when i was unemployed i did voluntary work with autistic/aspergers children and he has definitely not got it.

It would explain why he ran off tot he tree house on the first day. i always thought it was very odd. :suspect:

Big difference between adults and children. It can take time, I would think,(possibly longer if someone is low the spectrum, undiagnosed and making their way through without any informed guidance) to develop the kinds of strategies needed to interact with a world of people who mainly think a bit differently to them. Abz is an adult. He's a ta different point in that journey to the children you worked with.

Also: if you are working with children who have been identified as somewhere on the autistic spectrum, then I'd have thought it quite likely that those children are more identifiable as being on that spectrum than someone who has remained unidentified into adulthood.

That's true. He seems more comfortable now, which i great. I love Abz! :love:

At about 17 it fades away a lot.

Not really. The individual just adapts and learns to cope with it as they enter adulthood.

Very mild asperger's in adults who have learned "masking techniques" (basically, learned how to act in social situations because social interactions don't come naturally) can manifest as a person just seeming very introspective or shy.

It's actually very hard to get a firm diagnosis of all types of mild autism if it isn't identified in childhood, for that very reason.

How strange. 'extremely quiet in groups but fine one to one' I must have had asperger's syndrome all my life but undiagnosed. We called it shy.

So...you think people with aspergers are just shy? Or you think shy people all have aspergers?

I would have run off to the tree house just to get away from the racket everyone was making. So many loudmouths in there and they don't listen to the answer when they have asked a question.

He just looked very uncomfortable.

Labels have to be put on everything these days.

It's always some syndrome or another. Keeps the psychoquacks happy, I guess! ;)

Yeah. Was so much nicer back in the good ol' days when nobody had a label, and kids with developmental disorders were just shunted around and out of the education system for being 'naughty', or 'rude' or disruptive, or 'stupid'.

Not at all. Just wondered how I would have been diagnosed today.
I think too many children are being diagnosed as autistic or asperger's. I began teaching 50 years ago and I never came across a child who could not communicate with me. There were plenty of children who were afraid of a teacher and could not speak to them. The child did not have a problem the teacher did.

More than that. Children are being awarded disability allowance and motobility allowance which is a huge incentive to get a diagnosis of Asperger's or Autism.
On motobility surely a parent already has a car and does not need a free one.
The rules are that the person who has the award must be in the car. Wonder how often that rule is broken.?

He did. Very musical people cannot stand disorganised sound.

Quite often that's exactly what they were! :rolleyes:

Now it is nobody's fault...... and heaven forbid anyone should blame the parents for not bringing up the the child properly.

It makes a mockery of those with genuine problems.

From what I have heard from parents of children with aspergers or autism, or indeed other cognitive issues, like dyslexia or dyspraxia, it is quite difficult to get a diagnosis, and even more difficult to translate that into meaningful in-school assistance (such as learning assistants).

Back when I was teaching adult lit, we had a number of students with developmental disorders of various kinds. Most of them had gone through their schooling without any kind of diagnosis or recognition of what was going on in their brains that was different to the other kids. They were just seen as awkward, particularly those on the autistic spectrum. Awkward and insolent, even rude (that literal view of the world and lack of social grace). Some were probably thought of as shy, or nervous.

If they exhibit only mild signals these can easily be misread. And however they manage at primary school, most of them seem to have found secondary school a much harder trial.

Maybe you have had kids come through your class that were on the autistic spectrum, but only exhibiting mild and easily misread signs. And in the intimacy of a primary school class, with a teacher they trusted, they may well learn to cope with that setting quite quickly (I assume you are talking about primary school age kids?). Those same children who coped ok in primary school may not then fare so well in the less intimate setting of secondary school.

Often, the people I was working with had begun to have early issues at primary school, in terms of falling behind and feeling different, but it was often the move to secondary school that signalled a break down in their schooling.

I said 'kids with developmental disorders'. If they had developmental disorders then their behaviour was often misread and therefore responded to as bad behaviour.

I am sure there were also many kids who were just misbehaving. If there weren't then why would anybody assume the children with developmental disorders were?

I spent a number of years helping people pick up the pieces and re-engage with education after their schooling and sometimes childhoods had been wrecked by undiagnosed learning disabilities and developmental disorders.

Do you have any evidence that these allowances are being abused by parents on the make trying to get fake diagnoses for their kids?

Erm....... Not everyone who has a child with Aspergers claims disability allowance, top-ups etc etc, I certainly don't and I've got 2 boys with statements

Quite an ignorant comment if you ask me

I'm starting to feel a little angry with some of what's been said in here. Think I'll step away from it for while.

Wow. I work in a special school and to qualify for the higher rate of disability allowance you need to fit into one of the following..



1. You are unable to walk.
2. You are virtually unable to walk.
3. The exertion required to walk would constitute a danger to your life or would be likely to lead to a serious deterioration in your health.
4. You have no legs or feet (from birth or through amputation).
5. You are both deaf and blind.
6. You are entitled to the highest rate care component and you are severely mentally impaired with extremely disruptive and dangerous behavioural problems.

Which of the above do you think parents fake so they can get a free car?

Opinion is fine. Judgement about someone's medical diagnosis with no possible way of knowing the facts is not.

Wow, todays doctors are wasting buckets of money and ****loads of time in medical schools. If only they just took a few weeks voluntary work.

I have mild aspergers syndrome, I've been programming (coding) computers since aged 12 as a hobby whilst pursing a masters level in Architecture. I've never had a group of friends or really a best friend.

I do not think someone in a boy band can be Aspergic. My heart sank when he said he had aspergers because its easy to say that when you're going through depression and feel crap. He DOES NOT have aspergers, just because he feels crap post-breakup from his band.