Hello, my name is Adam. Nice to "meet" everyone he

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I am a father to a 5 year old boy Noah and an almost 2 year old girl Emilie. We are pretty sure, but are still on the fence about Noah being an Aspy. We have seen a few professionals and some say yes he does and others say it is too soon to tell. So, my questions are these.

1. At what age were you diagnosed with Aspergers?
2. At what age did your parents or other suspect something was "wrong"?
3. could you give me some examples of Aspy type behavior at the age of 4 or 5?

4. Lastly, can you describe yourself at age 5?

Thanks again,

Adam

hello Adam,

I might be able to help a little I hope... I was only diagnosed recently at 28, but my elder son was diagnosed at 5 (he is now almost 8). A lot of my own early childhood was a bit too hazy to tell (other than that at 5 I read at a near adult level of fluency and lectured at people incessantly on my latest pet subject lol), but my aspielet had difficulty fitting into groups from a young age - we had to withdraw him from nursery twice due to his behaviour being misunderstood - and frequently became overloaded and inattentive. He is somewhat clumsy and uncoordinated, has trouble 'switching off' and going to sleep at night (he is usually awake later than my wife, who says we are nocturnal lol), had/has a narrow range of interests (at 5 he was obsessed with Art Attack and would spend many hours destroying his room to create large scale 'art attacks', talked incessantly about art attack, had to be home in time to watch art attack etc.... does any of this sound familiar?) and even now plays alongside rather than with other children although he will join in as long as he can dictate. He has difficulty with eye contact and reacts very strongly to interference. We suspected that he was different when he started school and had difficulties from day one with sitting still, listening, bonding with classmates, choosing activities etc.
My own parents assumed I was just bright and eccentric, but I was showing 'hyperactive' behaviour and 'appearing to be deaf' (though tests proved otherwise - I could hear fine I just wasn't paying attention) by 6 or 7 which they assumed was due to food allergies, AS not being known back in the eighties.

Hope this is of some help to you

dunc

I was just DX'ed last week by a psycologist at the university I attend who's dealt with others my age who have aspergers.



My parents knew early on that I was different. I first began noticing in a subtle manner back in 1983 when I first began to interact with other kids in day care that I was different from them. By 1988 I was fully aware that I was different from everyone else.



For me that would have been 1985.

- I never got into GI Joe, cabbage patch kids, or any type of imaginitve play things which were all the rage at that time.
- I had a fascination with trains and train tracks, especially the switches. But I hated train whistles. In kindergaren I would draw railroad tracks with chalk on the blackboard. I also drew railroad tracks in other places that I shouldn't have, like on the side of my toy chest with crayon, or on the garage wall with a chunk of drywall I broke off.
- I would play with others, but I tended to prefer to play by myself.
- I can't remember if I did this at 5, but as a kid, I had to seperate all my food on my plate before I ate it.
- As a young child I had a very limited vareity of foods that I liked.
- I was very physically incapable when compared to others who were my age. I couldn't do things like climb on the jungle gym with out help from someone else.
- I had a very keen sense of hearing. My parents and others noticed I would easily pick-up on, and focus in on sounds that they would have to try really hard to notice.
- I had to have weekly counseling sessions at school for the problems I had.
- I tended to have unusually strong, or unexpected emotional reactions to seemingly random things.

Your posts are really hitting home with me. I really appreciate the responses. My wife lurks on some aspy and autism listerserves but they are mainly parents to older individuals. So, it's hard for us to relate to older aspys. It's nice to hear about what you guys were like at age 5. I am sure I will be here from time to time and definitely lurking.

My parents suspected I could be autistic when I was a year old as I got obsessed about looking at moths on the wall and had to point to each one and say "moth".

They later thought that I wasn't autistic because I spoke at an early age and was affectionate.

At age 5, I didn't like pretend games but liked playing with blocks and building towers. I could read and insisted on very structured bedtime routines. I'd get very insulted if somebody said I should only play with dolls and prams instead of blocks and cars. There were all sorts of obsessive interests like looking through a big box of old Christmas cards every day, insects, frogs, spiders, flowers and wishing wells.

My hearing was oversensitive and so was my response to heat and humidity.

I was diagnosed with Aspergers in 2003.

Welcome to wrong planet Adam!!

Welcome to WP!

I'm 34, and found out about Asperger's through unofficial diagnosis 2 years ago.

My parents did suspect something was different about me at that age, and took me to a child psychologist who diagnosed me with ADHD - a common misdiagnosis at the time.

What was I like at age 5?

Playing by myself alongside others, rather than with them, refusing to share my toys to play with others
Lining up toys, categorising them, or taking them apart rather than playing with the conventionally
Single-minded obsessions with various topics such as dinosaurs, aeroplanes, and ancient Egypt
Fascination with numbers and looking for repeating patterns in strings of numbers
Collecting electronic components, circuit boards, mechanical parts such as cogs and gears from watches
Reacting to any change in routine or even a change of clothes with temper tantrums
Sleep problems and disturbed sleep patterns
Memorising lists of things (popes, prime ministers, grand national winners)
Intense fascination with spinning objects
Humming, rocking, flapping hands
Intense focus on subjects of interest - distress if interrupted - failing to realise someone was trying to talk to me, or not hearing my name being called, often would concentrate so hard that I would start dribbling down my chin
Often seemed lost 'in a world of my own' staring into space
Spare time spent by myself reading or daydreaming
Incessant questions, questioning everything that was said to me
Refusal to wear certain fabrics or clothes with tags as too uncomfortable

I haven't changed much in the last 30 years

I'm not sure how much I can help you, but I'll try.

1. I know I was diagnosed at a fairly young age, but I'm not sure when. My parents tend not to talk about that kind of thing, even if I ask.

2. I had a lot of difficulties in school when I was in early elementary school (kindergarten and first grade especially). My parents knew I was bright because I learned to read early and I picked up math and basic physical science (i.e. the concept of gravity) at an early age. I also had problems with my eyesight, so I don't suppose that helped.

3. I don't remember what I was like when I was quite that young.

4. When I was little, I would come home from school crying and sulk in my bed for the rest of the afternoon. I had a stuffed blue dinosaur (Bebe) that I would carry around with me wherever I went, even to school sometimes.
I also loved to play with legos when I was little and would build almost anything and everything from them.
When I was a few years older (6 or 7), I became hooked on CS Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia series. Instead of playing with the other kids (who were all mean to me anyways), I would pretend I had traveled into Narnia or another made-up land.
My hearing and light sensitivity has always been extremely sharp. I still hear noises that don't bother other people (i.e. the water dripping from a sink on the other side of the house or the sounds of people writing during a test). I also have problems knowing what people are saying when more than one person is talking at a time.
I also had a lot of trouble with social interaction and really only had one or two friends through elementary school, one of which might have been an aspie as well.

I hope this helps and there is a lot of stuff that has been said in this thread so far by other people, so I don't feel like repeating what they've all said, specifically about behaviours.