diagnosis

Post Reply New Topic

Hello,
I recently posted about telling my mom about seeking a diagnosis for an Autism spectrum disorder (I am 14 and live in the US ) so when I told her I said , Hey mom I have been doing research on Autism spectrum disorder because I feel different than everyone and she quickly brushed it off by saying "Well you can't because they probably won't diagnosis you " and the reason why I am seeking a diagnosis is because I am having some trouble at school with people been mean to me because " I have a rude face" that means I have the same facial expression all the time it's hard for me , and they constantly say I'm sassy when in reality I just don't know how to talk to people or keep a conversation going and when I do they quickly stop talking to me . So by saying that I just need a way to re-tell my mom without her telling my 5 siblings that I am attention seeking ( my siblings will say that I'm just being stupid and make fun of me )

Is there anybody at your school you could speak to about this?
It might help if you could find somebody there who might understand ASD a bit better than your mum does and if needs be could speak to her on your behalf.

Unfortunately they would probably tell my aid ( I have dyslexia and ADD) and she wouldn't be to happy

I'm sure they wouldn't if you asked them to keep it confidential. Then again, your aide might be able to help with any questions you have, particularly if they have experience working with students on the spectrum.

Take some of the aspie tests online, read some articles on ASD, and then print them out and highlight all the problems you feel that you are experiencing, then show everything to your mother. She may take you more seriously afterwards.

Maybe you need to re-frame things a bit:

Yes, you are having trouble at school because people are mean to you and the way you interact with people--and you think the reason is ASD.

Yes, you have trouble interacting with people--and you think the reason is ASD.

Yes, you ARE attention-seeking--because you are unhappy, not coping, and feel like you could do a lot better with treatment for ASD.

It's OKAY to seek attention when you feel bad. it's not stupid to ask for help, in fact it's very smart and mature. Whether this is autism or something else, you obviously need some sort of help to feel better.

I agree with the idea of talking to the counselor, and also printing out the tests and lists for your mom to read. My mom didn't believe me either, until I gave her a list of all the symptoms that matched.

Why do you suspect your aid would be unhappy if she knew you were seeking an AS diagnosis?

My school has some guidance counselors that aren't that good about telling you to keep quiet and the aid would probably be unhappy because I have more than one aid for classes and one of them already doesn't like me so if she finds this out..

why would she be upset?

Well I don't think she would be upset and mad at me but however I think they would kinda think I was being over dramatic about it

Why does your aid not like you? That's not very helpful to your education, can you talk to someone and have her replaced?

My aid doesn't like me because "I'm to quiet" and she thinks that "I ask to many questions" . I mean I can't have her replaced unfortunately because other kids who have Ieps would get angry along with their parents