On the Diagnosis Merry-Go-Round Again!

Last week, my younger son, almost 4, started Headstart Preschool. I spoke to the head of special services when I enrolled him, and told her that I was certain he had ADHD, and he was starting to show signs of Aspergers or another Autistic Spectrum Disorder, but that I wasn't sure if that was actual symptoms or learned behavior from his older brother. I was assured that they were going to work with me in getting him help, because I had trouble getting the local school system to do anything for my older son other than say they wanted to hold him back a year or put him in a self-contained classroom with severely disabled children. It took me spending my own money to get him evaluated, and I'm still paying off that bill, and three years to get the school system to accept the diagnosis, plus another year to get specialists out to the school to observe him and give the school a plan to help him with his behavior.

Last Wednesday, my son and I went to the teacher "meet and greet," where I explained his behavior problems, that we have an appointment in September with a psychiatrist certified in diagnosing ASD's, and that his older brother has Aspergers. He's hyperactive and impulsive, he eats things that aren't food like crayons and chalk, he runs away and won't stop when you order him to, he ignores adults when he's being corrected or redirected, won't sit in time out, and when you hold him still for time out, he struggles screams, and headbutts. He constantly hums "Smoke on the Water," and he uses unusual phrases like "driving wheel" instead of "steering wheel." I picked him up after his first day, and the teacher was talking to me about his behavior as if she were surprised! I'd spent a good deal of time during the first meeting warning her, and she acted surprised! I sent him back to school the next day, and by lunchtime they called me and asked me to pick him up because he kept trying to run out the door. I broke down and cried, because this is exactly what I experienced with his older brother, and I was a prisoner in my home for 3 years, waiting for the school to call and tell me to pick up my son, they couldn't handle him. I managed to pull myself together and go get him, but everything I'd planned for the rest of the day had to be put aside so I could watch him. He's the kind of child you can't turn your back on for more than one or two minutes or he'll be into something dangerous, or trying to go out the door. I just had a chain lock installed so he couldn't open the door, because he already knows how to unlock the door lock and deadbolt. So for now, the teacher is sending a letter to the head of special services, I'm meeting with them Monday morning, and the teacher is writing a letter to his pediatrician describing her observations, so I can express my concern and possibly get a trial of Ritalin or Adderall until we see the psychiatrist.

I've been planning on finishing my college degree this fall, because my husband and I are separated, his colon cancer has returned, and I need to have a job that has benefits and allows me to be home with the boys after school (my major is education). I'm running out of time to get registered for classes, I'm afraid to go to get financial aid and advisor meetings done because they may call me and ask me to come get my son (school is 45 minutes away from home). I have a feeling that they're going to ask me to help in the classroom daily watching my son (we have to do volunteer work for Headstart as a requisite for our child attending), and that will keep me from finishing my degree.

I'm under a lot of pressure to get a job from my husband, because he's angry and feels he shouldn't have to support me, even if taking care of the boys properly means me not working. He wants to divorce now, and leave me without medical and dental insurance, and I desperately need medicine so I am able to function, and won't be able to get it without insurance. I tried to apply for a job as a substitute teacher, but I had to have three references from current or former educators, and no one came through in time for me to train for this school year, so that's put off until next year. It's probably for the best though, with the uncertainty of my son's status at Headstart. I'm just afraid the boys and I will be on public assistance soon, because their father is reluctant to help, we're living off my older son's SSI, which is not much, and my husband is so angry with me that he doesn't care if the boys are hurt by his actions or inaction. I've pleaded with him to help me financially until I have a degree and a job, but he sees that as helping me, not making sure the boys have a parent who can take care of them financially (he's underemployed, so any child support and/or alimony I get won't be enough to pay the bills.

Happy Groundhog Day!

For the record, I did not see my shadow, so I'm predicting an early Spring.

Engineers and Autism

I found an opinion column, Engineers and Autism, about engineers and autism in the online edition of IEEE Spectrum, a professional publication for engineers, in my daily Google alert for Aspergers last week. I have read reports that the incidence of autistic spectrum disorders in Silicon Valley is higher than average. An article, When Engineers' Genes Collide, talks about a new theory that links systemizing, engineers, and autism in the October issue of IEEE Spectrum. In this article, I found a link to a study being conducted by the Psychology Department of Cambridge University.

Here is their description of the study:

Theories of brain development have linked spatial, scientific and mathematical ability to a number of factors, such as handedness, sex, and likelihood of having a child with talents (such as artistic or musical ability) or developmental delays (such as in language, or social development). This study is asking parents about themselves and their children to test these theories.

From the October article on IEEE Spectrum:

The theory’s author, Simon Baron-Cohen, a psychologist at the University of Cambridge, in England, points to inborn mental proclivities, which are set to different levels in different people. At one pole lies the systemizer, who attends particularly to those aspects of the world that form regular, repeatable, law-governed patterns. At the other lies the empathizer, who focuses on nonrepeating events that can be understood as the actions of agents—other minds comparable to our own.

Baron-Cohen posits that people fall into eight categories of systemizing. Those in the first category give little attention to law-governed patterns; those in the eighth give attention to little else. A level-eight autistic person can spend all day staring at the blades of a rotating fan and will either ignore or retreat in horror from any change in a stereotyped routine.

Mathematicians score the highest on the scale; Engineers score 3 or 4 on the scale; someone with Aspergers or a similar disorder will score 6 or 7.


My husband and I volunteered, and here are our results:


Adult Questionnaire B - The EQ
Mom: 34 Dad: 43

Men usually score about 42 and women score about 47.
0 – 32 is a low score, 33 – 52 is an average score,
53 – 63 is a high score and 64 – 80 is a very high score.

This questionnaire measures empathising.
Empathising refers to the ability to identify
and respond appropriately to another person’s
thoughts and feelings. The higher your score,
the more empathic you are. The maximum score is 80.

Adult Questionnaire C - The SQ

Mom: 95 Dad: 89

Men usually score about 64 and women score about 54.
0 – 36 is a low score, 37 – 78 is an average score,
79 – 99 is a high score and 100 – 160 is a very high score.

This questionnaire measures systemising.
Systemising is the drive to understand the
rules governing the behaviour of a system
and the drive to construct lawful systems.
The higher your score, the better at
systemising you are. The maximum score is 160.


I filled out questionnaires about our sons, ages 9 and 3, but the results were not available to me. I was surprised that I scored higher on systemizing and lower on empathizing than my husband, especially since we suspect that he has Aspergers (he was not at all surprised). Our results make me wonder where I fall on the
systemizing scale.

August 12 of 12

My August 12 of 12 (how I spent August 12, 2006)

July 12 of 12

I've posted my July twelve of twelve at my LiveJournal, Rhyotgrrl's Ramblings. Chad Darnell gets the credit for starting 12 of 12. For those of you unfamiliar, we take 12 pictures of our day on the 12th of each month, post them in our journal, and send the link to Chad for posting on his site. It's fun, you should try it. Please visit Chad's site and look at this month's entries.

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

You Are Ernie

Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times. You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun. How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

My linguistic profile

Your Linguistic Profile::

55% General American English

30% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?