Replies to 'Asperger's Syndrome'

Quote From: horseteacher

Hi, my daughter was always a "little bit different" growing up. She didn't have any friends and really enjoyed just being by herself. She was shy and fearful of strangers, and liked to twirle shoelaces, long blades of grass, anything that would spin around her head for hours on end. During Preschool the teacher had her tested for Autism. The doctor said she didn't have that and she was fine. In Kindergarten once again the teachers had me test her for Autism with a different doctor. This one told me she didn't have it but was very intelligent and had to be kept stimulated or she would get bored in school. My daughter was SUSPENDED in Kindergarten for kicking her teacher! She was then suspended in first grade for biting the Principal. In Second grade she spent a lot of time on the "bench" outside the principal's office.  She never could handle a substitute teacher or much change of any sort.  I would talk to a lot of parents about her behavior and they didn't seem to think there was any problem. Being my firstborn I really had no previous experience with children's behavior.  As she got older, she still didn't have any friends until the 3rd grade, when one girl befriended her because she had horses at her house and basically was using her to ride the horses.  Two years later that girl basically dropped her as a friend altogether when she got her own horse. My daughter didn't recover from that episode until her senior year in High School, when she finally made another friend. She doesn't care how she dresses, or what her address or phone number or birthdate or months of the year are; she doesn't shave her legs and is terrified of "boys". She wears no makeup. She is currently 19 years of age now, graduated with straight "A"s in school. The teachers all loved her and made sure to tell me so. She makes eye contact but is still extremely shy until she gets to know you and trust you. My older sister was telling me for years that something was "wrong" with my daughter and finally found this article on the internet about AS. I purchased a book on it to learn more about the symptoms. If my daughter does have a case of AS, it must be very slight. She does have extremes, such as collecting all of the Anime she possibly can, and when she was younger having ALL of the Pokemons, and then Digimons. She basically lives in her bedroom watching TV or reading Mango books when she is not working. We have a riding stable and she is a beginning riding instructor with 30 + students. The parents and the students all think she is great. She is very intuitive and sensitive to others and horses. She writes science fiction fantasy stories which I am trying to get her to type up and publish. Everybody who reads them says they are great and want more. She does Ceramics and does very abstract fantasy creatures that would sell well in some artsy stores. She still walks around her room humming and making all sorts of sounds while twirling around her "paperscript", a name given to her making long paper strips to play with when I took away her laceup shoes and the grass died off.  Her father things she is "strange" and won't let her do these things when she is at his house. She knows she is different, but seems very comfortable with it and really doesn't care. When people ask her how she is, she replies, "Normal". She wants to live at home with me forever, and I am still trying to get her to drive safely enough to let her have a driver's license. She is afraid to drive and cannot see much point in it.  She seems to relate to people with disabilities better than the average person out there, such as her only friend who has a hearing aid and learning disabilities. She can go for weeks without seeing her or so much as talk to her on the phone and the same goes for the friend.  She works hard for me when I ask her to, she doesn't take any initiative, but will do whatever I ask her to. She works a lot for "free" to help me pay the bills. She's very generous at times and very selfish at other times.   So what do you think...Is is Aspergers'??????