Reply to Benefits of ASD dx for middle schooler?

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Benefits of ASD dx for middle schooler?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]TL;dr: Are there benefits for testing for ASD in middle schooler who is already plugged into services (OT/therapy), is happy socially, excels in school, and has good self confidence (is not looking for a name for why her social skills lag)?

I have a 13 yo dd who likely has ADHD-inattentive (per the Vanderbilt forms we had her teacher fill out and we filled out in 5th grade). She also some other issues like anxiety, sensory sensitivities, fear of change, social deficits. She is straight A student in honors classes, big feeler but baseline happy, has friends but for the most part only sees one friend outside of school. She generally gets good marks on work habits, interactions with adults, and interactions with peers but in earlier grades we got occasional reports of messiness and blurting out answers.

To give a sense of her strengths and challenges: She is introverted and imaginative (big reader and also writes fan fiction but only ever gets 1/4 of the way through a story lol) and is happy with how much she socializes. She does an individual type team sport (think something like swim team) and some clubs at school (choir, math, etc) that also involve outside-of school events and field trips that are more social, so she mostly socializes through those activities. She recently was invited to a birthday party at Six Flags by some more "popular" (but nice) girls - she had a good time, but then you see in the photos, the girls have their arms around each other and she is kind of to the side. She goes to traditional sleepaway camp, but the first one didn't work out because all activities were with her cabin group. Camp #2 has been successful because it is less structured and she can spend a lot of her time with girls who are a year or two younger (that's kind of where her maturity is). She has zero interest in clothing (beyond whether it is comfortable), texting, makeup, other common interests among girls her age- she had to ask me what Tik Tok was last year. I am happy about that as a parent but also get that it is developmentally appropriate to want to fit in with your peers, which she lags on.

Anyway: We met with a psychiatrist for 30 mins last week to ask about next steps since I want to be prepared going into HS and dd has expressed increased anxiety about the future and also braces. Dr. sent us new Vanderbilt forms to give to her teachers and referred her for autism testing. (I did mention that I would not be surprised if she had autism.) I asked about a neuropsych referral and they said they wanted something more autism specific but said it would be similar to a neuropsych. I just got off the phone with the testing provider, and they said it would just be an autism diagnostic exam. I will have to bring her in next week for a 3-4 hr pre screening - walk-in only, so they said to set the day aside - and then after that we can schedule an appointment with a diagnostician in July. This seems like a big undertaking of time and I'm not sure if it's the best use of our time, especially if we won't get clarification about ADHD or anxiety. This would also mean I would have to cancel a vacation day I've scheduled for the last day of school since I am running out of PTO - the kids will be bummed that I can't see their end of year performances and then go for our traditional ice cream celebration together. (Obviously I will not put ice cream ahead of my kid's medical needs - but I wonder if this is a "need." I already take so much time off for her therapy, for my youngest's speech therapy, for vet visits for our lemon of a rescue dog, plus all the regular kid stuff - I feel like I'm drowning at work)

To my question: What might be the benefit of an asd diagnosis? She is not the kind of kid who would feel better to have a name for her social struggles. We signed her up for a PEERS group when she was in 6th grade, but it was all 7th and 8th grade boys and she asked to quit, which she did with the school counselor's blessing. They have not put together a girls' PEERS group but will let us know if they do. DD also sees a therapist every week (recently moved to every other week) and that has been helpful. For example, she now is more comfortable asking teachers for clarification on an assignment, she is staying organized with her work, and has initiated some social plans with friends. I also have reached out to an OT provider because she has expressed that she is struggling with fidgeting too much (and social consequences) and being bothered by clothes. So I wonder what an asd dx could provide separate from these things, and I don't want to take resources from families with children with higher support needs.

Should I just try to get on the list for a neurospych eval instead (understanding that the waitlist where we are is about 12-15 months)? Or do I just take her to the autism testing next week? [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics