Aspergers Syndrome

Parental fears of a diagnosis!  Nothing is worse then feeling like you require a degree in medacine or science to understand and explain a medical diagnosis your child has.   When you do not feel you adequatley know enough to help your child with daily life or even explain to friends and school officials their condition and needs it can be extremely overwhelming and stressful. 

I personally have spent many days in stress and tears trying to figure out what is happening with my child, how to communicate best with her, why she does specific things, and to try to put myself into her world.   I also had difficulties in preparing to sit down and discuss with doctors and school officials who use “official and highly educational” terms that can be very intimidating.  I learned I just had to ask questions when I didn’t understand something and stand firm until I understood and was satisfied with what was being discussed.  Having support groups in your area or an online support group can help with this.  My online support group discusses many of these topics and usually someone is either going through it also or has already been through something simular.  The key is always in education wether for yourself or for others. 

 We had many concerns about our daughter from a young age but as many parents do we were reserved about getting her medically diagnosed and “medicated” as so many children are.  At first it was just the feeling she may have ADHD and we did eventually get her diagnosed and on medication for ADHD in the first grade.  Our adventures with her continued into the end of her third grade year with the realization she had dysgraphia which is a handwriting disability.  A year later we were able to link the dysgraphia to Aspergers Syndrome because of the common motor skills difficiencies associated with Aspergers.  She was eventually diagnosed as being Aspergers by the end of fourth grade.

Our experience with each of these steps has lead us down a path of exteme online research, book reading, seminars, down to now sharing this research and experiences as a blog.  I personally have struggled trying to understand the diagnosis of Aspergers.  It is still fairly unfamiliar to the public in general and usually has to be explained.  Most people have heard of autism but if you tell them it is a form of autism you then have to explain the differences and how Aspergers is a high functioning form of autism.  I usually have to give three or four of the general charactaristics of Aspergers when explaining them so people get a general idea of how they are different between typical children to those with autism.  I found that I had to arm myself with an encyclapedia of information because people want to know more.  Even though my daughter may not display all charactaristics I feel it is also my duty to help educate others about Aspergers Syndrome.