Aspies For Freedom

I'll PM you the answer to that Theory of Mind question!

(kidding)

... there might be a ToM question though, I got one.

When I was being evaluated, the guy asked me about the meanings of several metaphors. I don't think I understood a single one of them. I think he thought my eye-contact/attention issues were worse than they really are, because I kept looking around at all the diagrams/posters he had on his walls about brain anatomy and stuff like that.

When I went back for another appointment to review the testing, the main doctor said that I had AS, but he didn't want to write it down in the report because I am not significantly disabled (i.e., the written diagnosis could potentially be more "disabling" than the actual condition). When I got my written report back a week or two ago, it says I have Nonverbal Learning Disorder. As far as I know NLD and AS are basically the same thing, so I don't know why he was more willing to write down one than the other.

Rest assured they would have written down "AS" in the written report, if you had strong math skills.

This NVLD instead of AS thing, really pisses me off.  NVLD should be a comorbid, not a substitute for AS, in any case.

I don't think so. I feel it is because I am female.

I have superior auditory learning skills, but my visual learning abilities are also very strong. I am horrible at math (calculus mainly) because my abstract/theoretical thinking abilities are below average, as is my working memory.

Maybe that takes me out of the NVLD category and puts me more in the AS category, then.  I'm a horrible auditory learner--no exaggerations there.  But I am a good visual learner.

However, here's the kicker, I'm terrible at Math.

When I was getting diagnosed, I didn't get asked about maths, either.  There was some basic arithmetic in the IQ test (and I think I got a few of those wrong!) but nothing too drastic.

I had an extra step in my official DX, because my good verbal skills hide a lot of the problems that should have got me diagnosed a long time ago. It went thusly:

1.  I go to psychologist and describe the problems I'm having with social stuff and depression.  He says "have you ever heard of Aspergers Syndrome?" and I cringe, because I want it to be something fixable with a few pills and a self-help book.

2.  Interview and IQ test.  The IQ test also involved stuff on explaining metaphors and 'if X did Y to Z, what would Z do?" type questions which I think were Theory of Mind tests.  The results from that basically came back that I was definitely SOMETHING, but not conclusive as to what.  So then...

3.  EEG.  I've already described that process here: http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthre...#pid198233 although the process might be different for different people, depending on the tester and what they're looking for.  For me, it confirmed there was stuff going on upstairs that corresponded with autism, and I got a bonus DX of ADHD, which nobody (including me) had noticed, what with all the other stuff going on.

I had an IQ test 10 years ago that had these "picture boards" where you were shown pictures of people doing things--out of sequence--and you had to choose the right sequence of events, and I guess also explain what was happening in the pictures.

To do this--as I now think--you need to understand the motivations of the people depicted in the picture boards.  And for that you need some Theory of Mind.

If I recall, I only got 2 out of 10 right, or something.  It was pathetic.

I wonder if these "X did Y to Z" questions are along the same lines??

Well, it IS an Aspie-specific forum.  I would have thought it was understood that "tested" implied "to get an official Aspergers DX" unless otherwise specified.

I don't think a talent for Math would make you better at socializing than those of us--like me--who are learning disabled in that area.

All people with Asperger's, irrespective of talent areas, have to learn socializing analytically--through observation of patterns.

I don't even know what algorthymic logic is.

I'm still disgusted that you think Aspies "gifted" in logic/math areas are better able to socialize than those who are not--like me.

I'm not very appreciative of your "Aspiecentric" thinking, to be blunt.

To be fair I'm 27, university educated and wouldn't know an algorithm, logical or otherwise, if it stood in front of me and whistled the theme from Hunt For Red October.  Maybe they just have another name - are they something to do with sums?

I prefer to think of my social analysing as a series of If>Then>Else rules based on experience, rather than "logic".  Humans are not logical creatures, in my experience.

But there's nothing necessarily sensible about If>Then>Else rules.  They're just rote, and can be as inherently ridiculous as you wish to make them.  For instance, you could specify:

IF the sky is full of purple elephants
THEN put your underpants on your head
ELSE stand in a bucket of Chardonnay.

And using logic, in the conspicuous absence of purple elephants, we should all be ankle deep in Chardy.  Of course it's nonsense, but it's logical nonsense, my favourite kind.

So, before you can use If Then Else 'logic' for social interaction, you have to already have a workable set of rules.  And, for me, that came through experience, not logic.

You don't offend me, but if I can be honest, people like you make me jealous.  Which is not your fault.

I've been trying to figure out why I have this constant urge to compare myself to other people.  And when I compare myself to a gifted person, I seem to tell myself "I'm defective crap."  Then, I sometimes react in a negative way.  So this is why I haven't been that "nice" to you.  Although, I am in the wrong.

This is something I really need to get to the bottom of.