Question for those with formal ASD/aspie diagnosis

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I am undergoing a formal assessment and the case worker I am working with called me today because the neuropsychologist wanted to know if I had any cognitive developmental issues before age 2. Naturally I told her that I do not remember as my memories do not go back that far. She asked to speak to my mother who was not home, and said she would call back later this week.

My question is for those who have been formally diagnosed, did this question arise? Did you have any developmental delays before the age of 2? I worry, because my mom isn't exactly mindful of any struggles I went through as a kid, and what she says may jeopardize me receiving a diagnosis of ASD.

Yes it did, and no I didn't. I hit all my milestones on time. It's about when speech developed and that sort of thing. So that's why I got diagnosed Asperger's rather than autistic disorder.

It's typical for the diagnostician to want to review childhood history. Both because childhood history is required for diagnosis in the DSM V and because children tend to openly express traits that they eventually learn to mask as adults.

That said, under 2 is rather young to be looking for history, as most of the social development cues don't start showing until around 2 years. The typical range they look for childhood development tends to be around 5 to 12 years. It could be the diagnostician is looking to confirm/rule out a possible alternate diagnosis that would express itself at a younger age.

I have no formal diagnosis, but my child does. He hit all his milestones on time, though on the late side of normal. I agree that it makes the difference between aspergers and autism--however since the removal of aspergers from the diagnosis manual, my child's diagnosis is high functioning autism. I don't like the removal of aspergers--there is such a wide spectrum that i think the differentiated diagnoses are beneficial. But obviously they didn't ask me before they did it.

In research and working with a behavior therapist to help my son, i found that i am likely on the spectrum due to many HFA/aspie traits...and as a child i hit all my milestones on time. Advanced in some things, actually.

i don't think that your mom's input would make the difference between an autism diagnosis and an "all clear" test result. Just give the dr a bit more information.

OP, how old are you? If you live in the U.S., you do NOT have to have your parents involved----unless, of course, they're paying for your assessment.

As for delays, the only one I remember having, was not walking until lonnnng after age 2----but, we were poor (I'm one of 10 kids), and I didn't have shoes; as soon as I got shoes, I learned how to walk. Then, because I wasn't allowed to wear them, everyday, else they would wear-out, too quickly, I walked-around barefoot----on tiptoe. I reached / exceeded all other milestones, in a timely manner.

I agree with the others, who say "Don't worry", that they're just trying to rule-out other "disorders", or whatever.

They didnt ask me that question. I didnt have developmental delays like speech that I am aware of. And my parents were no longer available for them to ask about it either. Maybe they got hold of my pediatric records somehow.

Well she originally asked me, but as my memory does not go back that far, to age 2, I had to refer her to my mother to answer that questio, no one forced her to participate. I am 29 and live in Canada. I am always afraid of things turning out for the worse because they have so many times in the past couple of years. I am thankful for everyone's reassurance. I have supplied the case worker and thus the psychologist with a vast amount of information relative to autism in my life. I hope it is an open and shut case because of how strong of a case I presented to them already. I hope my mom's testimony doesn't screw me over because she has been clueless about most of what I have gone through in my life until I told her, even then she usually took a long time to understand.

i was late/delayed in a few milestones and in things like learning to ride a bike, i didn't have real interest in.

As part of my assessment, I filled out a questionnaire that asked about the following:
- Description as Infant (temperament, sleeping, eating patterns)
- Gross Motor (when crawled, walked alone, ran)
- Fine Motor (when fed self with spoon, scribbled, tied shoes)
- Language (when used single words, used sentences)
- Social/Adaptive (when potty trained during day/night)

I do know my speech was difficult to understand through age 4. Also, I had to wear casts as a toddler because I was pigeon-toed.

Seems silly to me. What is your mom going to say about something like that? I mean it would just be anecdotal info. If you had a pediatrician who made notes about it, that would mean something. For me they knew something was wrong. I mean I had issues starting at birth. But far as I know they did not start trying to make a diagnosis until I was 2 years old. So I was diagnosed around 2 1/2. But anyways, if every asd dx depended on a parent's recollections of how the person behaved from birth to 2 years old, there would not be very many asd diagnoses.

There were questions of behaviour too - so for example I had no imaginary play, constant collecting and lining up stuff since before I could walk, no interaction whatsoever with other kids even though I was around them everyday, no initiating conversation or bringing things I was interested in to my parents. That sort of thing is before age 2. I don't know if that's needed to make a diagnosis of Asperger's though. Since Asperger's isn't usually diagnosed before age 2 I doubt it'd affect your results if she doesn't remember - my parents couldn't remember everything either.

Yes.

Developmental issues make up a huge part of the diagnosis. my mum and dad were asked about early development and I had records from when I was young being looked at;

but not everyone can get questions asked by family so you can still be diagnosed as on the spectrum without the history.

My parents were never asked any questions directly, but my evaluator did give me a form to give to my mother which pertained to my early childhood (birth, early milestones, temperament, etc.). It's highly unlikely that your doctor is going to make his/her diagnosis based solely, or even primarily, on your mother's testimony.

My evaluator didn't ask to speak to my parents, or have them fill any questionnaires out. I'm in the US, don't know if that matters.

I didn't have any significant development delays, except that I never crawled--I went from scooting around to walking, and I had to wear the special shoes for pigeon-toed walking as well. Talking was on a normal schedule, so far as I know. I did have some odd behaviors starting in toddler-hood, like staring at the pictures in a book (for grown ups) on the 13 Colonies for an hour at a time, or walking straight to anything that had changed in a room since the last time I had been there, no matter how small. I did other things early: I taught myself to read watching Sesame Street at age 4.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the childhood stuff. Most kids don't get diagnosed as early as 2, because the differences become more obvious when children enter daycare or school. I worried that I would not get diagnosed because I had 49 years of practicing how to act like an NT. I feared my coping skills would conceal my underlying symptoms. Not so! My evaluator said they were actually pretty obvious, so I guess i wasn't as good at faking it as I thought.

I got told mine were obvious, too. No idea why.

My assessor posed a question which pertained to speech development during my infancy. I admitted that my speech was delayed, as no word was uttered from my mouth until past the age of three.
Subsequently, with my consent, he contacted my mother to verify the information I had provided. She reaffirmed what I had shared and added that I possessed a talent for puzzles & mental arithmetic - both of which deserted me after sustaining a head injury in my first year at primary school.