At what age were you diagnosed with AS?

Post Reply New Topic

30

I was given a battery of hearing tests at age 4, which proved my hearing was not impaired. I was then diagnosed with ADHD. Aspergers was not a diagnosis at that time.

My mother later learned of Autism and suspected that I was autistic, but I did not get re-evaluated. I do not think I could have met the old criteria for autism as I began speaking at age 2. I did have very echolalic speech in childhood and I still retain some spontaneous speech issues.

I was diagnosed with Aspergers at age 30, at the same time as my 6 year old son.

[quote="Fiddlehead"] "I wonder how many of us older adults (say over 30) were first diagnosed with other things and what they were. I am 38."

I always knew something was wrong and began seeking help in my early 20's. But that was in the 1980's, well before AS was even in the DSM in the U.S.. Each of the diagnoses below came from different mental health providers. I would switch when it finally became evident to me that the therapist/doctor dujour was not addressing my actual problems and wasn't going to.

Age 22: PTSD - I had some actual trauma, but in retrospect, I think that PTSD was too strong a label for the circumstance, undoubtedly influenced by AS limited emotional affect being mistakenly perceived as the dulled emotional response of childhood trauma.
Age 33: Depression/Suspected BiPolar Disorder - I had the famous AS depression from severe struggles with making friends and maintaining romances. My attempted imitation of NT behavior was tinged with a great deal of anxiety in social settings. This would easily look like mania, since I wasn't very adept at faking NT socialization skills, and I acted really hyper when I tried.
Age 35: ADHD - At least they finally began to notice the executive function and attentional problems. They were getting warmer.
Age 48: AS - My new therapist had just returned from a mental health conference where she attended a seminar about setting former diagnoses aside and simply listening with an open mind and fresh ears to the client. She said she thought of me on the plane ride home, and spoke to me about AS on our very next appointment. It was only the fifth time she'd seen me. Finally, I found someone who paid attention to all of my symptoms instead of cherry picking through them and taking a wild guess. I'd seen each of the previous therapists for years to little avail.

It took me 26 years of actively pursuing assistance to find someone who REALLY LISTENED to what I was telling her...Two years later, I'm still grieving what my life might have been had I been diagnosed earlier. But, at least now I know and have 20-30 more years (hopefully) to make up for lost time.
-Chariot[b]

i was diagnosed with autism at age 6 when i entered school. school seemed to have issues with me refusing to talk. my parents thought the diagnosis would damage me in some way so nothing was done and everyone pretended that i didn't have it. later in college i was diagnosed with PTSD. after college, therapist asked about autism and i told her i had been diagnosed. it's funny but i never thought to mention the diagnosis until someone asked.

Diagnosed at 20.

Diagnosed at 20

Female diagnosed age 52.

I was diagnosed with ASD when I was about 4 years old. My current diagnosis is aspergers, but I think it was changed when I was in primary school. I just don't remember at what age.

Oh, and I'm a female

I was 12 or 13 when I was diagnosed.

At 60, this August.

Around 41 or 42, I don't remember which (I'm 45 now). I diagnosed myself first after I read about autism on a Doctor Who message board and did research. Then it took me a year to find a professional that took me seriously and tested me. She said I had Aspergers and suddenly so many things about me and my life made sense. It was a relief. I wasn't the only person on the planet like me.

I will hopefully be diagnosed sometime in the next couple of months at the age of 21.

Female, 49. Just officially diagnosed on Friday Jan 10th. Unofficially diagnosed in May, but apparently many people who knew me already knew years before that. "Why didn't you tell me then?" I asked. "We thought you knew." They said.

But hey, this is a relief, this knowing, and having options. Better then in second grade when they labeled me ret*d because I couldn't read at all. Or again at fourth grade because I couldn't write. Or all the places over the last 49 years when I wasn't like other people or even close.

I was diagnosed with ADHD the summer before preschool, and I was diagnosed with AS in second-grade.

I am self diagnosed at the moment - age 26. Looking at pros and cons of getting official diagnosis.

At age 50.

Age 30.