Expert: Catherine Ridenour - 4/29/2006

Question
I live in a small own outside of Tallahassee Florida. I have a 9 year old son that has been in counseling for a year and is currently taking Depakote, Serqual and Abilify. I have been told he is Bi Polar. I am thinking after reading up that this is not the case. HE is 9 and in the first grade. The school has done 3 tests with the school. The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, The woodcock Johnson congnitive abilities and achievement test. He ranked very low on all of these tests. He has a wide swing of emotions on a daily basis and he has major issues with his brothers along with making friends. I am having a very hard time getting him help besides his counseling which he is no longer responding to. He is in speach therapy and it seems to be helping some. I feel the diagnoises of Bi Polar is not correct and he seems to have a lot of the signs that go with Autism. I want to get him the help he needs but I am having a hard time finding it for him. I am hoping you can point me in the right direction. This is hard on the whole family but my main worry is him. School is very hard for him and he seems to get very upset when he can not do what is asked of him in school and at home.

Thank you
Darby

Answer
Hi Darby,

Your suspicions may be correct. Many people on the Autistic Spectrum are mis-diagnosed as bi-polar and/or ADHD.

The fact that he scored so low on all the "intelligence" tests may or may not be an accurate indication of his brain power for several reasons.  One, if he has impaired speech he may well have impaired speech processing so he does not even understand the questions.

Also, depakote, serequel, and abilify together can really dull one's senses. He will have trouble comprehending instructions through the drug haze. It may control his behavior, however.

Don't pull him off all those medications without help from a physician!  Gradual weaning is needed.

Now, to get an evaluation for Autism, talk to these folks:
http://www.orgsites.com/fl/tallahassee_autism_support_coalition/index.html

They can surely direct you to someone who can do an adequate assessment.  

Here are some more links to help you learn more about the Autistic Spectrum.

http://www.patientcenters.com/autism/news/resources.html

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/asperger.htm

http://www.autism.org/temple/meds.html

http://www.autism.org/

http://www.autismasperger.net/intro.htm

http://www.mentalhealth.com/

Best wishes,
Catherine