I haven't been on this site for months because I have been ridiculously busy, plus I've only had sporadic access to the internet, but anyway, I got an official AS diagnosis last week.
The AS specialist was a genuinely nice man (unusual for a psychiatrist!). I wrote him an 8 page letter of everything I felt I should tell him, but knew I'd never manage to verbalise in the assessment. He actually read the letter, listened to what I had to say and seemed to understand everything I told him (usually psychiatrists completely misunderstand what I'm trying to tell them).
Anyway, he said I have all the classic AS traits, gave me an official diagnosis, and even asked whether I would take part in some 'question and answer' sessions as part of an autism awareness day for hospital staff (still not decided if I will or not). He also said that he would vouch for me when I'm applying for jobs, and let the employers know that I'm just as capable as anyone else.
At least now I know why I'm a bit weird!
So basically, if you have a AS assessment session coming up, or you are thinking of trying to get a diagnosis, it really isn't as scary or stressful as you're probably expecting. Or at least it wasn't for me...
I hope you all end up with a specialist like Dr. Patel.
I don't see any reason why I can't be an autistic penguin...
Actually that's an interesting thought... are there autistic animals out there? How would we tell? Does it even matter? Hmmmmm.......
My cat almost can't get enough. For a while she even bit me when I stopped and turned away. Neurotic? Linkin Park, Feint, "don't turn your back on me, I won't be ignored?"
I don't see any reason why I can't be an autistic penguin...
Actually that's an interesting thought... are there autistic animals out there? How would we tell? Does it even matter? Hmmmmm.......
Ceri, I have ADHD and my boyfriend Erich is Aspie. We are convinced that one of our cats is Aspie. A few examples: she has a lot of "issues" with the other cats, with a need for sameness, a need to be separate, to know where her safe place is, and we have to know what level of "sensory stimulation (petting) she enjoys, before it becomes an overload and it's "Don't touch me!" If we set her food dish two inches off the Right Place, she would rather starve than eat it.
Another cat, Crazy Jack, is so ADHD that Erich tells me "I understand you better by watching the cat."
I wonder how many of us are cat people?
We have 8 & all have different personalities, likes & dislikes, voices etc. & all like there own space in the house.
One odd thing that I have noticed is that the Toms sleep on my bed & the Queens on the boys beds? pheramones?
Yes I think they are AS,..... there has been a book written entitled All Cats are AS.
Im really happy for you!
Finally you can relax and feel understood.
I wonder if he mentioned anything about the severity[ or lack thereof] of your Aspergers. I ask this cuz I was diagnosed at age 12 in 1991; at a time when Asperger Syndrome was most certainly not widely known about nor a popular diagnosis among professionals who knew about it. Even before that my parents and teachers knew that I was abnormal, starting at the age of 2. So did your parents and teachers notice that you were abnormal as a kid too?
So many women with AS are diagnosed as adults when they seek out professional advice. Whereas men with AS are noticeably different from the onset of early childhood.
He just said that I am very high-functioning and that I am 'classic' Asperger's. He said that I come into the category of people with Asperger's who can live a fairly 'normal' life because of my high intelligence and the fact that I have learned to mask most of my aspie traits when I need to. That was it.
He still wants to see my mum to confirm certain aspects of my unusual early development.
Oh, and as to whether I was 'abnormal' as a child, yes definitely. I was always considered to be precocious, academically advanced for my age, obsessive, overly pedantic, incapable of eye contact, socially inept and very serious. It was obvious that I was different even when I was a baby. My teachers always refered to me as gifted but eccentric, and would comment about the amount of time I would spend staring into space. I think if people had known about AS in the 1980s I would have definitely been diagnosed when I was still a child.
Did you have to answer a bunch of questions and take a bunch of tests or anything, Ceri? I'm going to try and get officially diagnosed with AS within the next few months because I need assistance from the Student Disability Center at my school (for extra time on tests and whatnot), and I was wondering what types of stuff I would have to go through.
Also, I have three cats.
I am officially (mis)diagnosed as ADHD, and from what I remember I had to take test after test after test with a bunch of different psychiatrists, and I don't really want to experience that again. It was extremely stressful (though not as stressful as the classes at school I would have been sitting in), but I would certainly choose to do it again for a correct diagnosis.
No tests, just some questions about how my brain works, how I deal with social situations and my special interests. He tended to ask the same type of questions two or three times, but worded differently, to ensure I fully understood the question and he fully understood my answers.
I just had to see the one psychatrist, who was very patient and understanding. After all, he deals with people with ASDs every day. I only had one 45 minute session with him before he gave me the diagnosis. Next month he is having a follow-up appointment with my mum to talk more about my early development and to explain to her how she can help me cope.
I'd recommend writing a letter to the specialist and take it with you to the appointment, explaining all the ways you think AS affects you. They won't think this is odd, in fact they will probably be pleased with it because they understand that people with AS can have trouble answering questions accurately when in a stressful situation.
I can guarantee it will not be anywhere near as stressful as your ADHD diagnosis was. If you do decide to try to get an AS diagnosis, good luck and don't worry!
Thats interesting because I was diagnosed based on the opposite. I stuck to rules and routines at school and work even if I didn't really have any interest in what I was doing. Certainly I have learn't alot of social skills as a adult and learnt to act reasonably normal, but I have missed development milestones. I was never an abnormal child, just self contained, probably because I had a close family circle and was not interested in things that involved socialising. I also have no problem with eye contact, infact quite the opposite.
The eye contact thing with AS refers to 'innapropriate' levels of eye contact. That can mean making too little or too much eye contact, so maybe you fall into the latter category.
I don't think I was abnormal in a obvious 'oooohh, look at that weird kid' kind of way, I was just very introverted and serious and didn't like playing with other children very much. It is only when my sister was born that my parents realised that I didn't behave like a 'normal' child.
He just said that I am very high-functioning and that I am 'classic' Asperger's. He said that I come into the category of people with Asperger's who can live a fairly 'normal' life because of my high intelligence
What about Aspies who have low intelligence?
It would depend upon how low the intelligence is & whether the person was willing / able to learn coping strategies.
It is quite possible to live an 'independent life' with a bit of back up.
He just said that I am very high-functioning and that I am 'classic' Asperger's. He said that I come into the category of people with Asperger's who can live a fairly 'normal' life because of my high intelligence and the fact that I have learned to mask most of my aspie traits when I need to. That was it.
What do you mean with a 'normal' life, exactly? My official diagnosis is that I don't have AS, primarily because I have no trouble living on my own and blending in a group. I don't really understand how masking aspie traits works, perhaps I'm doing that or perhaps I'm really not an Aspie.
Droog, perhaps fine detail to nonverbal communication and social situational awareness are not important to simply not attracting very much attention in a group, certainly nothing to do with living on one's own (no relevance to cooking, cleaning, shopping, getting around).
Also consider that much of non verbal communication is based on intuition for NTs and you can learn to use your fully conscious mind to try to keep up with them. Sure, you are expending mental energy right and left, but it can work, and gets better with practice.
Perhaps off topic, but would be trouble living on your own or fitting into groups be?
He just said that I am very high-functioning and that I am 'classic' Asperger's. He said that I come into the category of people with Asperger's who can live a fairly 'normal' life because of my high intelligence
What about Aspies who have low intelligence?
It would depend upon how low the intelligence is & whether the person was willing / able to learn coping strategies.
It is quite possible to live an 'independent life' with a bit of back up.
I was referring to myself, Woman from Mars. I am very lacking in intelligence.
I sort of thought that you were.
Who says you lack intelligence?
My psychiatrist didn't ask me about any math skills, although studying something IT related seemed a big plus. I suck at math too, but I'm quite creative if I say so myself. Perhaps you're more a creative type as well, Batman?
Somewhat off topic Ceri Chaos......but are you interested or involved in high-level mathematics?
I have found that nearly all other people who are tend to be conventional people with very little visible eccentricity.
At school I was fairly gifted at maths. Not a genius, but much better than average. I studied Maths, Further Maths and Physics at ALevel and was going to go to university to study electro-mechanical engineering.
That never happened and eventually I ended up studying Art instead, which is better because I'm much more gifted at Art than I ever was at Maths. I suppose all artists are eccentric though, even the ones without AS.