Nate's Diagnosis

We had to change psychiatrists for one reason or another, can't remember why. I do remember one, though not by name. I knew more about Nate than he did, so we moved on to another. If I am not mistaken, it was Children's hospital, that diagnosed Asperger's at age 18. There is a fine line between ADHD & Asperger's & all psychiatrists wouldn't agree with the doctor who diagnosed him. Asperger's is actually high functioning Autism. He sits on the fence, of not being bad enough for some help, but not strong enough to live in our society with very much success. He also has OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Most of his obsessions happen to be helpfuly, such as being a tremendous clean freak. He just puts so much time into the obsessions, that there are other things he could be doing. Nate also suffers from depression. ADHD, OCD, Depression are very common roommates with those with Asperger's. Some with Asperger's are smart enough to go to college. Unfortunately Nate is not. One of my pet peeves, for yrs, has been that, if he could just go to a school & study what he is interested in, without having to take liberal arts courses, he may just do very well, but, unfortunately, our college system doesn't work this way. So he is left to learn on his own, which he does, but it doesn't help him to get a job in his area of interest. Most people with Asperger's have 2-3 areas of interest, in which they are very intelligent, but know little about anything else.

Next I will go into how we have been helping Nate in the last few yrs.