Anybody here diagnosed in childhood (under 16)?

Post Reply New Topic

One time when I was 14 my mum had a date, and after he went I found the book about Asperger's we had, on the kitchen table. So it was obvious that she had been telling him all about Asperger's, that probably started off with "I have a daughter. She has Asperger's syndrome. Let me tell you all about it." I was angry. I threw the book across the room then repeatedly slapped myself in the head screaming "I HATE HAVING ASPERGER'S I HATE IT I HATE IT!! !! !! !!"
I still dread to think what people say about me when I'm not around, I don't mean bad-mouthing but I mean revealing my shameful diagnosis. I don't want it to be a part of me that has to be mentioned and described.

I was diagnosed when I was 13.

When my specialist told me, I had no idea what my specialist was talking about.

I was diagnosed when I was five and I was told within a couple years. I was told that I was mild and should try as hard as I can but that some things might always be harder and looking back I see that it was the only good way to handle it. It was good to have some explanation for why I was the way I was and not having one could have messed me up a lot as I got older and more self-aware.

I was always treated like a “normal” kid when it came to discipline. I wasn’t given much allowances. I was praised sometimes for being “smart”—but I was still a kid who was “seen, but not heard.”

I was sometimes berated about not having “common sense.”

Well they are certainly not a lot of 20 something year olds then.

i was diagnosed at 4 because i had not spoken a word yet but my mum kept denying it but it was painfully obvious i had something wrong

No words till age 5 1/2 for me. After that, they couldn’t shut me up

I was diagnosed age 14, back in 2005.

I think my last couple of years in school would have been better without the diagnosis, as I wouldn't have been singled out for any 'special' treatment. I went to college when I was 16 and didn't mention the diagnosis so it didn't cause any issues.

When I was diagnosed, it was done in an incredibly humiliating and degrading way, and I was not given any information on what Asperger's Syndrome actually is. Fortunately I had heard of it before, so I already had some idea, and I had internet access so was able to read about it on the WWW.

It was 1999 when I was diagnosed, so we didn't really have internet, we just relied on books. My parents were given a vague description of what Asperger's was, and it was explained to me like "Asperger's means you don't talk to people properly" and "everyone with Asperger's gets diagnosed at age 7-9". So until I came to WP in 2010, I thought everyone on the spectrum were all diagnosed at the same age, and I knew nobody else on the spectrum until I went to college. So I felt alone, as I was the only one with Asperger's in my school and my family. There were probably others too but nobody had a diagnosis only me.

In the books we had about Asperger's, it mostly centered around stereotypical boys with it, not so much non-stereotypical girls like myself. So when I was playing with other children in the playground, I used to think to myself "hang on a minute, I've got this Asperger's syndrome thing, so shouldn't I be wandering around on my own not wanting to play with other children or make eye contact?"
You see what I mean? Personally speaking I think mentally I would have been better off not knowing I had Asperger's. I have a feeling my mum asked whoever diagnosed me if I should know, and they were probably like "yes, it is best the child knows." But that didn't work for me. Even as an adult I feel bitter and angry about my diagnosis.

Generally speaking, if you were born from 1990 onwards, you're chance of getting diagnosed in childhood was much greater.

If you were born before the 1980s, the opportunity was non-existent.

Born in the 1980s, there is a so-so chance you may have been an early childhood diagnosee. But it took time for shrinks to catch on to diagnosing children, so even then the chances were slim. Also, I think the proliferation of the Internet ~2000 helped spread the idea of Apserger's among mental health practitioners.

If a user is in his 60s, rest assured he wasn't diagnosed in childhood.

True, but worse than that. Autism wasnt expanded to being a spectrum, and aspergers was not recognized as being a diagnosis until 1994 in the US. So no one born in the US could have been diagnosed with anything other than classic (what is now called low functioning) autism until 1994. So no could have had that diagnosis in early childhood if they were born much before 1990. And most shrinks in the US still hadnt heard of aspergers ten years after that in the early 2000s. So even into the two thousands it was rare to get a aspergers diagnosis.

I understand that older people wouldn't have had a diagnosis, but if I was born in 1960 and behaved out of character like I did when I started school in 1994, I probably would have been expelled straight away and put into an institution or something, but I don't know what my diagnosis would have been, because I don't know if the ADHD diagnosis existed back then either, but I wasn't "autistic enough" to be diagnosed with autism.

But a lot of girls born after 1990 seem to go undiagnosed. Except me.

I think I was just "noticeable" enough for other kids to be irritated by me and teachers to be frustrated with me, especially since it seemed like I was just willingly acting like that. I have other comorbids like dyscalculia on top of ASD and ADHD, and I had very restricted interests and all those other wonderful issues, so playing with me and talking to me wasn't fun for most kids. lol

I was diagnosed with ADD pretty young, but beyond that nothing. The other kids 'diagnosed' me with a few things, but they could only express them as slurs, even if it turns out they were on to something the adults didn't get.

I was diagnosed with ADD and dyscalculia, and then ADHD - Combined Type later on. I actually don't have dyscalculia on my records anymore because my dad asked them to remove it when I got older, but I do still struggle with math, I've just found ways to cope somewhat.

I’m 28, female, no speech delay, and diagnosed in childhood (fourth grade, I think), and Asperger’s was my first diagnosis. I don’t even have any recollection of the diagnostic process, whatever it was in my case. Granted I’m pretty “obvious,” for one who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. I didn’t have a clue what it meant for years and my parents thought it pretty much just meant that I was shy and smart and had sensitive hearing, so I spent my life being held to NT standards and being told I just wasn’t trying hard enough or didn’t care every time I failed to meet them, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. I wasn’t really pushed to have friends or anything, though I wasn’t any younger than fourteen when I finally understood the concept of an “acquaintance,” before then I thought everyone I’d ever met was a friend unless they proved otherwise. Basically I learned how to just be invisible as far as others were concerned, entirely subconsciously. May as well not have existed as far as almost everybody else was concerned. I don’t think having the label really made that much difference, because I’m so obviously “different” whether other people know I have it or not.