19 Dec 2009, 6:02 am
First of all, hi, this is my first post 
I've been looking at the forums for a while and felt it's time to join. It's actually such a relief to read about some of the same things i've gone through and the same difficulties I have.
Second of all, I apologise for another 'am I an aspie' post but i've gone through a lot of turmoil over this and i'd really appreciate your help if you could help me to figure a few things out. I decided to make a list of reasons why I think I may have AS and reasons why I have doubts. Sorry it's so long!
Also if you reply, would you mind giving me an indication of whether you are officially diagnosed or whether you are self diagnosed? This isn't because I don't believe you, I do, but i'm quite nervous about asking for an official diagnosis as I think a psychologist might not believe me, so would like to know what things about you have caused a psychologist to diagnose you. I think I come across as quite 'normal' (I hate that word with a passion) but I feel in my head I am different to NTs. If that makes sense! Also I live in the uk.
Reasons I think I might be an aspie:
• Difficulty with eye contact, either avoid or intense stare, even with close friend
• Always had a sense of being different from most people
• Often do not understand the point of having conversations unless it’s for a purpose, i.e. to share information
• Hate small talk
• Doesn’t naturally occur to me to talk or participate in a group
• Can’t follow a conversation in a group with lots of people and when the topic changes rapidly
• Difficulty hearing people speak when there is a lot of background noise, e.g. in a group or a pub
• Feel the need to have gaps in conversations to process and have time to think
• Spent most of childhood feeling very awkward and embarrassed because I didn’t know how to act in social situations
• Used to have a great fear of the phone, and how to make a phone call without having a ‘script’ prepared
• Happy being alone and happy not talking, don’t feel lonely often
• Have often been told I am very blunt in the way I speak and voice my opinions, even though I don’t feel I have been
• Get very stressed and anxious sometimes when there is a lot of noise going on, e.g. the TV on with music and a friend talking fast and excitedly
• love and feel connected to animals, sometimes feel disconnected from or hate people
• manage to make small talk when I have little ‘scripts’ prepared, e.g. an opinion on where I last lived
• Don’t understand how to make friends
• difficulty with aspects of driving that can’t be practiced or predicted in advance, e.g. no idea how to make decisions at roundabouts
• don’t tend to use gestures in conversation
• sometimes have difficulty knowing what is appropriate chat and small talk
• don’t talk to certain people (e.g. my boss) because I don’t know how I should interact with him
• teachers at school have always commented to my parents about how quiet I was, whereas I didn’t think anything of it
• tendency to over analyse conversations afterwards
• Only feel comfortable with long term friends and close family – feel awkward even with grandparents and old friends if I haven’t seen them for a while
• Will spend long periods of time obsessing over or researching certain topics (recent topics AS, pets, psychology)
• Enjoy logical things such as puzzles and maths
• Difficulty with spontaneity in conversation, e.g. sometimes can’t collect thoughts in time before the conversation has moved on, and have difficulties recalling and telling stories
• Find it easier to communicate through writing rather than speaking
• Sometimes clutter sentences or mispronounce a word, even when feeling comfortable
• Would be considered AS on the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire, the Autism Spectrum Quotient, and was also surprised to find that I am considered an ‘extreme systemizer’ on the Empathizing-Systemizing Quotient test
Reasons I have doubts:
• Have lived independently and now live with a friend
• I mostly understand and enjoy sarcasm, and don’t take sayings and clichés literally
• Have doubts due to wondering if it’s just social anxiety, although social anxiety sometimes comes from feeling as though I should pretend to be ‘normal’
• Sometimes enjoy loud environments, enjoy clubs now and again and don’t feel overwhelmed
• Don’t feel the need to stick to rigid routines, although on occasion I feel comforted by them
• Worked as a receptionist without communication difficulties
• Now work as a support worker for people with autism and learning disabilities
• No apparent difficulties with organisation
• Have more than one or two interests
• Enjoy talking about my own and others’ feelings
• Doubts due to wondering if my problems are just due to being shy or ‘out of practice’ socially
Look forward to hearing your opinions
19 Dec 2009, 6:26 am
19 Dec 2009, 6:56 am
tektek
Bronze Supporter
Joined: 24 Nov 2009
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,814
Location: Brisbane, Australia.
19 Dec 2009, 8:49 am
hi PineappleSun,
to perhaps help you in answering some of the questions that you may have, there is a fantastic stickied thread that includes a number of scientific tests related to Autism. please follow the link below.
(click)
not being lazy... to quote myself from another thread, because what i have previously written again sort of applies in this thread, i can relate to the points that you raise... and it seems that i share with you some of the reasons for doubting my own (formal) diagnosis hehe
(click)
my initial referral to said psychiatrist was not so much to satisfy my curiosity for diagnosis with AS as it was to address some ongoing issues with anxiety and depression. the referring GP had identified me as being a likely candidate for AS, but i had no formal diagnosis to that point.
on first consultation the psychiatrist commented that i presented with "striking" AS mannerisms and that my speech patterns were very much in-line with how an individual with AS may communicate. as part of my evaluation and at a following appointment, as arranged, i was diagnosed with AS against DSM IV criteria.
truth be known i did have suspicion of my having AS for some time. in 2001 wired.com posted the Baron-Cohen AQ test ( http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html ) and i scored highly (45). i do remember following up on the wired AQ test with a more defined test ( http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php ), again scoring highly in the AS ranges. you can complete the latter test and post your score if you like ( http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt5906.html ).
perhaps some of the reason for my not being diagnosed with AS as a child or adolescent has to do with attending 10 different schools from k-12 (we around moved quite a bit). also worth considering is that AS was not widely recognised or known in the mid-late eighties and nineties when i was attending school.
the behaviours that you mention could be considered symptomatic (or typical) of someone with AS, i can identify with a lot of what you have listed. in saying that, i suggest that it is better to seek professional diagnosis against DSM IV criteria rather than in a forum or from an online test Smile. you may need to speak with a GP and seek a referral to see a behavioural psychologist - in Australia a referral from a GP would be needed to see a psychologist (or any specialist).
...will a diagnosis provide peace of mind or offer some benefit? these are questions that only you can answer. from my own experience it was a little daunting to receive diagnosis, even though it was a fair bet. since diagnosis, over the last 10 days, i have began to research AS, the more i read the more having AS explains who i am, how i interact with others, and how others react to, interact with, and why they may may tend to avoid me.
certainty in everything, for me, is everything - having been diagnosed places a lot of puzzle pieces and gives me something to work with. maybe it will do the same for you.
if you have any questions please ask away, WP is a great online community and there is always a lot of help on offer.
welcome to WP, i hope that you enjoy your stay
19 Dec 2009, 9:01 am
Many of the things you have mentioned are very similar to my situation. There is a chance you have AS but if you do it is probably mild AS. You have certain traits associated with AS and there are other traits that you don't have. It's good that you joined a community like this.
19 Dec 2009, 9:09 am
Sorry, I didn't read the top of your post. 
I have been diagnosed with Asperger's since the age of 6. I was sent to a Child Psychologist by my elementary school because I wasn't playing well, at times, with the other kids in my Kindergarden class. The Psychologist said it was mild and he only diagnosed me because of my motor skills. He told my mother that I would eventually grow out of the social problems and he told my mother to put me in as many activities as she could. I am not as 'bad' as I was when I was in elementary school but I still have many characteristics associated with Asperger's Syndrome. I haven't fully grown out of it but I have improved somewhat. Most NTs don't know I have Asperger's unless I tell them. But, I now realize that Asperger's is part of who I am and that will never change.
richie
Supporting Member
Joined: 9 Jan 2007
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 30,142
Location: Lake Whoop-Dee-Doo, Pennsylvania
19 Dec 2009, 12:47 pm
To WrongPlanet!! !
You might want to check out this site:
http://www.rdos.net/eng/
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#617364
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#452181
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#452397
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#452511
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#496788
http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ht=#512898
Things that fit:
-Unusual interests, both in intensity and type
-Ability to organize and remember a great deal of information
-Tendency to be clumsy and do "dumb" stuff, despite being intelligent
-Mild prosopagnosia ("face blindness")-not bad, but enough to be embarrassing
-Uncomfortable in social situations and dislike of crowds and enclosed spaces
Things that don't fit:
-No monotone voice
-I don't think literally. I understand idioms. I couldn't have received a Master's in English without that knowledge. I also know the historical basis of common expressions. All idioms did have a literal, historical basis, so there is nothing wrong with this.
-No serious deficit in self-help skills (except for cooking and driving)
First of all, I don't have a masters degree in English, or deficiencies in cooking. My only deficiency in driving is that I end up giving myself a wide berth. Other than that, you just described ME!
MY definition of monotone might be the same as yours, and apparently is NOT the same as many doctors. THEIR definition is a lack of EMOTIONAL tone. I used to have THAT! I STILL sometimes don't show it.
I ALSO used to think more literally. To a degree, I still do.
As for self help skills..... Aren't AS people supposed to LACK any clinically significant disabilities there?
Steve
Asperger's Syndrome isn't the only form of "High Functioning" Autism.
There is Pervasive Developmental Disorder: Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
My speech was delayed and I have intense, almost obsessive interests.
I have excellent low speed dexterity(working with small parts, small precision tools)
Poor high speed dexterity (Typing, playing musical instruments, video games)
Excellent long term memory for facts.
Poor short term memory for names, dates, faces, and tasks.
Some self help skills I learned without difficulty(Like driving, finding employment)
I don't speak in a monotone voice, and I don't have much trouble with idiom.
Some times I do become aphasic, where I cannot connect a 'word' to 'object'.
Am I self diagnosed? Yes. AS and HFA are the only things I know that fit the
descriptions given above. There are many others who have reached the same
conclusions about themselves for the same reasons.
, didn't think of myself as shy but others did so things just didn't add up Now luckily they do, for me at least. In the workplace people are also a bit mystified, still saying I'm not a good communicator but at least I'm an effective communicator (so I still don't see what the problem is ) But anyway, the struggle to be accepted continues, it just doesn't drain me so much anymore.I was described as "ret*d", "Brain damaged", or just "different" by many people when I was growing up.
I was always acting silly or "shutting down", I had (and still have) bad motor coordination, stereotypical
motor habits, emotional and mental "meltdowns", and many sensory issues and other co-morbidities,
(ie: tactile hypersensitivity, migraines and bowel problems). Yet I learned to read before the other
students. I excelled in taking math and science exams, but slow in everything else. I was constantly
bullied by classmates. I survived, I graduated high school, learned a trade, got a job, but I was always
the Outsider looking in. I first learned about Asperger Syndrome, and "Higher Functioning" Autism
through various science journals, through WikiPedia I found out about WrongPlanet.
After forty something years I found a home.
By the way Foreignwoman, acceptance among the "normals" and "Neuro-Typicals" is overrated.
"WrongPlanet" is the "Right Address". Welcome!
Yes I am self diagnosed. My first "official" diagnosis was when I was three or four years old.
My foster parents thought I was mentally ret*d. I was either mute or hardly spoke at all,
and it took them almost four years to toilet train me. The doctors thought I was brain damaged
because of poor motor coordination and I was slow in learning new things. I always wanted
(and still do) to be off by myself. Later I went through two other foster homes. Social Services
were trying to have me placed in Willowbrook State School on Staten Island, NY. This was in the
1960s. That institution was eventually shut down because of the terrible abuses going on in there.
For more info on Willowbrook go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willowbrook_State_School. Fortunately
I was never sent there. My diagnosis was "upgraded" to "Minimal Brain Damage" then later my
I.Q. tested to be 120 or greater depending on the test given or the test conditions. My guardians
kept sending me to one Freudian von Shrinkendork after another trying to find why I "tick but don't
tock, or tock but don't tick". I kept forgetting what I was told to do, had a hard time understanding
people, I did very poorly in school, but I did manage to graduate high school on time. Not many
foster kids got their H.S. diplomas back in the 1970s. And yes I was bullied, and picked on a lot.
I survived. I learned electronics and worked in that field for more than 20 years.
Today I am not working in electronics, I work on a loading dock at a factory that makes windows
for schools, and residential complexes, and other institutional buildings.
As for my condition; I can't stand loud percussive noises, being touched, and sudden or abrupt
changes in my routine. I seem to be here, but my mind or parts thereof are in a different universe.
My left brain could be thinking about the Quadratic Prime Series, at the same time my right brain is thinking about Pentominoes.
Autism is called a spectrum condition because we have different "mental colors, notes, or wavelengths."
I call myself an Autie, I may have some, but not all, characteristics in common with Aspies.
You also might want to check Alex's video Autism Reality at the top of the page or click here....
19 Dec 2009, 3:27 pm
20 Dec 2009, 2:28 pm
21 Dec 2009, 5:00 pm
23 Dec 2009, 8:34 pm
23 Dec 2009, 8:38 pm
28 Dec 2009, 6:32 am
09 Jan 2010, 10:07 pm
Those traits (including the 'doubting' ones) are similar to me, and I'm a diagnosed aspie. However I can't say exactly what it was that made the psychologist diagnose me, as I was diagnosed when I was very young and what little I remember of it is a feeling of being watched and judged (they used one-way mirrors there).
Though don't let that stop you from getting diagnosed if you want to, as the chances are that it'll be a more friendly environment and they'd be very understanding about your feelings, so there's no reason to be nervous.
| Similar Topics | |
|---|---|
| What do you think about YT's The Aspie World? |
16 Feb 2025, 5:22 pm |
| I wish we had an aspie earring |
25 Feb 2025, 12:35 pm |
