose Asperger's syndrome (AS) you need to do a full evaluation with several different measures of social behavior, executive functions, and attention made by teacher ratings AND an observation of him playing with peers in structured and unstructured environments. I have assessed a few very quirky kids only to find out there was no real social or other impairments!

The answer to your second question, is that most but not all kids with AS have dysfluent gross motor skills.

Kind regards,
James






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Bio

James Roan is a certified school psychologist who has been consulting in the areas of autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and learning difficulties in the United States and in Ireland for over ten years (http://www.jamesroan.com). James earned his M.Ed. in School Psychology and M. Ed. in Adult Education and receives ongoing post graduate training in autism at the University of Washington’s Autism Center. James Roan has traveled to Galway, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Kildare, Kerry, Clare, and other cities and counties across Ireland assessing children and adults, and consulting with solicitors (lawyers) in defense of children with disabilities. James Roan was the consulting psychologist responsible for many of the autism and AD/HD screening tools and other content for Access Special Needs.Com. James Roan consulted with the graduate department of the Waterford Institute of Technology in Waterford Ireland in the development of their graduate program for the certification of private autism tutors. James has conducted formal assessments of students in the Autism Unit in the Claddagh National School in County Galway Ireland.