Child psychology catches up to reality?

I've written much here about how my son has Asperger's syndrome, and how hard it's made life for all three of us. Anybody who spends more than five minutes with him when he isn't on meds is going to notice that he has an awful lot in common with people who have ADHD. It's often observed in Aspies.

He & Nibs went to Dr. Kidshrink this afternoon as they do more or less fortnightly. Dr. Kidshrink asked m'boy which of a list of ADHD symptoms he felt applied to him. He said yes to about half of them, and true to form, said no to about a quarter with which Dr. Kidshrink disagrees. 'Nuther words, the Wendling is likely an official ADHDer.

Surprising as sunrise, you say, but the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-IV, says Asperger's & ADHD are mutually exclusive. The DSM-5, due to be published in two years, lets you have your self-stimulating cake and forget to eat it, too, because look! Shiny!

Punch line: none of this makes any difference to the way my son gets treated now. It might have earlier, but I don't know that for sure. He still needs ritalin, and since he's growing, his dose is once again too low, which was the reason for all the questions. (This time, though, my son was the first to notice that something was amiss. Yay, I think.) He's tried Adderall and loathes it. It messes with his sleep & appetite worse than the ritalin, which is bad enough, and sheer torture to a Jewish mother like Nibs. I wonder if it'll be time to try Adderall again before too long.

Nun picks wrong side of coin.

There's a monthly lesbian night called Cherry at Re-bar that's going on as I type. It's the fourth Saturday, natch. imflying invited me to come along with her & her buds tonight, but I had to say no.

Why isn't a club-loving, gregarious, horny lesbian like me there, you ask? Because I had to pick either last night or tonight to stay over at the Abbey. I spent last night at Re-bar, more or less exhausted and not dancing to what was actually rather nice & danceable hip hop*. It was a night I knew, and I felt like something familiar & soon after a crappy week.

Ah, well, as imflying pointed out, there will be other months.

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Consolation prize: watching Inside Job with my son. My thirteen-year-old son watches documentaries about finance & politics with me. That's pretty awesome.



*I think the DJ's pro name is Softcorners. Michael Manahan's the promoter, and therefore the guy who knows.