Those of you who were dx'd by a neurologist....

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Can you please share with me what tests he or she did to confirm that you actually have AS?

I'm self-diagnosed but thinking of getting a professional diagnosis. The problem is I find I'm wary about going to the doctor...probably because I'm not sure what to expect. If anyone could shed some light on their visit and what I will prpbably encounter, I'd be very grateful. Thanks!

I went to a clinical psychologist. I didn't know neurologists diagnosed ASDs

Same.

I'm in the same boat as you, and have the same questions...
I asked my boyfriend about this because he was diagnosed when he was in high school, but all he remembers is, "they asked a lot of questions."

Last edited by wendigopsychosis on 10 May 2010, 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Neither did I.

I called my PCP (who is also a pediatrician and sees lots of kids with autism/AS/ADD) and explained what I was looking for - he referred me to a neurologist for an official dx. *shrugs* And when I did some research online, I found that neurologists are equipped to dx AS as well as psychologists, etc. so that's why I'm probably going to go this route.

Wen, I hope we get some answers! I'm really reluctant to go unless I know what I'm getting into.

I've tried going to 3 different clinical psychologists; none of them were qualified and the last one told me to go to a neurologist...
Still working on finding one

I've heard it said that neurologists are logically the only people qualified to diagnose AS because it's a neurological condition. Shrinks shouldn't be messing with a subject so far away from their skill base, it's said. I can well believe it. But I don't know of any cases where a neurologist has done a DX - mine was a clinical psychologist. So it's something of an unknown thing.......if I'd known of a neurologist who was happy to do an AS DX, I might have gone that way on a whim.......I like the logic of the thing, and from what I can make out, shrinks are often too subjective to be trusted with anything important, and frequently get it wrong. I'd love to know what neurologists do that's different from the shrinks' methods.

I went to a neurologist for another reason, and he diagnosed me on the spot (i guess I'm that obvious). He asked me if I was diagnosed with it before, and I told him that I was.

I was diagnosed by a neuropsychiatrist, but the tests were administered by a clinical psychologist. Aside from Wisc and the usual AS-screening questionnaires there was also tests for thinking flexibility, recollecting social stories and describing social situations in pictures. I also got to copy a complex geometric figure (which I apparantly spent a ridiculous amount of time and detailed effort on) and recall it later. I might be mixing up some that was from Wisc though, because he did them all without telling me which belonged to which test.

Are you sure it's actually a neurologist who ought to be doing it and not a neuropsychiatrist? I guess the labels may vary between countries, but here neurologists mainly deal with physical problems of the brain, e.g strokes, tumours, traumatic injury etc...

That's EXACTLY why I want to go to a neurologist! You hit the nail right on the head. I know there are good shrinks out there, but because of a bad experience I had with one once, I never want to see another one again. Among other things, they are WAY too subjective (like you said).



Yep, I'm sure his office meant neurologist....they gave me about 5 of them in my area for me to call that can handle an AS diagnosis.

I went to a neurologist while I was in the AS assessment process with a neuropsychologist. I had an MRI and 24 hour EEG to check for tumors and seizures. The neurologist didn't know much about autism and suggested I ask the psychologist instead. Maybe a pediatric neurologist would be more up to date on autism though.

As far as I know, neurologists have yet to determine with any predictability exactly what sections of the brain are directly responsible for AS - only that it's within the frontal lobe, which is also why so many meds for anxiety, depression and ADHD are rather hit-and-miss. Since the diagnostic procedures all depend on cognition and behaviors, a psychologist would be at least as qualified, if not more so than a neurologist. I've never heard of Asperger Syndrome being diagnosed with an MRI.

I was diagnosed by a neurologist years ago, nearly 25 years ago. I was also diagnosed with a series of conditions, that when it gets down to it add up to a PDD-NOS diagnosis.

Your best bet if you want to seek a diagnosis (I don't know why), would be to seek out the help from a neuropsychologist or a psych professional who deals with educational issues.

That's as far as I know too. Since Asperger's and NVLD are similar disorders or possibly even the same disorder with different names, I tend to believe the etiology of AS has alot to do with Rourke's revised and expanded "white matter model". And yes, i'd say a psychologist, especially one with a concentration in neuropsychology, is significantly more qualified to Dx AS/NVLD.

And as far as I know again, an MRI can't indicate subcortical white matter deficits in most, if not all, cases. There are some other structual brain abnormalities associated with AS, but nothing really conclusive yet.

Heck....they're not even sure if Kim Peek's (R.I.P.) complete agenesis of the corpus callosum (which was confirmed by an MRI) had anything AT ALL to do with his eidectic memory. If it did.....the same phenomenal memory abilites aren't found in all, or even most, people with ACC (complete or partial).

The reason i'm trying to get an MRI has nothing to do with the NVLD i've already been *diagnosed* with per se.

Rather....the profound problems in long-term memory that I believe I have are motivating me in that respect.

Whether those problems have something to with *my* NVLD or not is another matter. If they do...perhaps they have something to do with the Fibria in my Hippocampus, which is an area entirely composed of white matter. Or mabye
some sort of idiopathic white matter deficiences in both my left and right temporal
lobes. Or maybe a million things i'm not even remotely qualified to do anything more than speculate about.


For the third "as far as I know".....MRIs can indicate comparatively more in regards to the origins (or at least the likely origins) of long-term memory problems. MRI data on many epileptics and others who complain of long-term memory problems would suggest this. Lesions, arachnoid cysts and hippocampal sclerosis can all be determined
by an MRI and all may be the cause of LT memory problems.

testing of fine and gross motor skills, observation of behavior, verbal categorizing, visuomotoric coordination, laternalized patterns right/left, auditive sequence memory, visual and verbal assosiation, ability tests like WISC or WAISS, EEG or MRI.
Thats some of the test I had to take, I was diagnosed both by a neurologist and a psychiatrist ( mind you I was 8 back then, at age 18 I was re-diagnosed based on an aq test, several interviews and observation of behavior)