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Chemetical
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26 Jul 2013, 4:32 pm

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was five. The psychiatrist who assessed me gave my parents some stuff to read about the disorder and recommended they put me on a low dose of Ritalin. They didn't read any of the books/articles they were assigned, nor did they do any research at all on ADHD. They just took the prescription he wrote out and put me on the medication, which helped me significantly. My parents admitted to him that they didn't read up on any of the ADHD stuff, and never went back to see him.
Somehow they came across AS and went to another psychiatrist about it. This one diagnosed me when I was eight, but my parents had self-diagnosed me shortly after my ADHD diagnosis. They never explained to me what it was or what it meant, and I went on for years thinking it was a learning disability, or just the same thing as ADHD. It wasn't until I was in grade nine that I learned it was an ASD.
When I was younger I had symptoms that would suggest AS;
Hyperactivity,
Making hand puppets (hand flapping),
Narrow interests (trains, vehicles, bugs, reptiles, dinosaurs, robots),
Sensitivity (sock seams and track pants),
Impulsiveness,
Lack of eye contact,
and motor issues (no interest in sports).
All these symptoms ceased after the age of six or seven.

But I've never had problems communicating with other people non-verbally, and I've always had a feel for this "intuitive connection" NT's are said to have. By the age of six or seven eye contact wasn't a problem for me, and I always looked people directly in the eye during conversation without even thinking about it, nor have I ever had problems understanding people's emotions just through their facial expression/body language/ect.
Aside from those other symptoms, I've picked up on non-verbal communication since before I got diagnosed with AS, and have never had a problem with it to this day. I've never had any formal coaching on social skills, either.
Is it possible to omit these symptoms in AS? Is there any way I could have learned to socialize on my own?



HopefulFlower
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26 Jul 2013, 6:26 pm

I too was diagnosed with ADHD around 4-5 but before that I was diagnosed with stereotypies (Which is what stims are) and mine is definitely AS. But everything you're describing can be found in ADHD as well. I'd go for a second opinion.


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Noetic
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26 Jul 2013, 10:53 pm

Sounds like ADHD to me. Which of the two do you identify with more?



Chemetical
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27 Jul 2013, 12:30 pm

Noetic wrote:
Sounds like ADHD to me. Which of the two do you identify with more?

Definitely ADHD. The more I read up on it, the better I was able to understand myself and why I had so much trouble in school.



Noetic
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27 Jul 2013, 12:55 pm

Chemetical wrote:
Noetic wrote:
Sounds like ADHD to me. Which of the two do you identify with more?

Definitely ADHD. The more I read up on it, the better I was able to understand myself and why I had so much trouble in school.

You can have both, but it sounds more like ADHD to me. It's strange that your parents were so keen on the AS diagnosis instead.



Chemetical
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27 Jul 2013, 4:32 pm

Noetic wrote:
Chemetical wrote:
Noetic wrote:
Sounds like ADHD to me. Which of the two do you identify with more?

Definitely ADHD. The more I read up on it, the better I was able to understand myself and why I had so much trouble in school.

You can have both, but it sounds more like ADHD to me. It's strange that your parents were so keen on the AS diagnosis instead.

They really didn't do enough research, and were unaware of how many other things overlap with the symptoms of AS. They insist they saw an episode of Oprah about it, but it doesn't exist :?. So I don't know where they heard it from. I joined this forum a while ago thinking I would be able to relate to people on it, but I just felt bad when I couldn't understand the problems other AS folk were having :? :(
I'm pretty positive I had (and still have) a personality disorder that can develop into schizophrenia. There's no history of PDD in my family, but there has been ADHD, OCD, bipolar and schizophrenia in 1st and 2nd degree relatives.