AS misdiagnosis?

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Hello, I'm posting this specifically because I have been thinking lately, and am coming to a tentative conclusion of being misdiagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. The issue largely has to do with IEPs, etc., anyways I'll get to the point.

I was diagnosed with AS after being referred for ADD. The reasons given back then, were my lack of socialization with other children, and my constant preference to work by myself and not a group. Now here's the catch, I never really had too much of "an inability to communicate", I was just very introverted as a child and today. I understood all of the social and nonverbal cues, except I was never in to talking and playing with other kids, and would often choose to read some books or write something. I had some "Special interests", but they were more of hobbies, and I could walk away whenever I wanted to. I am often too keen on other people, almost to the point of Paranoia. I avoid eye contact, because I am afraid of offending the other person by doing so. When I talk, I'm really afraid of hurting someone else's feelings a lot. I'm too introspective, you could say, and I sometimes think I listen to other people too well. If someone else around me is having a bad day, I'm also down and want to try and help out. According to tests I've been administered, I'm verbally gifted. In the end, I guess I'm just extremely introverted, and think way too much about tiny things.

I'm also diagnosed with OCD, Tourette's, and Bipolar disorder.

I don't think I'm exactly Neurotypical either.

Still, I can't claim back all the years I spent at school in Special Ed, and eventually almost end up destroying my life a few years ago. I'm sorry if I have insulted anyone with my post.

I've always thought of this as more of a personality style than anything. That's my current opinion on the debate.

**I almost forgot, on the AS inventory, I forget exactly which one, but I'll get back to it, scored as "Neurotypical", although higher then most NTs on AS traits. Don't know if that helps.**

I'll upload any more information if necessary.

Last edited by drgreen19 on 27 Jan 2012, 5:59 pm, edited 5 times in total.

Avoiding eye contact to avoid offending people...thinking of self as overly empathetic...sounds like Aspergers.

I don't think there was anything insulting about your post. Diagnoses can sometimes be wrong - the people diagnosing us are themselves people, after all. It's a shame that you were placed in Special Education courses due to something you may not actually have, but now that you have a better understanding of yourself maybe it will help you to begin improving areas in your life where you feel you are lacking?

Well, it's just a fear I have. I'm too sensitive and all. Also, that, I don't let it ruin everything in the world?

I don't actually think that, I'm saying in relative terms. Perhaps empathy isn't the best word for what I'm feeling.

Well I can't conclude anything, but I'm just as skeptical of your skepticism as you are of the diagnosis.

No offense taken here either. I'm not seeing anything in your post that's screaming, "NOPE, DEFINITELY NOT ASPERGER'S!" though. If you were here for the first time asking if we thought you had it, I would be saying, "Go get evaluated."

Since you already have, and I'm just not seeing anything that suggests otherwise...

Well, I'm wondering if there might be some other reason you're questioning it now. It's not uncommon to doubt it now and then. Especially if you're reaching a stage in life where you've learned a lot of adaptation skills.

I've actually felt this way about the AS diagnosis for a long time. I just wasn't sure how I'd find the words to describe what I'm feeling. I didn't adapt too much, I have always been able to use socialization when necessary, even if I was afraid I'd mess up.

It's possible that you are an introvert with subclinical autistic traits and ADHD, rather than being on the spectrum proper. It's also possible that you were diagnosable as a child, but no longer have any impairment today and thus can no longer be diagnosed.

There are many, many people on the hazy, fuzzy edge of diagnosis--probably more than are on the Spectrum itself. Autism is most likely an extreme expression of traits that are floating around in our gene pool; someone who can be easily and obviously diagnosed with autism just got a lot of those traits, and someone who's on the edge, like you are, got only a few.

But I should caution you. I've talked to people, here and in other places, who believe they are not diagnosable with AS because they have no social problems, when in reality they do have social problems, but don't have the insight to understand that they have them. This is not uncommon. To make sure you're not in this category, talk to some people who know you and have observed you in social situations, and ask them whether you are missing cues or miscommunicating your ideas. Insist that they be honest with you; many people believe it is "being nice" to pretend not to notice someone's shortcomings.

Wherever you stand on the Spectrum, remember you are welcome at WP. We need NTs and NT-with-autistic-traits and Spectrum cousins and generally non-autistic but atypical people here, too. The more perspectives we have on a problem, the more resources we have to solve it.

This does indicate a misdiagnosis. Understanding all of the social and non-verbal cues as a child is not consistent with autism.

When I was a kid, I had no idea about social and non-verbal cues. In my mind, there were no cues. Also, I could not have walked away from a special interest whenever I wanted to. Far more likely was a meltdown if anyone interrupted me.

You don't sound unautistic.

"I'm also diagnosed with OCD, Tourette's, and Bipolar disorder."

Sounds like you have overzealous psychy people.

Multiple diagnoses are common, especially when someone has an unusual collection of symptoms. Because you don't look obviously like one thing, and look partly like lots of things, they will diagnose you with lots of things, even though you only barely fit the criteria, or even if you don't. Psychologists sometimes don't seem to realize that almost every psychological diagnosis is a continuum with the typical range. If they don't, then they may fall to the fallacy that you either have something or you don't, like you either have or don't have a cold. And that leads to their throwing all these diagnoses at you, almost as if they're wishing one or more would stick. Realistically, though, a psychiatric diagnosis is a lot more fuzzy than that, and there are many people at the borders and between categories. Having multiple diagnoses is more a sign of being between categories than anything else.

Okay, I went and filled out the Aspie-quiz and here are the findings:

Also, here are the AQ results:

I don't know, sound like it to me and how I feel. Though the people makin the diagnosis could be wrong. For years me, my parents and the doctors thought I was ADHD. had me medicated, even though I told them the meds didn't work. Well, now I know why.y point being, there's always a chance of error

Anyways, eh... the point is, in my opinion here, the Psychiatry people were bent on pathologizing my personality type. As a kid, I was quiet, and liked to do things on my own than with other kids, but I eventually still got classified into a 'disease'. I don't understand why my way of perceiving everyone else had to count as 'abnormal'. If pressed, I can operate as 'fully NT', albeit a more withdrawn one. Especially after attending an AS Youth event a few years ago, I begun to further question my DX. I don't have issues with face recognition and communicate rather well with others, except the notions of engaging with 'normal socialization' does not click with me. I hate to say this, so someone please feel free to shoot me about it, I'm not at all naive, as literature describes about AS. I'm actually often cold, and cynical when it comes to thinking about the external world. I'm actually terribly pooped about how Psychiatry decided my personality qualified as a disorder, and got me into many situations I could have been better without. Also, if anything else I said insulted anyone, I'll apologize once again, and I still would like to remain on the site.

If personalities weren't illnesses psychiatrists wouldn't be doctors.

If you've been around people for a while do you have to go off by yourself for a break?

I can walk away from my hobbies when I want to, however, I often don' t want to, and when interrupted or pulled away from them by others I get upset. That said, I do not know if I have Aspergers or whether I am NT so...

@the OP

I can be similar to you in that I can socialise when I want too and I can read enough signals to get by when participating in surface interactions. However there are some signals that I cannot read and have never been able to..but those are usually the more subtle ones. The less obvious they are the more I struggle with them or misread them.

As I have a lot of academic ability though I can use that to compensate to a degree (being an A average at College and University has its perks), so yes I can read some social cues by intellectually figuring them out. The down side is that using my intellect to guide my social interactions can be tiring so I tend to avoid socialising mostly for that reason (my intellect is more suited to Academics rather than figuring out social interactions).

I am also highly introverted.

My diagnosis is social anxiety as I have never been tested for Aspergers so I have no idea if I am Aspie or not, but I do get different test scores to you. I test as 136 out of 170 (approximately) for Aspie and only 76 for NT in the one test and score around 38 (usually) in the AQ test.

Perhaps you should ask to be re-evaluated?