Delay in self-help skills

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Hi,

Just saw this page linked from another thread:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/1807/criteria.html

& I noticed this paragraph:

"(V) There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.

The criteria the person met is valid if the person did not have a noticable delay in cognative thinking, for example, could answer "yes/no" questions at the appropriate age level, if they could feed and dress themselves at the appropriate age level, and if the person showed an interest in the environment around them at the appropriate age level."

I believe I meet all the other criteria for AS, but I did have a significant delay in self-help skills (dressing, shoelaces, going to the toilet by myself etc).

So does this mean I don't have AS after all?

Why is this criterion here, & if I don't have AS, what am I likely to have?

(I believe the cause of my problem to have been a combination of poor fine motor skills in my hands, poor proprioception, not wanting change & executive dysfunction).

Don't worry, there is a lot that the DSM -IV doesn't account for, such as support with self-help skills. Many health professionals specialising in AS have noticed that this is the case for many with AS.

Don't base your diagnosis onone fact alone, either way. I'm normally the first to doubt an AS diagnosis, but I think everyone should get all the facts before anything else. Keep looking, maybe you have AS, maybe you don't.

you probably have full blown autism

Hey, me too. They (my delays) just weren't apparent/obvious/blatant.

Not visibly disheveled or messy like some other kids (they had snot trails & hair tangles) when in elementary school, so I didn't attract concern from teachers. My academic (book-smarts) precociousness & being well-behaved in class were enough to make me seem "better-adjusted" than other kids at school, I guess. So what if I couldn't whistle (still cannot whistle at all) along with rest of students during music class ? Not that being able to whistle is related to the dx, but it was one thing everyone else (other than me) could do.
Was only child in whole family (of my generation) on both parent's sides, so there was no one my age with whom to compare me. Family members were all eccentric intellectuals-I didn't "present" as being much different, overall. My reasons (for specific areas of difficulty, most notably extreme "picky eating") were frequently sensory, though no one (incl. me) understood that then. Hadn't the concept in my brain to explain & when I did complain my perceptions weren't taken seriously-just knew when things were "wrong" and I felt "off".

Current dx is Asperger's, though only got the label in adulthood.
The official criteria don't make a lot of sense, and I agree they need to be refined, explored, and modified. Purpose of these lists of traits/symptoms is to help understand real people, not for actual people to have to contort themselves to fit the theoretical profile. The DSM & other descriptive reference books (those that are subjective) meant to assist in helping people should reflect our continuous learning & the experiences of actual people to whom these categories are intended to apply. Scientific tests for evidence of "this individual does or does not have an ASD" still don't exist-so it's all pretty much up for grabs (there are so many ways to define the terms used in the seemingly narrow criteria), and a judgment call (consensus lacking on what "it" is, among both researchers & the people who have an ASD). Therefore the "condition", syndrome, or neurological personality type is controversial on many fronts.

An adult running across a busy road as they see no danger is an example of a lack of age-appropriate self help skills.