I'm new here, possibly AS (tested as a child - tested NT)

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I am 35 years old and was tested for autism as a child in 1979. I remember very little of the test except that I was asked to draw shapes, point out a tractor in the field and tell a story about ducks. Logically, I must have tested negative as no diagnosis was made and no further tests were required.
The fact that I was tested for it is one of the main reasons I am questioning if I might have it and if the test produced a false negative. If anyone else was test during the 70s, I would like your imput.
My other reasons for suspecting it are probably based on stereotyping and misunderstanding. I have been researching ASDs and the following are characteristics of mine that make me suspect I might have AS:

* Avoiding eye contact (I didn't realise I did until until I thought about it)
* A history of poor social functioning (8 friends in my entire life)
* Obsessive interests (reading dictionaries and encylpoedias/textbooks for fun, transcribing entire books as a child)
* Diagnosed OCD, GAD, depression, panic disorder.
* A phobia of certain colours and patterns.
* Eidetic visual memory.
* A visual-spatial IQ estimated to be 190 (test only effective up to 170)
* Reciting "interesting facts" to completely uninsterested audiences.
* Teaching high school biology (see above, LOL!)
* A history of non-epileptic seizures.
* Stimming (rocking hold big toes, hand shaking in private, pulling eyebrow-area skin, lip chewing etc)
* Highly selective eating patterns


Characteristics of Neurotypical Behaviour:

* Understanding most sarcasm by voice intonation.
* Use of metaphors and other figurative language.
* Can guess emotions by facial expressions.
* Can often tell when someone is lying.
* Empathy (can imagine how I would feel in the same situation but no emotion felt)
* Creative play as a child.
* Current diagnoses could adequately explain behaviour.

Welcome!

Welcome!

To have autism you don't have to have every symptom, especially if you have a PDD-NOS diagnosis. It seems that sarcasm is one of the things that many people don't lack seem to lack here. A lot of people on the spectrum are also creative, I assume you meant "imaginative play" but for instance, I did imaginative play but it was very controlling and the same thing over and over. Not that imaginative.

Lack of empathy is one of those things that many don't lack, but just appear to lack. It's a problem with theory of mind mostly, not that they're heartless.

It's not worth the diagnosis if you don't have any problems though (your post didn't indicate much on that.)

I am aware that a person does not need to have all the typical characteristics to be diagnosed but I think that some of the things I listed would exclude a diagnosis of an ASD.
"Imaginative play" is probably an outdated term now but I remember the psychologist who assessed me as a child used that term. The games I played were very repetative but I have seen many children have similar fixations on a particular game.

There are not a great amount of reasons for me seeking a diagnosis, the main (and probably only) reason would be to find ways to improve my anxiety and social functioning. I do well at my job and I prefer reading to meeting people but I find it hard to cope in some simple situations such as interacting with shop assistants. I would like to start dating women again but I have found conversation topics such as: "Why ______ causes cancer", "Why people used to believe hippos sweat blood" and "1001 things my cat did today" don't yield very good results. I suppose a diagnosis wouldn't really help with those issues but my intellectual curiosity compells to want to understand why I am different to the majority of people.

Hello - and welcome to the WP community, Samarium.

Welcome to WrongPlanet.

Hello