Do I have Asperger's?

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I'm not really sure where else to go about this issue, but I think I have Asperger's syndrome. I have related to a lot of articles and seen a lot of myself in the symptoms of Asperger's. Sorry if this is a long post, but bear with me. I tend to have very obsessive, narrow interests. For instance, I got interested in filming things and I wanted a specific model of camera. I learned everything I could about it, read reviews, watched reviews, everything I could do. For a while, it was all I would talk about. I feel that I am clumsy; I learned to ride a bike at age 11. As long as we're talking about clumsiness, I absolutely can't play soccer or basketball. I simply can't. I trip over my own feet playing soccer. I am very awkward; I just don't know how to react to some things. Also, I can't get a waitress's attention. It feels so weird to ask for something as simple as extra napkins or whatever. Everyone I meet has an impression that I'm intelligent. My teachers, parents, peers, etc. I love having a routine; I hate change. I develop habits extremely easily. I'm not very good at making friends, but when someone becomes friends with me, they tend to love me. In a relationship, I don't really know what to do. I show affection, but I do have a hard time verbalizing it when in person. The most I can do is "I love you," or "You're amazing," but nothing more than that. The thing is, I really want relationships, I'm just bad at creating them.

A big thing is that I can't empathize. I have a very hard time "standing in someone else's shoes." Someone, for example, will tell me that their grandmother has died, and I just won't know what to say, and I really won't care too much, even though I have had a grandmother die. It feels like I'm being rude ad mean.

Even with all those symptoms, I have reasons to think that I don't have Asperger's. I lack autistic behavior, like a sensory issue. I have a distaste to loud noises though. I will hear someone putting away silverware and get angry for some reason. It's weird. I had no delay or problem at any time with speaking.

The biggest thing is that I probably would have been diagnosed as a child. I'm only 14 (if knowing that helps), so at this day in age, a child with AS would not have gone unnoticed.

I don't really know where else to turn. I feel that if I tell a guidance counselor, my school will try to put me in special classes, but I doubt my school has a social skills class. The point is, I just want to know if I have Asperger's or not, and if I should get help. Thanks very much.

Hi alecazam3567! Welcome to Wrong Planet! Check out the many interesting and helpful forums here. You sound like you are on the Autism/Asperger's spectrum to me. Go to the General Autism forum. There is at least one post article with links to online tests for people who think they may be on the spectrum.

It is not necessary to have a speech delay. Most Aspies don't--I didn't. As for empathy, of course you have it. We just don't always show it well, and other times we miss the cues that indicate it's called for, and still other times, the situation is not a close enough one for us to feel or show it. Your friend's grandmother was not in a close relationship with you, so the connection was too distant and abstract for you to feel empathy. However, there are "social" phrases to say at such times, that help everyone express empathy, even if it is not actually felt. This is done for politeness's sake. After all, even if the connection is too distant for YOU to feel empathy, your friend IS hurting, because HE had a close connection to Granny. Being polite at such times is worth saying the standard phrases. It provides a stable pattern of behavior to follow at such difficult times.

I don't know if you should approach a school councillor or your parents about being on the spectrum. Has it been causing you problems at school? If so, take the online tests, and show them to your parents, along with your post here at WP. They can then work with you on what to do about it.

Hope this helps, and remember, you are among friends here at WP!

Thanks, questor

I found a link to a very helpful test in the general autism forum and this was my score:

137 of 200 for AS
72 of 200 for NT
Very likely an Aspie.

So I think I will talk to a counselor but tell him not to act on anything right away so nothing is disturbed quite yet. My mom still thinks I'm "just an awkward teenager," however. I'm going to show her my Aspie test results and my sister's neurotypical test results