I HAVE HFA!! !! !! !! !

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Sorry for shouting but I just got back from my assessment at the clinic. It was with Simon Baron-Cohen himself and he told me I am without a doubt on the autistic spectrum.

I'm so relieved/happy/excited/not sure what do now...

Just needed someone to tell

yay!

congrats
There's always enough room for more so come at take a seat and make yourself at home.

Good for you. I guess...

That must have been an exciting interview. I'm glad you received a correct diagnosis. Now, if you need support services, you can get them.

Where do you guys find these clinics? I mean seriously, is Nevada just that lacking in trained professionals?

I have no doubt I'm on the spectrum, that much I've come to terms with. I remember how hard it was growing up, though nothing ever seemed off at the time, looking back it was... painful. Maybe I blocked myself from it. I don't want the same for my brother, so getting him DX'd would be a huge help. He's probably more HFA than AS, but still. Free early childhood programmes, intensive ones, exist, but you have to have an 'in'. And this would help him. Would also help for mum to come to terms with it before proper schooling begins.

Congrats on your DX. It's a validation, and it's freeing.

I can imagine it must feel good to have an official diagnosis. Congratulations

Did Simon Baron-Cohen happen to explain why he thought you were HFA rather than AS? I know some workers in the field think there's no difference. I heard that AS has higher verbal intelligence than nonverbal, and that it's the other way round for HFA.

Also, did you get tested just for autism, or did they look at other disorders as well? I presume it was done privately, as I can't see the NHS buying a diagnostician who's so high up in the food chain.

Congratulations on your diagnosis. At least you are now able to know that everything will be okay. I wish you all the luck. I bet you feel very good now. Hope all is well.

You seem relieved and ready to move forward. It must have been a long wait with such a renown dr.
best to you,

equinn

Yeah that was something he paused on and had to have a think about. He settled on HFA because the paediatricians notes which I had brought to show him said that I had no speech (+screaming tantrums) at age 18 months for which I was referred to a speech therapist. I then recovered speech at 2 years and 2 months. He wasn't sure whether that counted as a significant language delay and finally decided that it was. He even considered giving me a split diagnosis but then said he appreciated that i like things to be "complete". I asked what the difference was and he said its just the language deficit.



I explained that I already had a diagnosis of dyslexia (indeed this was partly the reason I had referred myself) and that when I was waiting for my dyslexia assessment I strongly suspected it was ADHD but am now sure its AS. But no he didn't assess for anything else. It wasn't done privately. It was at his clinic CLASS which is a charity. I'm just lucky that I go to university where he teaches and so I was able to get a diagnosis with him.

No it was only about a 3/4 month wait (but actually seemed like forever). Their clinic fast-tracks students

I like how you are taking charge of your life.

Thanks for your answers, CambridgeSuperman

The first post of this topic
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt96438.html
suggests that Simon has recommended a set of 10 criteria, all of which need to be met in order to be diagnosed positive for AS.......quite an unusual approach.
I was wondering if you noticed any evidence that he was actually using that method for your diagnosis, or whether he basically stuck to the standard DSM IV criteria?

He uses a modified DSM-IV-TR IIRC. Here it is: AAA

You need to meet more points than the basic one.

Hmmm thats a tricky one. Well I'd submitted 3 questionnaires beforehand; the AQ, EQ and CAST which my sister filled out for me. The preliminanry screening form also asked how many of the 10 criteria i fullfilled.

During the assessment itself, he basically asked me to tell the story of why I'd referred myself. He then let me go on about social difficulties throughout school and university.

After a while,I guess he was convinced I fulfilled the social criteria so then said he wanted to change the direction of the assessment. He asked me to tell him about my obsessions and narrow interest. It was quite obvious that he was looking for signs of these at all stages of my life and even asked me what I current obsession is. He seemed quite impressed by my Rubik's cube solving and commented that it probably it isn't a conincidence that so many people he's assessed had cited it as their favourite toy.

When I was able to glance at the sheet of paper he was writing on, I did note some tickboxes which looked like he was filling out the AAA

What's the AAA?

ToughDiamond, AAA=Adult Asperger Assessment.

Danielismyname has helpfully provided a link in his post (the letters AAA in Danielismyname's post are a link).