Misdiagnosed with Asperger's?

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Was I misdiagnosed with Asperger's? When I was a child, I played with a group of neighborhood children. However, when it came to protracted socializing and no playing (such as that in school environments, etc), I failed to socialize and usually had no friends for long periods of time. And even though I didn't play or socialize with others in the kindergarten, I did play with the neighborhood kids.
I can't integrate in any social group, with the only exception being groups which are based on some shared play, some activity (ex: bicycle riding) or some hobby (ex: astronomy).

Was I misdiagnosed with Asperger's? If you're officially diagnosed, did you play with others when you were a child? Did your difficulties show in the same environments as mine did?

It sounds like you were properly diagnosed. One thing that seems to be common is that people with AS socialize around shared activities. Most people with it tend to form their relationships based upon utility and special interests rather than the more normal shared company model. At least that's my opinion and experience (but I am self-diagnosed, so I am not certain I have it.)

I had friends in school and at home. But I also had difficulty with them too. I did fine at my own home but at their home, I had troubles. Plus I often was not allowed over nor in their home. When my friends at school preferred to hang out and chit chat, I had difficulty. All I could do was follow them around and stand there. But if they were playing jump rope games, I could do that with them. Dodge ball, yes. Red Rover, yes before our school banned it. I also had difficulty with work groups too.

Well, I was diagnosed as a child; I didn't really play with other children since I was 10. Before that time, my mom tried to make me play with other children, but I often argued with them.
But I remember I liked to play chess when I was around 9, but I could do it only if someone else suggested me to do so.

Was the diagnosis made by an appropriately-trained and licensed mental-health professional?

If so, then it is likely to be valid.

If not, then it is just as likely to be invalid.

I could also socialize with some kids, but not in other social groubs.

What you describe sounds like Asperger's to me.

In other words, interests and relationships not based on membership of a "tribe".

It seems most people are very tribal -- their interests are generally more of a shared interest where they are interested in something because most of the other members of their group are interested in it.

But there are others who are not tribal at all and who select their interests based on any number of other factors. They may even be the only one around with their interests, but it doesn't usually bother them all that much if at all.

With Asperger's, it's often how you interact with others rather than a lack of interaction that determines whether you have it or not (though a lack of interaction is possible with AS, it's just nowhere near as common as seen in capital A autism).

Firstly, no two people with AS are exactly alike. We all have different strengths and weaknesses based on our personality, our backgrounds, and our interests. So that's no way to judge whether AS applies to you or not.

In answer to your question, though, yes. I socialised. I played with lots of kids in primary school. I went to a real small primary school in a little village where every kid knew everyone else. I had a lot of behavioural problems and often got sent to stand in a corner/by the wall/in the head's office (he really hated me...it was mutual...) but when it came to my peers, I interacted more or less all right. At small kid age, children are often less discerning, especially in a closeknit environment like that. I was invited to parties, and went - I invited people to parties and they came. I always was nervous of giving out invites, but it always went fine. In my last year of school, because my sister had just begun at a different school, I had to go to friends' houses after we finished, and that was fine too (except I hated one friend's dogs). I used to go for sleepovers at friends' houses, went to waterworld for one party...

That sounds pretty normal, doesn't it?

But at the same time, I had a lot of communicative problems at home. I also had fights with friends sometimes about things which were a misunderstanding, and some folk commented on how I spoke, my wide vocabulary, etc. I was also segregated from my friends a lot in class for talking and working (since I could do both, and my friends couldn't) and at dinner (for talking too loudly). I was about 20 maths books ahead of my class at age 10 (class was ages 9-11), but then whenever I had a measuring question, I would just skip it and teachers would write on my book, "where is the work for "x"? I never did do that. I didn't want to have to find all the equipment I needed for measuring and ask permission to go outside, so I just skipped it.

I also got blown up by my headteacher when I was in his class over one reading comprehension. It was about a book I'd read, and the question was "how do you think it ends?" So I wrote what I thought, and then it asked, "why do you think this?" And I, innocently wrote, "because I've read the book". That got me in SO much trouble for being smart alec when I was just being truthful.

SO when you look at it more closely, it's pretty evident that I was autistic even when I was socialising just fine.

And when I went to secondary, I quickly learned to just hide behind a veneer and interact on a safe level. I had friends there too, because I was good at putting on an act and I learned quickly...but in all the leaving video stuff, you can see me hanging back, out of the way.

Now I have friends who know me and accept me as I am. Random, and a little odd, and sometimes frustrating, but me. They may accept me more than I do myself sometimes.

Yet I am diagnosed autistic and definitively autistic by a professional, by a university assessment group and by the local autism adviser.

So...

We are all different.

And!

The reality of AS is NOT what the online generic websites and books will tell you. The reality is how you live your life. People without autism have some odd misconceptions about what it entails, and since a lot of them are rubbish...ignore them.

Last edited by applesauce on 17 Oct 2012, 6:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.