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ADD/Aspergers assessment for five year old

My  5 year old son had an assessment performed recently by a psychologist for ADD and Asperger's Syndrome.  As part of the assessment, a Weschler IQ test was performed.  My son was just barely 5 when the test was performed.  He scored a FSIQ of 84 which was a shock because he seems so very bright.  At 3, he could work a 48 piece puzzle by himself.  He has an incredible memory and can read at a 2nd grade level (per the Woodcock Johnson).  He knows the names of many obscure dinosaurs and uses words like predator and carnivore (and knows what they mean).  Could this score be accurate?  The examiner stated that he was unfocused and somewhat uncooperative.  Recently a school psychologist observed him in his kindergarten classroom and stated he had to be redirected 19 times in a one hour period because he was not paying attention.  My husband is diagnosed with ADD and I was sure that would be the diagnosis, but neither the private psychologist nor the school psychologist have stated that they think he has ADD or needs medication.  He was diagnosed PDD-NOS.  Should we get yet another opinion?
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189897 tn?1441126518
COMMUNITY LEADER
SueNYC is right on!
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Avatar universal
Our neuropsychologist was brilliant at getting unfocused kids to take a test.  How long was he tested for - it took 16 hours for my son because they used an extensive battery of tests.  My son is quite good at regular puzzles but he practically flunked the Tower of London and a test that made out connect A to 1, B to 2 - and tests that required him to be neat totally drove done his working performance.   If only a small selection of tests were used then maybe there was not enough to balance it all out.

An IQ test is just a snapshot of that particular day.  Because my son goes to a special ed school for ADHD and Asperger's - he gets a Weschler thrown in every year.  His IQ has gone anywhere from 120-145 over the last 4 years running. That is a 25 point difference on any given year.   When he is in a bad mood that day we get the lower numbers - maybe your kid was having a bad day. Oh, my son tends to be rather unfocused and needs to be redirected a million times when taking them too.  You need a person who is willing to break up the testing when the kid is tired.  His neuropsychologist thinks it is closer to 150 but the Weschler has a ceiling limit on its subgroups.  Perhaps of he has Asperger's a more verbal test like the Stanford -Binet is the way to go as Aspie's shine on more verbal centric tests.  
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189897 tn?1441126518
COMMUNITY LEADER
    That is a good question on the IQ test.  It depends on how it was administered.  Was it timed, did the psychologist keep pulling your son back to the test (refocusing). In most cases ADHD or PDD-NOS kids don't test well unless you have a very skilled and patient person giving the test.  The trouble with such a low score is that the school can say that your son is doing as well as can be expected.  So YES, I would get a second opinion for several reasons.  Typically, questionaires are given to both the teacher and the child's parents to help assess the problem.  The opinion of a psyc who spent one hour in class is not as important as those who spend all day with the child.
   Whatever the diagnosis, it is important to start as early as possible with behavior modification that will help your son.  The earlier it starts the more effective it will be.
Good luck.
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Avatar universal
Hi Dana
I read much about disabilities. I never heard of hyperlexia. What are the main symptoms and do these symptoms include hyper acitvity and some of the symptoms of ADHD? Thank you.
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Avatar universal
Hi Debbie

It's all very frustrating..isn't it. I think the best way to go about it is to forget labels and to try to identify your child's strengths and weaknesses and then treat what's necessary. The only real good thing about labels is that it gets the school to respond.

Did the psychologist tell you the scores for his Verbal IQ and his Performance IQ. The FSIQ factors in both of these scores. People on the spectrum often have what they call nonverbal learning disabilities (Performance IQ) which may be bringing down his FSIQ, although you said he was good at puzzles....Do you notice that he has difficulty with social understanding (making/keeping friends, sensitivity)? Rigid behaviors? Does he demonstrate imaginary play with toys or does he seem to just line up his toys....not know what to really do with them. Does he have friends? Have you read anything about hyperlexia?
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