NT Girl gives lecture about Asperger's w/ me there

Post Reply New Topic

I don't agree.

For example, Newson Syndrome has an even gender ratio. And male or female, those kids are hard to detect as being on the spectrum, because they have superficially good manipulation skills that cover up their poor social understanding, and because they tend to be highly creative.

Although girls are probably more often missed, doesn't mean boys can't be too.

Furthermore, not being spotted as an aspie by a family member of someone on the spectrum is totally different from not being spotted by a professional. Some family members are well-informed, but some think every AS person acts exactly like their family member, and won't spot anyone who isn't just like their family member. Especially since many family members of AS people are BAP, and therefore likely to assume a few autistic traits are normal.

This is completely off the topic of this thread, but I just now noticed your changed signature. It is confusing. First of all, you can't simultaneously carry a diagnosis of PDD-NOS and AS, and second of all, reports generally go in a predictable pattern with the diagnostic impression at the very end.
Why is yours spread all over the place like that? I am wondering what the heck happened to yours and thinking it is most unfortunate since you seem confused enough as it is already regarding these things. The least an evaluator could have done was give you a clear document.

But regarding your OP, it is possible she could have family members with AS and not recognize it in you. Some people still have stereotypical understandings of AS, even when they know someone. Perhaps if you are not like her relatives, she can't see it. OTOH, I dare anyone with an ASD to spend any reasonable time around me and expect to go undetected. But that is probably mostly due to the fact that I have spent my life studying people, so I pick stuff like that up quickly.

Page 2 is the Weschler IQ test in which Nonverbal Learning Disorder is diagnosed with a 54-point gap between verban and nonverbal abilities. Page 3 is a summary of the entire report where it says although I supposedly did too well on the "Comprehension Test" and too poorly on the "block design" test to be a typical person with As, "nevertheless, as will be explained later, there is enough clinical evidence and confirmatory biographical material to support a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome for [Tyri0n]." Page 8, where PDD-NOS is diagnosed, is for some reason, at the end of the section talking about emotional health and social functioning. It says "[Tyri0n] does not currently exhibit enough of the required behaviors [repetitive behaviors and intense interests] to qualify for a diagnosis of Asperger's; nevertheless, in light of his childhood isolation, history of of language delay, and current social struggles, a diagnosis of PDD-NOS is warranted."

So yes, I'm confused. I also do have very intense interests that interfere with social functioning and many other aspects of my life. I don't know why those didn't make it into the report.

Finally, I did not have a "language delay." Rather, my language deteriorated to the point of incomprehensibility and/or resulted in periods of mutism shortly after I was sexually abused. I was 4 years old. This is not a language delay. This is called PTSD.

Since my doctor (not my current counselor) f****d up in so many other ways, I doubt that the diagnosis itself is correct. At least it didn't cost me much. Yay insurance!

I think I have NLD and Narcissistic Personality Disorder of some type, not Asperger's. To get the help I need, I will need to get somebody to recognize it. My counselor is running multiple tests, including ink blots, and won't talk to me much about what she's doing. But I've sent her as much outside information as possible. Even if she doesn't diagnose a personality disorder, due to her ideas about "people with Asperger's" not having personality disorders apart from AS, I will at least have the test results to take to someone who can.

Looked up Newson, and it looks interesting. What would it look like in an adult? Some of those descriptions of childhood behavior ring true, but they also seem similar to Asperger's.

http://abnormaldiversity.blogspot.com/2 ... teria.html

I tend to think "special interest" is just another name for obsession. The only real difference is an obsession might be something shorter lived while "special interest" is something more or less life long, or at least lasting several years. I think a lot of NTs have intense interests as well, especially introverts, but they seem to be able to switch gears and talk about other people's interest more easily than I can. I mean, I can but I don't particularly enjoy it unless I'm in a rare sociable mood. Otherwise I rarely have anything great to add and run out of conversation prompts pretty quick. If I'm depressed or really per-occupied, forget about it. It does seem like it's an emotional capacity thing in addition to a learned skill. It is definitely an acting thing for me but the hardest part is setting aside whatever else is going on inside my head in order stay engaged enough that people don't think I'm drifting away into space.


In this aspect it doesn't seem like you're that different from me. Being on the internet typing this when I should probably be heading home and going to bed is my current lame obsession.



I was wondering if you feel like your interests are inadequate, are overly afraid of either boring people, or worry about feeling disappointed if you can't share your enjoyment? I found this started happening to me at some point in my early teens. At some points I'd purposely downplay my enthusiasm for something out of fear of not connecting or seeming too weird/obsessive, even when someone else brought it up in the first place. Seems that was about the point I became seriously depressed and completely stopped giving a s**t about school, to the dismay of everyone else.

Most of the autistic adults I have met, I wouldn't know that they were autistic if I hadn't known that they were autistic.

Most of the autistic adults who came to do research study, all officially diagnosed, I wouldn't know either.

I don't agree with this assertion about "invisible" males, either.

As far as I know only one person in my past ever suspected / suggested that I was different in the ASD sense.

A LOT of so-called friends and family told me that I was not normal, but they put it down to just being lazy / brainy / selfish / arrogant / mad. Even when I was employed at a company that also employed a guy with Asperger's, nobody thought I was because we're too different. A woman who thinks of herself as an expert in ADHD who has a son with Asperger's told me "you can't have Asperger's".

ASD only came into my life at age 34, totally out of the blue. The psychiatrist insisted that I just had very good acting skills and could therefore pass for normal in bursts.

I don't really agree with this. I have Aspergers but in many cases 'don't clearly show signs' of it. Most people I meet don't notice the first time they see me (though on occasion they do), taking some time getting to know me further before they notice something if at all. Even my therapist told me she can't tell whether I had it or not (not meaning I don't have it, just can't tell) and despite the fact I feel more of my AS traits coming out in my sessions with her. I think this is because I do 'blend in' in some ways (or at least am good at appearing to), just that I have to think and reason through what I'm doing a bit more, rather than it coming naturally like NTs do.

I think the most likely thing is she is an unreliable source BECAUSE she has so many family members with autism. Chances are they are more similar to each other than other aspies simply because they are siblings, and since she knows so many people who are similar she assumes everyone is like that.

Maybe. But she isn't the only one who has expressed skepticism of my AS. These include my parents, a counselor for a government-run program for AS employment, 3 aspies, and multiple friends and associates. Of course, the biggest skeptic from the beginning was always myself. I went into psychological testing thinking I was bipolar and having never heard of AS. Since I got that label slapped on, I've been doing lots of research that has led to many doubts.

Is it normal for a male aspie who is legitimately aspie not to "feel autistic"? I have heard of women with AS having this feeling but never men.

Last edited by Tyri0n on 11 Apr 2013, 10:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

The hell does feeling autistic mean?

Seems like most people here feel that they have autism and can identify with the traits and thinking patterns of other aspies, especially as described in Tony Atwood's book. I am different in some way. I just don't know how. I have something, but it doesn't seem to be traditional Asperger's.

http://www.norsaca.org.uk/docs/1.5.pdf

Describes a group of people with childhood diagnosis of PDA who were followed to adulthood.

Sounds lower-functioning than Asperger's as adults.

Please note that to many people, "Aspie = someone of lower status". By that measure, you can't be an Aspie because you're "good enough" to be in a classroom with her.

Being able to identify traits one shares with others doesn't mean that one necessarily "feels autistic." I have no idea what that could possibly be. The closest I can come is saying that I have experienced satisfaction at having an explanation for why I am the way I am and why my life has turned out the way it has. But feeling autistic? I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.