Soo I saw the Develpmental pedatriton

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Well there's not a lot to say this was back in march... I wasn't in the room much.. I got my height weight and pressure taken and then we went into the examination room .. the doctor came in and measured my head. He also asked me a few questions about school and then told me to go play around or go watch tv in the waiting room while he talked to my grandmother and uncle. After while he let me back in for about a minute or two then was sent back outside. The after they were finished it was over. I asked my grandma what happened but she couldn't make a lot of detail out. He gave my grandma a forum for my teacher to fill out and told us to find a therapist. My grandma says that he does think I am autistic (but because he doesn't like labels used the term aspersers instead even though based on by behavior defiantly mans more classic autism ) ( I could also tell by the way he acted around me). He also said that he doesn't think PDD NOS is a good label either. I'm most likely going to see him again in may, but by the looks of it he wont diagnose me because he "Doesn't believe in labeling children". My grandma must have told my advocate about him because she told me that she said she's sorry that she sent us to him and thinks maybe he not such a good person to diagnose me.

Well at least he was really nice and sweet to me

Anyone here diagnosed as classic autism as a teen or adult? How did you get diagnosed? Please share your experience.

I was diagnosed with classic autism when I was 24.

I saw a neuropsychologist for two full days of testing (morning to evening). I sat in an office and did an interview with her for a few hours on the first day. After that we sat in a little room with a desk and a computer in it, and I did all kinds of tests:

• An IQ test
• Achievement tests (solving math problems, reading and writing)
• Puzzle-type tests
• Memory tests
• A sequential movements test
• A test where I had to answer questions about videos of people interacting
• A test where I had to listen to audio recordings of people talking and try to figure out what they meant and how they felt
• A test where I had to look at photos of people and try to describe their feelings and what they were thinking
• A couple of tests where I had to answer questions about what I would do in specific social situations.
• A personality test

The tests were exhausting but I got to take breaks and the neuropsychologist was kind. Some of the tests were frustrating, others not so much. A few days after all the testing my mom was interviewed about me.

A couple of weeks later I met with the neuropsychologist and my social worker to discuss my diagnosis and test results...I don't remember much about the meeting. I couldn't follow a lot of what they were saying, but it didn't matter much because they mostly talked about me like I wasn't there.

I was given a 22 page report about my test results, my diagnosis, and some recommendations about accomodations and supports for me.

I was very confused about what diagnosis I had been given because the neuropsychologist used the words "Autism Spectrum Disorder", "High Functioning Autism" and "Asperger's" interchangeably to talk about my diagnosis.... Eventually I decided that the neuropsychologist just used the DSM-V to diagnose me with Asperger's ( because in the DSM-V there is no Asperger's or Autistic Disorder (aka classic autism) -- only "Autism Spectrum Disorder").....Then some months after my assessment, my regular psychologist was looking through the diagnostic report to fill out some forms and told me that I was actually diagnosed with classic autism. My regular psychologist pointed out that the code for my diagnosis was 299.00, which is Autistic Disorder, whereas the code for Asperger's is 299.80, and told me that the neuropsychologist used the DSM-IV and was strict about the criteria (my regular psychologist and the neuropsychologist who did my assessment work in the same office).

Here's how I suspect he was using the terms:

Autism Spectrum Disorder = an umbrella term for the whole spectrum

High Functioning Autism = the higher-functioning end of the autism spectrum

Asperger's = a specific type of high functioning autism

Some people use high functioning autism to refer to people who aren't Asperger's but are at the higher functioning end of the spectrum, but others include Asperger's under high functioning autism. Clearly your neuropsychologist is one of them.

...do you mean "Clearly your neuropsychologist is [the former]", "Clearly your neuropsychologist is [the latter]" or "Clearly your neuropsychologist is one [or the other]"?

Thanks for trying to help clarify the terms

I originally thought that the neuropsychologist meant I had Asperger's, but my regular psychologist said that this wasn't true -- that if I had met the criteria for Asperger's the neuropsychologist would have diagnosed me with Asperger's instead. She said that having a speech delay alone automatically meant I couldn't be diagnosed with Asperger's -- maybe that was the only reason.

My regular psychologist and the neuropsychologist work together, and I think my regular psychologist is pretty good about not claiming to know things she's unsure of--she says she doesn't know or is unsure of stuff when she doesn't know the answer to something I ask her, or when she's just guessing, so I trust what she said.

I meant the latter, sorry. Your neuropsych clearly consider Asperger's a type of high functioning autism, instead of separating the two out.

Thanks for clarifying what you meant. No need to apologize