Interesting problem...

Lizziey has been working at a daycare center. She suspects one of the little girls there, Lily, is AS because she says that kid is a lot like I am, and even more like I'm described at her age. But the parents don't really want to admit anything's wrong, so naturally she ran the problem past me before deciding whether or not to bring it up to them - after all, I know more about it than she does.

Unfortunately, this put me in the strange situation of trying to figure out what this girl is like without prompting answers. How on earth do you ask "does she line up her toys instead of playing with them normally" (a standard sign of AS, even if it doesn't occur with all aspies) without getting Lizziey to remember EVERY time the kid lined up her toys, and forget the times she didn't and the other kids did? Although, I have to say, judging from the description I finally got, Lizziey may be right on track with this:

Only loose clothes. No pants, because she doesn't like the waistbands. No tags, ever.
Only sandals, and those get taken off as soon as possible.
"Meltdowns" for no apparent reason, screaming/hitting/biting.
Takes her naps in the supply closet, and spends a lot of the day there outside of naptime.
Does, apparently, line up all the stuffed animals in a particular order before napping.
Routinely leaves group activities to head over to the office where there's less people.
Reads a lot/all the time, speaks "at a more advanced level than the other kids" (she's five).
Terribly uncoordinated. Can't walk on a flat surface without tripping. Can't go on the trampoline without falling. LOVES to jump, and spin, but can't.
Most tellingly, the whole staff has already gotten this kid pegged as "a little off" and, importantly, her parents ask daily things like "did she talk to the other kids today" and "did she play with anybody" (with the general answer "no").

Thing is, this could probably mean more than just autism. And I'm not so stupid as to try to give an amateur diagnosis to a kid I've never even met. But my completely and totally volunteer opinion is that this kid's parents would do well for a quick education on all things spectrum. (Can I use this phrase? I like how it sounds).

*hums slightly to herself*

Had I the time, and the preparation, I could've asked a larger range of questions, but this all took me by surprise. And, like I said, I was trying to figure out how to find out more about this girl without prompting answers. If you've an open enough mind, you can diagnose yourself as dead without even missing a beat.

About "lining up ones toys".

This is a classic part of the AS diagnosis, lining up your toys and suchlike instead of playing with them "appropriately" (whatever THAT means). But I wonder, does it count if you were organizing your toys within the context of an internal narrative? So you weren't just putting them in groups for the sake of putting them in groups, there was some reason outside of the need for neatness that they were being organized? I used to do that, organizing my crayons, or barbies, or mlps. Somebody who wasn't me might've thought I was just sorting them by color, then size, then color AND size, then hairstyle... but I had a reason for that, something that made sense to those being sorted (or did to them in my mind, which is what counts).

*frowns*

When I entered (late) my core 10 class today, and sat down (nowhere to plug in the laptop), I realized something a little traumatic - the battery had run down. I'm not sure how, I can't imagine Xiggy would do that, but it's the only answer there since she was the last one to use it. So I had to ask people to move their stuff so I could plug in the machine. *le sigh*

Still, I have to say, the battery recharges FAST. Amazing.

Oh God. I just now got this....

We all know what Sirius and Remus/Lupin really mean. Dead obvious. But can you imagine, it took me some three years and counting to figure out that the Skeeter in Rita Skeeter could be mosquito, and also one of those weird predictive names?

I don't think I was very clear

Or even very accurate

*le sigh*

Anybody care to go and correct any inadverdant mistakes? On anybody's part, mind, I'm not going to complain if you correct somebody else!