Chances of Autism

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Konnichiwa! First of all, even though this is not technically the right place to introduce myself, I am Kmgtpezy. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I would like to ask for an opinion of a pressing concern of mine; and that is, of course, the question of whether or not that I have autism of the high functioning variety. I took an Asperger's test (where anything over 32 is a good hint of autism) and scored a 37. I have every symptom of Asperger's syndrome, but my father opposingly states that I have "social anxiety." Furthermore, my father seems to think that my stimming (in the form of pacing) is simply a way for me to "release my anxiety."

Perhaps I am overthinking things or missing something, but from a secondary point of view, how high do you think that my chances are?

** Oh, and I am reclusive and have no friends. I am homeschooled, but the lack of socialization is mostly by choice. **

Last edited by Kmgtpezy on 19 Mar 2011, 11:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Welcome to the WrongPlanet. I am not qualified to diagnose Asperger's even though I have Asperger's. But, dealing with social anxiety---many of us probably have social anxiety based on the awkwardness of social situations because of Asperger's. As for meeting all the criteria---it could very well mean you do have Asperger's. The best thing to do if you want to know is to consult a professional and get a diagnosis. Again, welcome to the WrongPlanet.

I wish to get a diagnosis, but my mother and father seem to think that it will "ruin my life," or something. "You won't be able to get into a good college if you receive a diagnosis!"

By the way, I appreciate your welcoming me into this fine community.

Last edited by Kmgtpezy on 20 Mar 2011, 2:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I dont know where you live but in USA an aspergers diagnosis will not affect you in school or college. If anything it would help. I dont know about other countrys. Heres some questions that will help you determine if its aspergers or not.

Are you clumsy?
Do you have special intrests that you obsess over?
Do you have a difficult time knowing what your feeling emotionally?
Do you feel the social anxiety is due to not knowing how to communicate with people?

If you anwsered yes to at least 3 of these you might have aspergers.
Having Aspergers is not a bad thing. Some of the smartest people in the world have Aspergers.
Personally I think there are more good things about it than impairing things.

Being homeschooled is not a good thing for people with autism I think.
Autistic people need to go to school with others to learn better social skills.
Not forcing yourself to learn basic social skills will be what could ruin your life.
Feel free to show your parents my comment.

All of the above. On the matter of social skills, I understand my situation. I mentioned to my father that I have decided to join a book club. Although there are not many book clubs in this area (and the ones that are here ABSOLUTELY SUCK), I do believe that it is a start.

And with that I ask a second question: What is the most conducive thing that an aspie can do for socialization (outside of public schooling)?

Last edited by Kmgtpezy on 20 Mar 2011, 2:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Well, he's right; that's pretty much the biggest reason why people stim.

To me it sounds like you might have it. Although, since you say your lack of social skills is voluntary, it could be a personality disorder, or something else.

I stim when I am consumed by thought, but my thoughts are usually caused by anxiousness, so you are correct. As for my lack of social skills, they are mostly voluntary and mostly involuntary. My mother is very protective and very irate. Haha.

In other words, I would have to get a learner's permit and eventually a license, which due to my lack of an attention span is ... I guess this goes back to the social anxiety thing.

Last edited by Kmgtpezy on 20 Mar 2011, 2:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I have all but just a few of the symptoms and occasionally I think I don't have AS. I mean, whats the difference between an extremely introverted neurotypical and an aspie? By looking at the symptoms, it's hard to tell. I do believe there is one specific aspie trait that defines us all, and that is we think differently. So ask yourself this, do you ever feel like you're living on the wrong planet? I laughed about that all the time long before I even knew about AS, I seriously thought I was the only person on the planet who thinks like I do.

Every day, my son. Every day.

Last edited by Kmgtpezy on 20 Mar 2011, 2:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.

How else can you socialize besides public school? Lots of ways
Do you have a hobby? Most aspies do. Find friends with the same hobby. For me Im a musician and made friends by working on music together.
Aspergers should not keep you from getting a drivers licence unless you mess up driving.
I drive, although I have to get a doctors note to keep driving once a year.
Just find a doctor whos willing to sign the medical note that the drivers licencing department gives you.
(I have a horrible driving record and they still let me drive.)

I suppose that I am just afraid of hitting people. I would hate to space out when I am driving. Old ladies on the street ... anyway.

Last edited by Kmgtpezy on 20 Mar 2011, 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If you do indeed have Asperger's, quite the opposite is true, although it might not be so obvious. Knowing that you are indeed an Aspie is richly rewarding and allows you to understand yourself much better than standing alone in the dark always wondering why you are as you are. Of course this assumes that you are an Aspie. The same thing applies to knowing yourself in any manner. Although I briefly wondered if I was autistic at age 14 when I first heard about autism (and at the time I thought the word was artistic), it took me 60 years to find out that this indeed was why I am as I am. Of course you don't need a formal diagnosis to recognize yourself as an Aspie well enough to satisfy your own curiosity and to serve as that kind of explanation of why you react and behave as you do. Self-realization and understanding are the important things.

I might also add that at your age a formal diagnosis can qualify you and your family for various forms of government assistance. I don't know the details because I am way too old to qualify. Maybe someone else here can answer that one more fully. I only know that I kept running into references to this sort of thing when searching for organizations that might provide social outlets for Aspies.

Here are three links that helped me greatly during my own awakening last Summer.

How to Relate to Someone who Has Asperger's Syndrome - Excellent
You will need to copy and paste this link... that apostrophe is killing it as a clickable link on this server.

> http://www.wikihow.com/Relate-to-Someon ... s-Syndrome


Strengths & Advantages of being an Aspie (Dr. Tony Atwood)

> http://theotherside.wordpress.com/autis ... dvantages/


Aspergers Checklist - Concise But Detailed List of Traits

> http://autism.lovetoknow.com/Aspergers_Checklist

Remember that you do not need to have all or even most of the traits of Aspergers to be an Aspie. Aspies are all unique in their traits just as each individual person is unique and the traits that one Aspie may have will likely be very different from the traits that another Aspie might have. I like to liken it to rolling a whole handful of dice with each dice representing the degree of each trait that you might have. You may have a lot of one trait and a little of another trait but the dice combination that you get is likely to be very different from what another Aspie gets. The three major groups of traits are 1) social isolation and difficulties, 2) communications difficulties and 3) obsessions and routines, with each category having a number of sub-categories each containing a wide variety of individual traits. In my case I am heavily affected in the social isolation and obsessions categories but almost completely unaffected in the communications category (although I used to be much more profoundly affected in the communications areas when I was your age). Just remember to try to look at the big picture and not base your impression on any single trait or combination of traits.

By the way, I got a 38 on that same test indicatiing possible AS that you got a 37 on so we might roughly have the same degree of AS influence. That is not the best test IMHO, although all of them have varying degrees of validity. The one I like the best is a detailed test (with detailed and confusing results) of something like 200 questions. Another is extremely simple only takes 5 minutes and is based on the actual DSM-IV definition of AS rather than on any individual traits. If you have not already found these tests I can give you the links or I'm sure somebody else can too.

Yea, I am aware of the tests, and I have taken several of them.

P.S. Thank you for the information and links.