Would you have been diagnosed?

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Probably. My childhood:

AS side
+Watching spinning objects (ex: Watching a washing machine in operation for hours)
+Unusual use of objects (ex: Preference of watching spinning of the toy trucks tires rather than playing with the toy itself)
+Memorizing country flags, cabinet of the country, planet names etc. at age 4
+Learning how to read at 3 and write at 4
+Using formal words
+Inability of sustaining friendships and getting involved in games with other children (until age 10, I had one friend in 13)
+Obsession with video games (I still have it)
+Clumsiness
+Sensitivity to touch
+Dislike touching other people
+Being very picky about foods (eating only a mixture of banana milk and biscuit)
+Sensitivity to sounds with certain frequency (especially knife sharpening sound)
+Stimming (ex: Rolling legs in the bed before sleeping, shaking back and forth, flapping hands)
+No eye contact (excluding mom)

NT side
-No strong tantrums (I have them now, interestingly)
-No problems in visiting malls & using public transportation
-No rituals
-Being very cautious and aware about self protection
-No speech delay (It was even early, but it only saves me from autism, not AS)

It probably would have been the same for me. I knew I was different, but did everything I could not to let others know and I definitely didn't struggle academically. Still, I was an odd kid. I got along better with my teachers than my classmates and ate lunch alone everyday. My mom had some book on raising a gifted child that I'm guessing told her it was normal for smart kids to be social outcasts. I'd love to read that book now and see how many of the traits they talk about could be chalked up to something like AS.

I'm sure I would have been diagnosed if someone put me in front of a psycho, but I wouldn't have got there in the first place; you only go there if you have behavioral problems (usually at school) or your parents seem to think you're defective if you don't look at them or talk much.

My father thought that my lack of talking was the bestest trait that a child could have. He hates the sound of people talking, eggspecially children talking and yelling and babbling nonsense. He was happy to have such a quiet child who left him in peace to focus on his special interests.

I'm Well into my twenties and in getting diagnosed very likely with Aspergers.

As a 90's child, the signs for the disorder was never known to teachers, despite this it was completely unheard of, I had always profound difficulties with English and Maths but year on year excelled in softer subjects. A non-social interact-er, always labeled as "shy", "Lacking confidence" or "needs to make friends" without anyone finding a disorder, including the fact I was clumsy enough to put myself in hospital with multiple injuries. This and other health problems contributed with an eating obsession made the signs all the more invisible.

I don't know, maybe. I went to a catholic school and the nuns just considered my quiet shy personality as being good. To my parents I was just their cute shy little girl. My mother called me temperamental, fidgety and babyish. She complained about me not having the "gift of gab" like her and not wanting to hug her and either being too quiet and good or too fussy and temperamental. In those days people didn't pay much attention to developmental milestones like they do today. I was the only girl and they weren't very concerned about how I did at school. When I was a teenager though, they had just about had it with me. I wasn't allowed to be withdrawn and by myself all the time and so I got involved with the only kids who would have anything to do with me. Then I got into all kinds of trouble because I didn't know how to act and I just went along with whatever was going on and I didn't know how to defend myself so I got taken advantage of and my parents just didn't know how I could go from being so good to being so bad.

I started school in the mid-1960's. Autism and anything else on the spectrum were unheard of at that time. I have written documentation from my kindergareten teacher who noted my peculiarities. I was constantly berated by my parents, especially in the area of social skills and handwriting, to the point of corporal punishment, every time report cards were issued. I know those report cards still exists in the attic, but have been unable to find them. I was also berated to the point of corporal punishment if any grades, except possibly music, art, and physical education went below the letter grade of c (which was average). I had little in the way of intervention, because 1) it didn't exist and 2) what little intervention existed at the time (primarily speech therapy), was rejected by my parents who considered it intrusive.

I didn't get much speech therapy until after I received my BA in Music History and tried to get my teaching certificate in music education at a different university. The therapist I saw, happened to be an alumni of where i received my BA. In addition, from what he told me, i was the only person that put a damper on his teaching style, which was to get the client mad enough that he or she would speak in the manner he wanted. I was too nice and too naieve of a person to be subjected to the way he taught.

I have long wondered why my professional life was like the Chrysler Corporation pre-Lee Iacocca: namely feast to famine and out of step with the competition. Even if Autism and Asperger's were known back then, I doubt that would have made a difference, as my parents thought anything related to psychology as well as what is now known as neurology was mostly b*******.

Yes and no. Under the current DSM IV definition of Asperger's Syndrome, I tick all of the boxes and would very likely have been diagnosed with it had it been a valid diagnosis in the 1980's and had I been taken to someone who knew what they were doing. However, it gets a little dicey with regards to the DSM V as I am missing one criteria for the new autistic spectrum disorder diagnosis if I read it right.

Heck yes, I'd have been diagnosed. My parents knew something was wrong with me but none of the doctors they took me to in our little hick town knew what to tell them.

There is no question I would have been diagnosed if my paediatrician wasn't a quack and Aspergers was accepted in the late 80s. It's not so obvious now as an adult but it's laughable looking back how much of a stereotypical Aspie I was as a child. In particular:

* Very obsessive interests which I could challenge a college professor with (Astronomy and Geography). I even managed to point out an error Hawking made at one point and admitted to years later but sadly lost most of that knowledge.
* Called a walking encyclopedia by everyone who knew me.
* Few friends growing up and they usually didn't last. (Personal note: one of my longest lasting friends was a girl who was 5 years younger. In elementary school. She was Kindergarten I was grade 6 and she has two brothers my age on top of that! Furthermore, we were kept in different cell blocks...er wings of the school and barely saw each other.
* Very formal speech
* Extremely fussy eater that continues to this day
* Either extremely quiet (to the point teachers probably thought I had a learning disability) or always talking. Nothing in between.
* Preferred playing alone (didn't dislike other kids, just wasn't worth the effort to fit in)
* Hand flapping (had no idea there was a word for it)
* No eye contact except with Mom.
* Extensive knowledge of Nintendo games to the point few could match my skill. Always hated playing games against others because there was no challenge.
* Exceptionally good memory. Can recall many obscure facts and details even to this day. I can even pick up conversations with people 10-15 years later.
* Very frequent tantrums despite being a 'nice' boy.
* Delayed speech (Drs. thought I was deaf at one point) and ATROCIOUS handwriting. Spent hours upon hours at home working on it.
* Almost laughably naive and trusting.

If that doesn't get me a diagnosis today (if I were still a kid that is) I officially give up on the medical profession!

I would not have, because my mother would not have allowed it. It would have tarnished her ideas of what I was supposed to be, which wasn't defective, in her eyes, but without her intervention, yes I would have gotten it earlier and probably done better in school and such.

I know I would have been diagnosed for definite; I was diagnosed with it when not so much was known about it though, which is frustrating, but eh... the past is the past.

If my mother is correct, I was showing signs before three years old. So yes, I think I would have been diagnosed.

I think I would have been diagnosed with AS and/or NVLD in preschool, yes. That is the time when the symptoms were the most obvious, and I stood out to my preschool teachers. They just didn't know back then that a four-year-old who could read but couldn't hop on one foot or cut with scissors was really presenting red flags. I was just seen as "gifted" as a young child, and since I learned how to hide and compensate for my visual-spatial and other deficits early on, my problems went undiagnosed for a long time. While I do think my AS/NVLD would have been diagnosed, I'm not sure about my OCD. Unless my OCD was noticed or brought up by someone who diagnosed me with AS/NVLD, I still think it's doubtful that those red flags would have been seen. OCD, even childhood OCD, is still shown by the media in very stereotypical terms, and as a pure obsessional, I don't match these stereotypes.

I would have been diagnosed at 4 if my parents had listened to my teacher, who told them she thought I may be autistic and should be checked. I'm 24 now and was diagnosed at 15.

I'm not sure, definitely not as a very young child. I suspect a child like I was, who meets all the targets (walking, talking, self care, etc), would not arouse suspicions, unless there were obvious behaviour issues. My parents would still be like, 'Our daughter's a genius; we should expect great things of her', and health visitors would say, 'That's wonderful. She's meeting all the targets and some. No problems with this one.'

But, later on, when I became painfully shy and selectively mute, it's possible that someone would have been concerned enough to suggest that I should be assessed. I believe I have similar sensory issues to my daughter. But, the difference is that I kept my discomfort to myself, although I'm more vocal about it these days. My daughter objects and has done since the day she was born (and how).

However, even with behaviour issues, my daughter was almost 5yrs before she was identified and the identifier was me. As a child, I was nowhere as obviously on the spectrum as my daughter is (and I don't even know if I am anyway). I think it would probably have taken a really caring and knowledgeable teacher, nursery worker, etc to suggest anything to my parents and I haven't encountered anyone caring and knowledgeable enough, in my years as a mother.