Re: 16 year old (not) ADD (not) depression (maybe) Asperger's?

[Guest guest]

Well, that psychiatrist may be on target about the disparity between his

abilities. It may be he needs help in those weak areas. Have you read much

about executive functioning and visual processing? Struggling with learning

disabilities that aren't being supported could cause him to " wear out " and shut

down sometimes, stop caring. Anxiety, stress, will cause this too.

Re the Vyvanse - seems odd he felt so much more focused but academics went

downhill? Could he not get the work done? He may need another ADHD

medication, Vyvanse may not be *the* one for him that works best.

Has he always done this, back in elementary and in middle schools? Sitting

there " wordless " could be because he isn't getting it (or part of being a teen,

attitude, etc.).

single mom, 3 sons

, 21 with OCD, Aspergers, dysgraphia

>

> Hi, I just discovered this group in trying to figure out what is happening

with my son. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions.

>

> He is 16 and not easily categorized. Roughly once each year since middle

school he just " shuts down " academically and stops submitting homework, paying

attention, etc. He can't explain this, other than " just lacking energy. "

>

[Guest guest]

Just my immediate reaction but is there any chance he could be bi-polar. It

sounds like depression to me and if he was recently viewed as ADD that could be

something more like a manic stage?

>

> Hi, I just discovered this group in trying to figure out what is happening

with my son. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions.

>

> He is 16 and not easily categorized. Roughly once each year since middle

school he just " shuts down " academically and stops submitting homework, paying

attention, etc. He can't explain this, other than " just lacking energy. "

>

> Even in his best times, he is disorganized and totally unaware of practical

details (where the post office is, how old his parents are, how to take notes.)

On the good side, he is very smart, extremely creative, a talented writer.

>

> This year is the worst ever. For a few months now, it's like he's in a fog. A

personal coach friend of mine who met him said, " He literally has no conception

of past, present and future, and how the three are connected. " He says he wants

to go to a great college and study TV production, but has no interest in

studying for SATs or improving his grades. He says he will do whatever it takes,

but has zero passion or follow-through.

>

> His recent meltdown coincided with a psychiatrist prescribing Vyvanse for him,

in the belief he might have ADD (an assessment was borderline.) He reported

felling better than ever in his life (clearer, able to focus on one thing at a

time, and less anxious), but everything fell apart academically.

>

> He is always tired and eager to sleep, although at night he has trouble

settling down and will stay up to midnight or 1 am.

>

> Three years ago, a comprehensive assessment said he had depression/anxiety and

should be medicated, but when we took him to the psychiatrist the evaluator

recommended, he disagreed. He said my son was probably anxious because of the

disparity in his abilities (superb working memory, strong intelligence, but very

bad executive functions and visual processing.)

>

> He lies to psychiatrists/psychologists, or just clams up. He is terrified of

having something actual be wrong with him, and now says he's just " distracted

and lazy, " but I know he really doesn't believe this.

>

> We started investigating Asperger's because some of the things I've been

describing seem right on the border. He WON'T ever go ask a teacher for help, is

horrible communicating about school, and will sit there for hours wordless when

you try to help him with school or other issues.

>

> Any ideas? I'd be grateful.

>

[Guest guest]

Do you have an IQ test results. Is it possible he has a non reading learning

disability. Kids with NLD have very high verbal and reasoning skills yet have

very low scores in processing and working memory etc.

My guess is that your son can't process all the work he

has to do and shuts down in overload. He can't plan and

organize himself to break work down into more manageable pieces and perhaps his

school is not supportive even if he had the

organizational skills to do this.

Many people with severe deficits in processing, visual

spaital processing, working memory etc have severe issues with

anxiety. People with anxiety usually have an increase in

anxious thoughts in the evening making it hard to fall

asleep. But once asleep they sleep fine. (in contrast to

people with bipolar that have great sleep difficulties and may

not sleep at all).

I would at least take the test scores you have to a

neuropyschologist and have them help you figure out what the

learning disorders are if you have not already. If you have

find another one that can explain to you his cognitive

profile and what are the school accomodations that need

to be in place.

Many stimulants increase anxiety. I have a teen niece that

swears she does not have anxiety yet she said she couldn't

focus and get her work done. Noone did anything until

she stopped going to school. Then the psychiatrist treated

the anxiety. Once kids can't function and shutdown

I think you have to treat the anxiety/depression first.

My niece is on home instruction. I really think kids needs

accomodations in school and don't get them and if they

are teens the schools may let them drop out as a solution.

I would suggest you get a neuropsychologist to help advocate for

special services. And find a pschiatrist that will contact

the school and work with the school before your son

misses to much work to catch up.

Pam

>

> Hi, I just discovered this group in trying to figure out what is happening

with my son. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions.

>

> He is 16 and not easily categorized. Roughly once each year since middle

school he just " shuts down " academically and stops submitting homework, paying

attention, etc. He can't explain this, other than " just lacking energy. "

>

> Even in his best times, he is disorganized and totally unaware of practical

details (where the post office is, how old his parents are, how to take notes.)

On the good side, he is very smart, extremely creative, a talented writer.

>

> This year is the worst ever. For a few months now, it's like he's in a fog. A

personal coach friend of mine who met him said, " He literally has no conception

of past, present and future, and how the three are connected. " He says he wants

to go to a great college and study TV production, but has no interest in

studying for SATs or improving his grades. He says he will do whatever it takes,

but has zero passion or follow-through.

>

> His recent meltdown coincided with a psychiatrist prescribing Vyvanse for him,

in the belief he might have ADD (an assessment was borderline.) He reported

felling better than ever in his life (clearer, able to focus on one thing at a

time, and less anxious), but everything fell apart academically.

>

> He is always tired and eager to sleep, although at night he has trouble

settling down and will stay up to midnight or 1 am.

>

> Three years ago, a comprehensive assessment said he had depression/anxiety and

should be medicated, but when we took him to the psychiatrist the evaluator

recommended, he disagreed. He said my son was probably anxious because of the

disparity in his abilities (superb working memory, strong intelligence, but very

bad executive functions and visual processing.)

>

> He lies to psychiatrists/psychologists, or just clams up. He is terrified of

having something actual be wrong with him, and now says he's just " distracted

and lazy, " but I know he really doesn't believe this.

>

> We started investigating Asperger's because some of the things I've been

describing seem right on the border. He WON'T ever go ask a teacher for help, is

horrible communicating about school, and will sit there for hours wordless when

you try to help him with school or other issues.

>

> Any ideas? I'd be grateful.

>

[Guest guest]

First, I really appreciate everyone's input. Here are some answers to your

questions...

Yes, I know a lot about executive function, and he has pretty significant

deficits here. We just took him to a bi-polar specialist, who says while our

family history puts him at risk to this, " no one would diagnose him with

bi-polar today. "

His IQ is pretty high (the professional who assessed him suspects it's higher

than he tests, due to some of his deficits). He has SUPERB working memory (99th

percentile), which is an anomaly.

He did well in school until middle school, when more organizational skills were

required.

I think some of your observations were right in that he gets to points where he

just shuts down, and that " shut down " lasts for months.

We have gone back and forth with " ADD, " but the bi-polar specialist said he did

not think my son has ADD, although he said the boundaries between these profiles

are much fuzzier than people would have you believe.

He has nonverbal learning disabilities (disgraphia and visual processing), but

here again there are anomalies: theoretically he should need extra time on

tests, but he doesn't.

The bi-polar specialist - a highly regarded expert - ended up scratching his

head and not really telling us much of substance...

[Guest guest]

One more thing: he has a great deal of trouble reaching out to teachers and

often communicating with us, but he is very social. A common comment from

teachers in middle school was that he was " too social. " He has a number of close

friends.

> >

> > Hi, I just discovered this group in trying to figure out what is happening

with my son. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions.

> >

> > He is 16 and not easily categorized. Roughly once each year since middle

school he just " shuts down " academically and stops submitting homework, paying

attention, etc. He can't explain this, other than " just lacking energy. "

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I would start with requesting a complete educational evaluation from the school.

I would talk to your ds and discuss what the evaluations are about and what they are used for. I mean, it's not about what is "wrong" so much as finding out what areas of strength and deficit he has. We all have things we are good at and things we are terrible at and some in between. For some people, the profile is so unbalanced that it is helpful to identify all the areas to see why one is having more trouble than he/she should and how to help with that. It will be hard without his cooperation at this age. If you could work on having him try to understand that it doesn't change who he is to have a name for the problems he is having, he might start cooperating.

I don't know why the psych was so unhelpful. Even if it's "just" anxiety, anxiety can be a big big deal for some people and can cause a host of other problems. You might try going to see someone else who is more helpful and not so dismissive of his needs.

It could be any number of things going on. Anxiety, depression or both. If he has a LD, it could also cause a lot of these problems. It's hard to say without a good evaluation so you can see where the problems are happening.

Roxanna

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

( ) 16 year old (not) ADD (not) depression (maybe) Asperger's?

Hi, I just discovered this group in trying to figure out what is happening with my son. I'd appreciate any and all suggestions.

He is 16 and not easily categorized. Roughly once each year since middle school he just "shuts down" academically and stops submitting homework, paying attention, etc. He can't explain this, other than "just lacking energy."

Even in his best times, he is disorganized and totally unaware of practical details (where the post office is, how old his parents are, how to take notes.) On the good side, he is very smart, extremely creative, a talented writer.

This year is the worst ever. For a few months now, it's like he's in a fog. A personal coach friend of mine who met him said, "He literally has no conception of past, present and future, and how the three are connected." He says he wants to go to a great college and study TV production, but has no interest in studying for SATs or improving his grades. He says he will do whatever it takes, but has zero passion or follow-through.

His recent meltdown coincided with a psychiatrist prescribing Vyvanse for him, in the belief he might have ADD (an assessment was borderline.) He reported felling better than ever in his life (clearer, able to focus on one thing at a time, and less anxious), but everything fell apart academically.

He is always tired and eager to sleep, although at night he has trouble settling down and will stay up to midnight or 1 am.

Three years ago, a comprehensive assessment said he had depression/anxiety and should be medicated, but when we took him to the psychiatrist the evaluator recommended, he disagreed. He said my son was probably anxious because of the disparity in his abilities (superb working memory, strong intelligence, but very bad executive functions and visual processing.)

He lies to psychiatrists/psychologists, or just clams up. He is terrified of having something actual be wrong with him, and now says he's just "distracted and lazy," but I know he really doesn't believe this.

We started investigating Asperger's because some of the things I've been describing seem right on the border. He WON'T ever go ask a teacher for help, is horrible communicating about school, and will sit there for hours wordless when you try to help him with school or other issues.

Any ideas? I'd be grateful.