Adjusting

A lot of the initial panic / distress has died down over the last few days, and facing a diagnosis is looking more manageable. We're looking at Asperger's for my seven-year old. We've had one appointment with a psychologist, who hasn't been able to draw any conclusions yet, and have set up an assessment to be done at her school. But we know what we're seeing. It's only really a degree of "how much" and what areas she'll need help with.

Looking at the genetic factors, I'm hardly surprised. Engineers and programmers on both sides of my family and her father's, too - and several undiagnosed relatives we suspect are on the autism spectrum. We thought about the possibility that she might have the same issues when she was younger, but she was so very verbal that we ultimately missed the other cues. We have a high tolerance for quirky personality traits in our family, so it just seemed that she had a more strongly defined personality than most... which of course is still delightfully true, it's just that there's the getting-along-at-school factor and the developing-friendship factor that she'll need help with.

I had a hilarious moment this evening listening to my daughter and her dad - he was holding forth on some topic at length, going on in his own pedantic vein, and she interrupted him with "Could you stop talking now? I'm not really interested in what you have to say on this subject." Oh, man. That was great. I find everything she says so terrific that I'm afraid that I sometimes miss opportunities to help her adjust her outspoken behavior. Uh, I guess it's rudeness to everyone else. :/ Perspective adjustment in order for me, I guess.