late onset autism?

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There’s no such thing as late onset schizophrenia. It can and does happen at any age. If you actually had the impairments of autism since the early developmental period, you might have autism. But I don’t understand what you mean by you only started realizing it two years ago.

It became a spectrum in 1987 in DSM-III-R in Autistic Disorder being spectrumized, meaning milder cases could be diagnosed and the addition of PDD-NOS. It was further spectrumized in 1994 in DSM-IV with the addition of Asperger’s Disorder.

This is true. And I think, if I remember rightly, it must start before age 10 by definition.

In reality, few regressions occur after the age of about five, it seems to me.

I’ve read many case studies, and read many blogs, and seen many vlogs about regressive autistic kids. They tend to regress around 2 years of age on average.

You’re correct, I was just stating the official DSM-IV age limit for it. In some cases the regression is milder but begins earlier than age two.

I'm 45 and found out 3 months ago that I'm Aspergeric. I'm on a journey of discovery, finding out that I have been mimicking other people's behaviour. I can't identify my feelings anymoreand sometimes I'm only aware of the absence of feeling and how this can be upsetting for others...

Do you remember aspects of your childhood?

I would guess you were diagnosed with Asperger's because you had some signs of "high-functioning" autism when you were a little kid---plus, your speech wasn't delayed.

Even though I present Asperger's-like these days, I can never be diagnosed with Asperger's because I didn't speak until age 5 1/2.

Hi,are you talking to me? Yeah I remember mimicking my older sister till about 12.

HI, another UK based member here, I am 38 and was diagnosed 18 months ago.

Hi there, thanks for replying. can you say a little about your reaction to finding out. I'd like to hear how that was .I'm no longer sure about many facets of my own personality and who the authentic me is. I'm feeling like I really don't care about very much or very many people . Also did you indulge in you Aspieness? I'm really not feeling like pleasing anybody with the "appropriate" responses any more, in fact I'm drifting off into my own world.

I've been autistic since toddlerhood.

My "reaction" was to break one of my older brother's toys LOL

I can tell you my reaction... at first I was like "wait, is that what aspergers is?"... I think as I learned more and started relating it to myself I became very surprised to find out that aspergers had more faces than just Jerry Espensen on the sitcom "Boston Legal"... Then from there I became enamoured with autism the way I would any other interest. I started reading as much as I could about it, learning the details around it, joining WP, etc...

Recently when I started reconnecting with the idea I began to go through what the author of the musingsofanaspie blog called a "sense making process"... I started really looking at my life through the "autism filter" and generally as things fit... they make me laugh.

For example, my therapist explained to me that I may have language disorder (either as part of overall aspergers/ASD or independently). When I looked up some of the symptoms of expressive language disorder I started laughing out loud... The joke was on me... It was very funny... same with motor planning deficits. Hilarious stuff! All the sudden points in my life where I had feelings of hesitation, difficulty, brain fog had names. I don't know why it was funny it just was.

As for indulging in aspieness... YES... I am doing this actively in my life... but I am doing it carefully. I am allowing myself to walk back several of my coping machanisms. Pretty much anything that doesn't support me being social or respectful, I am deprogramming myself. For example, I know how to make good eyecontact but it's a lot of work and very distracting to do. So now I am just like "meh.. make eye contact if it feels right... otherwise don't feel bad about looking away"... and it works... All of the sudden I regain brainpower to keep up socially... I can then use my other coping skills more effectively. It's really great.

Since the whole issue has come up I've barely felt like tearing myself away from my hobbies. Its a bit of a balancing act working out how far to go into my own sphere and where to engage with people and take their expectations and demands seriously. Its a bit of a journey, thanks for sharing your experience.

It's possible but I doubt it OP, full-blown autism would be noticeable at a very young age. It's more likely you have something like an anxiety disorder, attention problem, or a learning disorder, etc.

Sounds like you have had a harder time than me with this 'discovery'. I went looking for it, by that I mean I went to my docs and explained my difficulties, said that I was there because I had recently heard about ASD and it was on my mind that it sounded a lot like me. The doc was very supportive, said that my history of depression and eating disorders in my teens, along with the difficulties explained that day could possibly be worth investing ASD for.

I got a referral but then didn't go. It just felt all too much. I then spent 3 years doing my own research and seeing more and more in ASD that was me. Went back to docs and said I wanted to be referred again, was referred and then a month or so later was diagnosed with Aspergers.

It was a bit of a surprise as I had convinced myself beforehand that I was imagining it all and I would come away feeling foolish, but the neuropsychologist that did it told me there and then that she was diagnosing me with it, she said she sometimes had to go away and look through the detail but not in my case. That makes me sound like I would be an obvious case but actually I don't think so. You certainly wouldn't know wiithout me telling you, I am very shy and quiet and I find eye contact difficult much of the time, but I don't have 'the look' and as a kid I got through school reasonably well by having the luck of being a very fast runner, being able to play football pretty well and getting enough attention from girls as to be 'normal' and not an outcast and not bullied. I never had many good friends but hovered on the outskirts of groups with usually 1 that I was slightly better friends with.

Found school harder as it went on, looking back it was probably the less structured it was and the more personal responsibility we had to take on the less well I coped with it, I used to get very anxious on a friday at leaving time as I had got into the swing of the week then, again on a sunday I would get very anxious and withdraw as I had got used to hiding myself away at home. The comfort of routine I guess!

also puberty had a big affect on me and made me quite depressed and withdraw an awful lot. Developed eating disorders and took up drugs and drink as pretty big hobby, before I had even left school. Saw a councillor at school leaving age and I remember describing to her that my eating disorder was my best friend. Looking back I can still see clearly what I meant, it was a closeness that I haven't really felt before or since.

anwyay, I don't know why I started telling you my life story but I got a job after leaving school in an office and have worked ever since. Have done reasonably well for myself in a career of IT sales, have my own house, am married and have a kid.

My wife is great and really encouraged me and supported me during the 3 year before I was diagnosed. She said I was always a little different, a little kookie, but also someone who is very up and down, very withdrawn at times, I like to be by myself a lot and she said I get very fixated on things to the point of obsession and am full of useless facts on the world. I have daily routines which bother me if they are broken and I also have strong views and won't hear of it any other way (poor her!).

since diagnosis it has been a bit odd emotionally. Overall it is no major change, but at first I found myself sort of giving in to ASD, almost using it as an excuse to myself to get away from doing things, things in the past I would have pushed myself to do, and for that I felt uncomfortable, like a failure. But more recently I have realised that it is more like I am acknowledging there are things I am not good at and situations that stress me out a lot, and accepting that and doing what is right for me is not failure, it's looking after myself and making me happier.

The only people that know are my wife, the HR dept at work and my boss. Work have been really good about it, I always kept my head down anyway and hardly spoke to anyone, but now I am not pushed into doing anything outside of my daily workload, I usually have headphones on (noise cancellation is like a blissful drug!) but so do some other so nothing odd there. We also go away with work once a year and they have said I no longer have to do that if I don't want. (I was unwell last year and retreated to my hotel room as I got so stressed out about being there)

sorry for the long ramble!

It's really interesting, thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm hoping for an official diagnosis in May. I score myself 135 on the quiz, my girlfriend scores me higher. Excuse me if I don't write much, it can take me hours just to get a few sentences down clearly. I'm glad that you answered.