I'm new here... first post

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I was professionally diagnosed with ADHD & a reading disorder, at the age of like 6 or 7. Recently I've. been questioning my diagnosis. I have this weird feeling that I have Autism or Asperger’s syndrome, because I was just casually surfing the web one day, and saw this like ASD symptoms checklist site. I go on and had about 80-90% of all the symptoms. Also when I was younger I never stimmed, but now I'm 15 and I catch myself stimming like every 25-30 minutes. But I save my more noticeable one for when I'm by myself. So people don't ask "What's wrong with you?" And also is it normal for ASD symptoms and Diagnoses to happen later in life like around early to mid teenage? If someone could please answer that question for me and one other question and that is; Are any of these stims of mine unhealthy, harmful or abnormal? And also tell me if you get any of the same stims... Now, my parents know that my ADHD makes me stim, but they don't know that I think, I have Autism or HFA. Should I tell them or not?

My Stims:
(My stims are triggered by Nervousness, Anxiety, thinking, stress, or when I'm really sleepy)
finger drumming
finger twisting (Crossing Fingers)
shaking fingers [At school I do the same but with my pencil] in mid-air in front of my face
rocking, while rocking I will sometimes hug my chest or a pillow or I will place my hand over my ears or eyes.
blinking rapidly
fists clenching really tight till my arm muscles twitch
Stretch my legs all the way straight and point toes forward when laying in bed.
Leg bouncing
rising my arms above my head and shaking them left to right as fast as possible
rolling my eyes
hand twitching
daydreaming [Long periods of time 10+ minutes]

If you have a good, close relationship with your parents, it wouldn't be bad to speak of your speculations pertaining to autism. They would be the ones who would have to approve you getting an assessment.

I wish I could actually see you in action....that would really be the only way I could even speculate as to whether you have autism or not.

I think many young people have "stims" which they hide from other people.

In autism, frequently, one cannot actually "hide" stims from other people; some stims are beyond the person's control.

I also wanted to say: Welcome to the Forum. Even if you don't happen to have autism, Welcome still!

What is your school situation like? Are you in special classes, or are you mainstreamed with something like "resource room?" for one-two periods a day?

In my opinion, if possible, you should stay mainstreamed, and be on the path towards a regular high school diploma.

Sounds like you're on the right track, then.

Are you on track to graduate "on time?"

Excellent!

Do you have a college major in mind?