NLD or Aspergers?

[Mommyof3greatkids]

Hi, my daughter is 8 and was diagnosed last year with NLD but I have this gut feeling that she has Aspergers, though her neurophysiologist will not even discuss this possibility with me. She has the challenges of NLD but none of the " strengths". She did not read until 2nd grade, she has a very difficult time with expressing her feelings and often yells or grunts, covers her ears or may even throw things or run away from me if she is feeling frusterated. This mainly only happens at home. As long as I leave her alone she is usually normal again after a few minutes. She struggles the most with math, she loves science and social studies. Reading used to be difficult for her but she has caught on very quickly and went from not reading at all to almost a third grade level in one year. She doesn't have an obsession per se. But her interests are animals, nature, reading, drawing and writing stories and recently gymnastics. She may color and write stories for hours a night. Her reading is always fiction. She never played with toys much but still likes dolls and likes her things organized her own certain way. She will freak out if her younger sister tries to play with her barbies. She is extremely naive' and gets along much easier with younger children, she often seems out of place and giggles alot with other girls her age vs. Joining in the conversation. Girls often walk away from her whe she is
talking, but she never seems truly hurt. She has alot of fine motor weakness and left-sided weakness so she is very clumsy. She expects me to know what she is thinking. She is very ridgid with routine and foods. She has a white board that she carries around everyday-one with her am routine and one with her pm routine- if she looses her schedules she's lost. When we go out to eat she will only order chicken fingers, fries barbeque, honey mustard and ketchup on the side and a coke. I could go on and on, but basically my question after all this is....could she have Aspergers or NLD or both??     

[Aspergers Girl]

Hi, my daughter is 8 and was diagnosed last year with NLD but I have this gut feeling that she has Aspergers, though her neurophysiologist will not even discuss this possibility with me. She has the challenges of NLD but none of the " strengths". She did not read until 2nd grade, she has a very difficult time with expressing her feelings and often yells or grunts, covers her ears or may even throw things or run away from me if she is feeling frusterated. This mainly only happens at home. As long as I leave her alone she is usually normal again after a few minutes. She struggles the most with math, she loves science and social studies. Reading used to be difficult for her but she has caught on very quickly and went from not reading at all to almost a third grade level in one year. She doesn't have an obsession per se. But her interests are animals, nature, reading, drawing and writing stories and recently gymnastics. She may color and write stories for hours a night. Her reading is always fiction. She never played with toys much but still likes dolls and likes her things organized her own certain way. She will freak out if her younger sister tries to play with her barbies. She is extremely naive' and gets along much easier with younger children, she often seems out of place and giggles alot with other girls her age vs. Joining in the conversation. Girls often walk away from her whe she is
talking, but she never seems truly hurt. She has alot of fine motor weakness and left-sided weakness so she is very clumsy. She expects me to know what she is thinking. She is very ridgid with routine and foods. She has a white board that she carries around everyday-one with her am routine and one with her pm routine- if she looses her schedules she's lost. When we go out to eat she will only order chicken fingers, fries barbeque, honey mustard and ketchup on the side and a coke. I could go on and on, but basically my question after all this is....could she have Aspergers or NLD or both??     

I honestly don't know. Some of those traits seem kinda aspergers like but then again aspies are each so different to each other its hard to tell. I can only compare them to myself. I personally can relate to about 20% of those traits... I read from a young age and had extreme obsessions from a young age... I have no idea what NLD is sorry, but the social interaction thing rings true for aspergers.

[moag]

I read your question hoping to get some answers for my daughter.  She is 16 and was diagnosed w/ As years ago, but I have a nagging feeling that she has NLD.  She uses sarcasm all the time.  Her IQ is not high at all.  She reads facial expressions easily, and is anything but organized, but her dr. tells us she has enough pieces to fit Aspergers.  She disagrees as well and is always online trying to come up w/ other diagnoses.  I try to tell her the name doesn't mean anything, only focusing on her strengths and working through difficulties.

[Aspergers Girl]

I read your question hoping to get some answers for my daughter.  She is 16 and was diagnosed w/ As years ago, but I have a nagging feeling that she has NLD.  She uses sarcasm all the time.  Her IQ is not high at all.  She reads facial expressions easily, and is anything but organized, but her dr. tells us she has enough pieces to fit Aspergers.  She disagrees as well and is always online trying to come up w/ other diagnoses.  I try to tell her the name doesn't mean anything, only focusing on her strengths and working through difficulties.

What other things does she do? I'm completely unorganised but thats probably because I have ADD also. I also read facial expressions easily.

I can see how it would be hard, but don't go by everything the internet says often it just describes the worst case scenario. I am not a docor personally but I can try and help.

[rjedward]

"Thus NLDers tend to become wordsmiths: teachers and writers, while ASers often excel in math and find work in computer fields."

Like so much concerning AS and its relation to other developmental disorders, I find the above (http://www.nldontario.org/articles/NLDvsAS.html - the context is visual-spatial learning vs. verbal) confusing, frustrating, and to say the least, unhelpful. I sympathize with the parent who began this thread. My impression is that diagnosis in the mental health field is surely art more than science (a truism perhaps, but worth restating here) and may be little more than artifice.

 My background story, at least by my telling, is too long and tedious to relate, but I will mention that my shrink seemingly declined to diagnose anything for which a medication did not have a standard therapeutic effect. Do I have depression? Don't know for sure, but I can tell you I feel crappy when I don't take my Effexor. Do I have ADD? Apparently not, because the methylphenidate didn't have a sufficiently "dramatic" effect.  Am I possessed of an "avoidant personality"? I"m not sure; she didn't prescribe a drug for that. Am I AS? Ditto -- no drug. (To be honest, she did provide me with an AS diagnosis shortly before we agreed that after 8 years of weekly sessions, our time together was at an end.)

What label, if any, shall we apply? A label can open doors, but it can also close them -- for the child especially, I would think.

All the best.