Advice please?

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I am seeing a member of my local psych team about aspergers assessment, but am not sure how I will deal if they ask me something like, 'what makes you think you have Aspergers?'... I have no idea what to expect and tend to find myself at a loss with sudden questions...would it be any use for me to make some sort of list of why I believe I have Aspergers, in sections? Or would that look far too planned out?

Only a true ASpie would think of making a list ! !!

LOL ! !!

But do think the question over, and have at least a coupla answers handy.

Nope that's what the NAS recommend, I'd print this off and take it with me too: http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=255&a=3341

I dont think the psych team will care about why you think you have AS. (Not really relevant for diagnosis).
Print out the thing from the NAS. If they ask such nonsense, give them the list and say, "i have all these", you should pass quite easily if you do this.

They will probably be more interested in your behaviour as a child.

edit: Just out of interest.. do you want to 'pass', ie. have AS?

That's a very helpful link, Noetic ! !

I found it daunting enquiring about the possibility of having asperger's syndrome, but its worth it. I think its quite a good idea to make a structured list and think of relevant examples to back up your claims. For example, motor clumsiness had difficulties with school sports or understanding inferred meaning in a conversation, following instructions at work etc. Asperger's is a developmental disorder so they pay particular emphasis on your formative years and then look at the bigger picture to decide whether there is a clear pattern of problems with social interaction and delayed development.

Here is what I have written to take with me...but I worry in case they think it looks as if I am trying too hard? Have I left anything out that I should put in??


Social communication
I have, since a child, stood out from others and had issues making friends. As a child, I would often intrude on others and not understand when they didn’t want to be my friend. I was bullied for all of my school years, with the result that eventually I took to spending break times alone. I never had the same interests as others and so had little to talk about with them. I am told I tried to buy friendship at the age of 9, by giving people rubbers from my collection. I tended to get on best with those older than myself, especially elderly people, or with those younger than myself, but have never mixed well with those the same age as myself. I do not like standing too close to people, or them standing too close to me these days, and find I am very uncomfortable, even angry if people sit or stand near me and have to move. I spend most of my time on the internet as I find it easier to interract on there. I am able to write about my thoughts and feelings, but I seem unable to express them adequately verbally face to face… if I do express emotion it is often in the form of anger or crying, as opposed to anything else. I find that I tend to talk about the same thing a lot, and get very bored listening to others… something I have tried and failed to change. I do not find what most people talk about interesting. I like to talk about my interests mostly, or about my ideas on life. I have had many issues where I have offended people without meaning to because I just speak out and do not realise until later that what I said was considered rude by someone else. I was always in trouble as a child because I would say the wrong things.

Social understanding
I take things literally a lot of the time, and get upset if I am teased. My mother was always accusing me of not having a sense of humour because I didn’t really find jokes that funny.. not jokes told by other adults anyway. I find it hard to know sometimes if someone is joking or being serious. I do not like people looking in my eyes, and although I have learnt to make eye contact now more naturally, it is infinitely difficult if I am stressed. I remember often being told as a child to ‘look at me when Im talking to you’, by my mother and other people. I also seem to have inappropriate responses sometimes which I cannot seem to control. If I was told off as a child, I would often grin or giggle and get told off for it more. As an adult, I find myself grinning when I should be serious. I find I often have to analyse peoples behaviour as I do not understand it a lot of the time. I don’t understand relationships that well, although I can on an intellectual level. I do not have any friends in my real life. I just seem to have given up trying. I have never had an interest in pubs or clubs or going shopping with anyone else, I have little interest in clothes and fashion and all that rubbish. I do not like crowds and if I am in a crowd, I either start to panic or I get very angry and agitated. And start stimming.

I cannot empathise on an emotional level and as a result, my mother has throughout my life accused me of being selfish and of not caring about anyone else. I find I have to force myself to express sympathy and the like. They do not come naturally most of the time. I can intellectually understand, but I cannot generally understand others feelings unless I have been in the same position at some time in my life. I find being near anyone who is angry or upset very uncomfortable and frightening and will often do all I can to keep away from them. I do not like anyone expressing sympathy towards me as that too makes me uncomfortable. I do have feelings, but they tend to remain internalised or expressed through anger or through music and writing. I have had an obsession with music since a child and cannot go out unless I have it playing.

Obsessions/Routine/Everyday life
I have had obsessions since I was a child. I remember as a small child, I would take my pram around the garden, collecting all the snails I could. I did this for a time, and then I did the same with woodlice. I have always collected things. It was never enough to have just one or two of a thing. I have collected so many different things, I have forgotten some of them. I also had obsessions with different actors and films, as well as things such as butterflies and roman times. I would write lists and biographies and get all the films if I had an obsession with an actor. It was all I had interest in. With butterflies, I would draw all the types and read through all the descriptions and make projects on them. I have also, unfortunately, had a few obsessions with people which have caused me issues. As with any other obsession, I would talk about the person all the time, and analyse their behaviour and speech and try to work them out. I often developed feelings for them also, but was unable to do anything about it other than write notes and poems. Since getting my own laptop, my main obsession has remained internet forums where I am often on most of the day. I also get obsessed with certain computer games, which has repeated since I was a child. I have been accused of having no in between, always going to extremes.

I have certain routines and easily can become totally crippled by my obsessions. I had anorexia for many years so for periods, that was my obsession and I would list weights, calories and the weights and heights and measurements of models. At times, I get severe periods of OCD connected to this old eating disorder issue, such as looking in the mirror for up to an hour at a time, checking the bed for dents etc etc. I have to have my own space… I do not like anyone intruding in my room and this has been the way since I was a child. I always reacted with anger when I was disturbed by my parents when I was busy doing something. It also causes and caused me great distress if I lost anything or if anything of mine was moved and would result in my raging and shouting in my room, but not telling my parents what the problem was. For some reason, when something is disrupted, I get so angry I cannot control it. This has happened in public and can cause me trouble.

I have a bad memory so often have to make lists of what I need to buy as often I get to the shop to find I have forgotten to get what I needed most. I do not have a job as I have no idea how I would cope with working in an environment with any noise or lots of people. The idea frightens me and so I am on incapacity as I was starting to get ill from the stress of trying to find a job. I did not manage to finish my English degree because I couldn’t manage to focus on my work and was on the internet all the time. I made no friends during my time there and would often get panic attacks. Music has been a lifelong obsession. I know thousands of lyrics by heart and spend most of my day with music on and singing. I like to play the same songs over and over and sometimes, a certain combination of notes makes me feel elation…this is the same for other certain sounds like birds singing and the sea. They make me feel oddly happy.



Secondary traits of Asperger syndrome
I have sensory issues.
I cannot deal with too much noise or with any sort of repetetive noise. These can cause me to get angry and upset. I have always had issues with noises like the hoover, children screaming, dogs barking, any banging that is repeated, car horns, car engines, whispering.

I do not like being touched much and kissing is abhorrent to me. I find physical contact uncomfortable and avoid it as much as possible, even if I desire it sometimes.

I cannot cope with flickering lights and I find that fluorescent lighting…strip lighting, can make me panic.
I have to have total darkness to sleep.

I have issues with anger and rage. If there are things out of my control or that make me feel overloaded, I react with rage and sometimes hit myself or break things and bang my head.

I am clumsy and could not do sports at school well at all, other than trampolining. I often spill things, bump into things and break things accidentally.

Do you worry because it looks as if you are trying too hard ( why should you care?), or because you are trying too hard ?

I wouldn't try at all. Just turn up, answer questions ( sure have a list ready, in case you get confused.)
But i wouldn't worry about it.

I have had issues with people not taking me seriously before so I guess I assume that all will be the same.

I do not deal well with psychs, especially in a confined space...makes me very uncomfortable and nervous.

I think that is good.I wrote out every question from the RDOS? test,and answered each question with examples of how I felt it was true or not true about me.As an adult,there was a large stress on,not just who you are now but how you were as a child,so it's good that you included that.My DX took about 4 30 min sessions and went over the criteria in the statistical manuel...however,I still found it more difficult to answer the questions being spoken then I did writing it out before hand,so I think it helped him having some thing written to refer back to when I got stuck on a specific question(I have a lot of problems remembering childhood and spent a lot of childhood in foster care,so no one to answer some of the questions for me.He also did not really trust the "judgement" of my adopted parents as I described the.They are Christian Scientist and believe that any "difficulties" are an illusion created by listening to Satan......so their input wasnt very helpful to my situation.

Good luck with your appointment and let us know how it turns out.It seems like everyone has a different experience.

I am kind of doing the same thing only im going to the person that handles the autism part of the school or "Special ED". I have never eally shown any traits severly and have always been able to seem like a normal NT but recently due to some experiances I believe the effects have become more apparent. I ended up writing a list a definition of what I think Aspergers is. I'll post it under this one.

_________________

Yes, I am 14.

It might help.

A Self-Diagnostic of Asperger's Syndrome.
By Jake W. Pierce.

Defining Autism: Autism is considered a disorder with a neurological basis meaning a pathological condition relating to the brain and/or nervous system. Often beginning in early childhood found usually at the age of three years old a person may experience sensitivity to a number of different sensual stimuli, including lights, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, etc. This hypersensitivity may manifest itself in extreme avoidance of certain environmental aspects or stubborn clothing and food preferences. People with autism may also engage in self-stimulatory behavior by repetitively touching certain things, listening to specific sounds, and engaging in self-harm, among many behaviors. If over stimulated, the person may become extremely agitated or angry for no reason that is discernible to others, or people that are not autistic. Other specifically neurological signs include difficulty with fine and/or gross motor control meaning clumsiness, prosopagnosia (or "face blindness") lack of emotion expression, difficulty understanding verbal instructions or speech (e.g. Central Auditory Processing Disorder), and extreme visual or auditory skill or memory (a "photographic" or "tape recorder" memory).

Defining Asperger's Syndrome: Some professionals equate AS with high-functioning autism while others see it as a separate disorder. In any case, can exhibit a variety of characteristics and the disorder can range from mild too severe. OASIS decribes AS ("Persons with AS show marked deficiencies in social skills, have difficulties with transitions or changes and prefer sameness. They often have obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest. They have a great deal of difficulty reading nonverbal cues (body language) and very often the individual with AS has difficulty determining proper body space. Often overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, the person with AS may prefer soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to hear or see. By definition, those with AS have a normal IQ and many individuals (although not all), exhibit exceptional skill or talent in a specific area. Because of their high degree of functionality and their naiveté, those with AS are often viewed as eccentric or odd and can easily become victims of teasing and bullying. While language development seems, on the surface, normal, individuals with AS often have deficits in pragmatics and prosody. Vocabularies may be extraordinarily rich and some children sound like "little professors." However, persons with AS can be extremely literal and have difficulty using language in a social context.")

List of simpler characteristics shown in AS.

Note: No one person with Aspergers Syndrome has all these characteristics. Characteristics that I express are marked with a "*".

1. Cognitive Learning
A. Excellent rote memory in certain areas.*
B. Unregulated fears; difficulty judging situations that create fear - may be overly fearful in safe situations, yet fearless in dangerous situations
C. Very detail-oriented*
1. Difficulty seeing overall picture or situation*
2. Applies same level of detail to every situation whether appropriate or not
D. May have exceptionally high skills in some areas, but very low skills in others, i.e., splinter skills, savant skills, or special talents*
E. Prefers concrete, rather than abstract, concepts*

2. Language
A. Pronoun reversal
B. Excellent vocabulary; may sound like “The Little Professor”*
C. Conversational language may appear stilted
D. Speaks with stock phrases or phrases borrowed from other situations or people*
E. Makes honest, but often-inappropriate observations*
F. Has difficulties adjusting volume and speed in speech*
G. Problems with prosody; irregular accenting and inflection used in conversation
H. Literal language: difficulty understanding figures of speech, similes, parodies, allegories, etc.
I. Speech may have started very early in development or may have started then stopped for a period of time
J. Repeats last word or phrases several times (echolalia)
K. Difficulty understanding some language, i.e., directional terms easily confused*

3. Emotions
A. Rage/anger/hurt may all be expressed in unexpected ways
B. Perfectionism*
C. Easily overstimulated by sound, crowds, lights, smells*
D. Inside feeling not matching outside behavior*

4. Motor Skills
A. Difficulty with some skills requiring motor skill development
1. Gross motor skills - riding bike, swimming, crawling
2. Fine motor skills - handwriting, tying shoes
B. May have some advanced, age-appropriate skills while other age-appropriate skills are delayed, i.e., tying shoes before climbing stairs
C. Unusual walking gait or clumsiness
D. Difficulty with motor skills that require visual perception accuracy, i.e., walking through a parking lot, revolving door or turnstiles, participating in sports, guiding a shopping cart

5. Perseveration
A. Obsession - the fact or state of being obsessed with an idea, desire, emotion, etc*
B. Compulsions - an irresistible, repeated, irrational impulse to perform some act*
C. Fascination with rotation
D. Many and varied collections
E. Redirection very difficult (changing focus or thinking from one activity or idea to another)*
F. One emotional incident can determine the mood for the rest of the day; can’t let emotions pass quickly*

6. Social Cues
A. Difficulty reading facial expression and emotion in another person
B. Difficulty understanding body language
C. Difficulty understanding the rules of conversation
D. Difficulty understanding group interactions
E. Too much or too little eye contact
F. Difficulty understanding others’ humor
G. Problems recognizing faces out of the usual setting or known context (face-blindness or prosopagnosia)*
H. Stand-offish or overly friendly*
I. May adopt others’ behaviors, speech or dress habits to aid in more fluid communication and social adaptation*

7. Senses
A. Very sensitive or undersensitive to light, pain, taste, touch, sound, smell
1. May have injuries of which they are not aware
2. May experience physical pain from oversensitivity to light, sound, touch
3. Very picky eater, both in selections of foods and in the way they are presented on the plate
4. May crave specific touch, taste, smell, sight, sound, lights*
B. Over-sensitive to change in surroundings, people, places*
C. Over stimulation may result from too many verbal directions or instructions

8. Comfort Skills
A. Desires comfort items to produce calming effect - blankets, stuffed animals
B. May need external (outside) stimulation for calming - brushing, soothing sound, rotating object*
C. Comforted by minor motor stimulations - rocking, humming, tapping fingers, toes, sucking, rubbing fingertips in circles or on seams of clothing*
D. May need separate space or area to decompress*
E. Unusual attachment to object
F. Self-stimulation i.e., rocking, tapping, humming, etc.,to increase concentration and attention or to calm down and relax*

9. Neurological Function
A. Erratic neurological function
1. Attention difficulties
2. Irregular sleep patterns*
B. Understanding and working with time concepts difficult
C. Sensory processing disorders (how the brain processes information it receives from the sensory organs)
1. Visual processing disorders
2. Auditory processing disorders
3. Sensory integration disorders

10. New Situations, Patterns, People
A. Rule-oriented
B. Prefers known patterns with little unexpected surprises*
C. Prefers familiar places, clothing, people*
D. Difficulty with transitions when changing activities
E. Difficulty making and maintaining friendships (especially peer friendships); more successful with adults than other children or young people*

Question and Answer. Possible arguments to diagnostic.
(This has been edited to a shorter version of only two questions. The ohters a to be edited.)

Q: If Asperger's Syndrome is a life long process and people with it have always had it why haven't you been noticed before and been diagnosed?

A: I believe this has to do with psychology. It is true that a person is born with it and is often diagnosed at a earlier age but the diagnostic usually comes from the fact that the child seems different than others and doesn’t "fit in". My belief is that I was raised in an environment or had experienced the right kind of people that I was unconsciously taught to fit in better therefore the AS that I had was wasn’t as severe in terms of how it affected me. Its is told that people with AS have much harder time learning than others in terms of body language or how people talk. I do not know if I had this problem because I did not remember much at that age. It important to that many people who have it diagnosed when they are adults an only 30-50 percent of the people have it are diagnosed. The s of having AS though are 2-3 in every 10,000 people making it less than even regular autism.

Q: Why do you think you have Asperger's Syndrome of this now?

A: I believe it has manifested its self more now than it had because the experiences I had that kept the signs as being as noticeable are no longer affecting me. Though I am not sure that it has been noticeable to my parents or anyone I know yet I think that I notice it in myself. The signs are mostly developing habits, and the way I see other things.

_________________

Yes, I am 14.