I think I might have been wrong...

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I think it is. Because children have no coping mechanisms and just behave naturally.

They need to be visible in childhood as its a developmental disorder. It is possible that the traits become more prominent later in life - often around puberty this occurs, but the traits had to be there even when you were a young child.

Another possible developmental trajectory is being quite severely autistic in childhood with very little social or communicative capabilities for years, then starting to improve a lot towards the end of grade school.

It is also true for many that as they age they become less severe. That has been the case with many people on WP.

I think I've seen a noticeable amount of people "peak" in their autistic-ness at puberty, having less visible traits before then, and more coping skills developed after then.

No ... I'm just concerned that when people diagnose themselves, the next step is self-medication, which often leads to disastrous results. I am not saying that a professional diagnosis would always be accurate, or that professional treatment would always be effective. I am saying that being diagnosed and treated by a trained professional is much more accurate and effective than self-diagnosis and self-treatment, and is certainly better than the half-baked opinions of non-professionals with their own prejudices and agendas to advance.

At the very least, if anyone is going to err, then they would be better off to err on the side of caution than simply follow the questionable advice of strangers on a public website that is devoted to people with perceptive disorders and behavioral problems.

It seems like you have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about. I cannot speak for Fnord, only for myself, and I am absolutely not "peeved at anyone who would self-diagnose" since I WAS self-diagnosed for YEARS! I only just got my diagnosis in July, and I have been advocating professional diagnoses a lot longer than that. I also have always said that some people with a self-dx are indeed correct, and some people are not. No, I do not take a self-dx to be at the same level as a professional diagnosis. Why should I? I do not take a self-diagnosis of cancer to be at the same level as a professional one that has been made after extensive testing. And anyway, the original post is about him thinking he DOESN'T have it, so I have not, in anyway, tried to tell him: you can't self-diagnose yourself as Aspergers. In fact, I have posted in many of the same threads as Sammich, and I have NEVER called his "autisticness" into question---HE is the one doing that. So you can get off your pedestal now!

I thought for sure I had AS. I was almost certain. I'm really not so sure anymore. I do in fact meet the criteria, so why am I beginning to change my mind?

I've been doing quite a lot of research in the past few days. When I was in elementary school, I was not considered to be disabled or to have a disorder. I was considered "gifted." I was comprehending literature that was far above my grade level. I had (and still have) an intuitive understanding of mathematics and it's applications in the real world. I had actually made a few friends, most of which had abilities similar to that of my own.

Now, lets get one thing straight. I'm definitely not the most outgoing person in the world. All of my friends have been extroverts who confronted me, and not the other way around. But that actually has nothing to do with AS. Aspies are socially inept, not necessarily introverts. With that in mind, am I actually socially inept? Maybe slightly, but not enough to be classified as "significantly impaired." I'm really just introverted.

Don't get me wrong, I still have poor social skills, just not in the typical aspie way. I actually don't lack empathy and I can read facial expressions well enough, yet I am socially isolated. Why? Because I'm a TI-89 living in a box full of TI-83's, if you get my analogy. I can have a two way conversation with people. It's just that I can only do it with other people who think like I do. Unfortunately, they are hard to find.

It doesn't just end there. I have a sense of humor and an understanding of sarcasm and figurative language (usually). I am not prone to extreme anxiety and panic attacks. I have never had meltdowns. My interests, while intense, are not nearly as narrow as many aspies. My understanding of the material I learn is not just rote memorization, like many aspies. In fact, my memory is at around average; it is my comprehension that is far above that.

While, from a distance, this does sound like AS. But when put under a microscope, I think the answer becomes clear. I'm just more intelligent than most people, that's all. That doesn't mean life is all that great for me, though. Like I said, I still have social issues, the cause is just different.

I previously thought that I was twice exceptional. After quite a bit of introspection, this isn't the case. My behavior is very typical of a smart, introverted guy; much more so than that of an aspie. There really aren't a lot of differences between me and regular "gifted" people.

And, just for references:

http://www.suite101.com/content/highly- ... nal-a71678

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/fact/asperger.pdf

Yep. My psychs always told me that symptoms MUST be prevelant in childhood. If you could not qualify for a diagnosis as a toddler/child, then you cannot qualify for one as an adult because autism does not appear in adulthood.

I only lumped you in with Fnord because you stated how strongly you agree with him.

Autism most certainly can appear in adulthood, if it's in the form of Aspergers.

There is no onus, given basic developmental psychology, for symptoms to be clinically-evident before adulthood,
as prone as pop-culture and even the psych community is for misinterpreting some actions as having certain motivations versus others, considering others desirable or "normal" based on prescribed roles (IE, gender), and discounting wholly the notion that children will usually do their best to fit in, and many who are quite decidedly neurologically-different are very successful in doing so.

In fact, a criterion for being diagnosed as having Aspergers as opposed to classic Autism is that there be no clinically-significant delay in certain skills in childhood, such as adaptive behavior and language.

Autism most certainly can appear in adulthood, if it's in the form of Aspergers.

In fact, a criterion for being diagnosed as having Aspergers as opposed to classic Autism is that there be no clinically-significant delay in certain skills in childhood, such as adaptive behavior and language.

Huh? Autism is a developmental disorder, it doesn't just appear in adulthood. If it does, it's something else.

Plus Asperger's does show in childhood but it be with inflexibility to change or obsessions and restricted interests, social issues. Depending on how mild it is, it might be harder to tell until the child is older when they start real school.