It's worth a read to use autism or Asperger's as a working hypothesis. However, it is also important to keep looking for a diagnosis (sometimes even after you get one) because a lot of these syndromes can superficially at least, resemble one another. The Prader-Willi kid we know, we met trough difficult child 3's drama class. The class is a Special Education one, for kids with disabilities. The range goes from ADHD through Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) to also include genetic disorders and in some cases, some global developmental delay with no other diagnosis. And to a large extent, these kids all get on well and look out for one another. I've found that this is often because they recognsie a sympatico in each other, something kindred in how they think. One of difficult child 3's good freiends is from this group and has global developmental delay. There is probably an IQ gap of 100 between the two boys, but they get on really well.
The Prader-Willi boy used to be good friends with difficult child 3, but in the last couple of years he began to badly misbehave. We think possibly testosterone, plus he realised difficult child 3 was simply moving ahead emotionally and socially, and leaving him (the PWS boy) behind. He was increasingly angry and resentful with everybody and is currently in care outside the home because although his mother was doing a brilliant job, he became more than any home environment could handle. He needs someone awake with him 24/7 because he is now seriously self-harming in his desperation to get at ANYTHING to ingest. He will literally attack his own flesh. PWS is nasty. ChubbySanta, you've worked with this before and you've seen at least some aspects of this. But younger kids are different, and also each case is different (which we find with so many disorders).
Interestingly, difficult child 3 was just watching a schools TV program which mentioned some proactive strategies to deal with cyberbullying and he said, "You know - in every school I've been in, I've always been friends with the school whipping boy."
(his words).
He explained byt naming the kids. And yes, the kids he befriended (or who sought him out) were the odd kids, the 'slow' kids, the ones most commonly picked on. At his last mainstream school it was also the most protected kid, that school was vigilant on bullying and ALL the kids looked after this boy difficult child 3 named, because he was partly deaf and completely blind. WHen I tihnk about it - it has been good for difficult child 3 because it shows that even in Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), a high IQ can help by plugging in to the strong sense of injustice and thereby teach compassion.
PWS kids can appear autistic, to a varying degree. I guess it comes down to which parts of the brain are not worknig so well. Anything with splinter skills cna enhance this aspect. The definitions of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) are sdhifting too, and who knows? Maybe at some future stage it will be recognised as something you can have as part of other syndromes, instead of simply being gven as a concurrent diagnosis.
Marg