Age of Diagnosis

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one day before my 12th brithday

I have not been diagnosed by a psychologist, but after my (now 7 yr old) son was expelled from pre-school at the age of 3, for correcting the teacher too often, we had some really tough times trying to make sense of IT ALL.

Obviously, with a 3 yr old sporting reading skills of a smart 2nd grader, we knew he was special some way, but we were not familiar with autism other than the movie "Rainman" and a couple of photography clients we had seen over the years in our portrait studio, who had low functioning children. One of the teachers who had removed my son from pre-school classes with no explanation, told us to have him "tested", but did not say what kind of test he should have. Something to do with state regulations regarding any medical diagnosis or implication from an unqualified person and the legal liability the school system would be exposed to, prevented her from going into details. So, she really did us a favor by bending the rules and speaking to us in a candid manner, even though she was not specific.

After the third wave of tests he had to endure, one of the psycologists, new to the team, made a remark to me that "I" was probably one of the most amazing success stories she had seen and wished me the very best for my son.

"Excuse me, but WHAT did you just say?"

At that point, our education about autism consisted of the psyche groups substantial hand out package, a month's worth of internet research, and I had read Temple Grandin's "Thinking In Pictures" and Brian Seigel's " The World Of The Autistic Child". I cried through both of those and I was already thinking that most of this stuff was familiar to me and started to talk to my wife about odd abilities that I can demonstrate, like getting a half second glance at a scene and days later being able to read signs and info from the scene from a mental picture. It never really occurred to me, before, that not everyone could do that. Anyway the head Dr. had told us that the other Dr. had merely misspoke and that they would need to do some of the same procedures on me to confirm or deny my suspiscions. I haven't done that yet, but I don't really need to.

Before anyone says that I have a fool for a patient, let me just say that none of this new education I have acquired is about me. I am mainly trying to help my kids get a fair shake and as long as I can, I will represent their interests to any institution that tries to wave them aside and I will do so from a position of Knowing-What-The Hell-I'm-Talking-About, for the most part, anyway.

So, rambling my way back to the thread topic, I was 46, four years ago, when I came to the personal conclusion that I'm not really crazy and that there is a reason for some of my quirky habits and social dysfunctions.

Last edited by DirtDawg on 29 Jul 2006, 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I was around 15 and eight months. It was sometime in November of 2004.

I was 22 (almost 23) prior to that I had been given the diagnosis of OCD but I never took this seriously it just didnt seem right to me. Before I was 18 I never had a diagnosis at all.

I'm old enough to have made it through school without a Dx because AS wasn't added to the DSM until after I graduated. The school people did try to figure me out quite a few times.

I heard about other people being diagnosed with AS several times over the years but I tend not to pay too much attention to other people's problems so it was never something I spent any time researching. Had I looked it up even once then I would have made the connection immediately.

When I was 39 I finally got frustrated enough by my symptoms to go searching for a Dx. I did some surfing and "discovered" AS. I went to see a psychologist and he reached the same conclusion and then added a few other things I hadn't considered (including ADHD).

Sorry, change of topic, can I just say I love the kitty pic (your avatar) - sorry - couldn't help but say!

I was finally diagnosed w/ AS at the age of 19 which was 3 months ago.

I'd like to point out in the US thimerosol is still in all vaccines, including the Flu shot. It was briefly taken out of the flu vaccine for children, but then they put it back in. In other countries there has been no thimerosol for years. My friend's husband is a pharmacist and he is friends with many doctors so we have not come across a single thimerosol-free vaccine vial at all. I say we because I also snoop in doctor's cabinets to read vials to monitor the situation. Yes I'm nosey, but its for a good cause. Besides they shouldn't leave people waiting in a room for a hour because people like me get bored easily and have to find ways to entertain ourselves.

But to answer the original question - I was diagnosed with AS at age 35. I've been Aspie-weird since the beginning as I can tell from early home movies that I have always been this way. However I did get a little weirder and start having more health problems after I got a MMR booster shot which I was told I had to get to get in college. Turns out I was the only idiot who did because the school never checked to make sure everyone got the booster shot and everyone in my freshman class laughed at me especially since it was kinda expensive.

Now I refuse all vaccines after I found out many contain contaminants such as mycoplasms. Plus I got pneumonia a year after a pneuomonia shot that was suppose to be good for 10 yrs. I got sick after a tetanus/dipetheria booster. I don't trust any vaccines any longer and don't want any more mercury-laden injections anyway because I'm crazy enough as it is. People really need to read up on these things before they let a complete stranger inject them with something. How many of you have ever read the vial labels? How many have actually researched vaccine contaminants? Of course the FDA says its safe because they are controlled by Big Pharma. Its all about $$$.

I was 12 when i got diagnosed. I'm 21 now.

Diagnosis of autism at 8 years old in 1961 at the Ballarat Norwood Clinic

Anecdotal support is not as reliable as scientific data.

Here is the citation for the article published in the prestigious journal, Pediatrics, which compares the rate of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (of which AS is one) in children who were and were not exposed to thimerosal and concludes that there is no link between thimerosal and PDDs:

Fombonne, E.; Zakarian, R.; Bennett, A.; Meng, L.; McLean-Heywood, D. Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Prevalence and Links With Immunizations. Pediatrics. 2006: 118, 139-150.

no aspergers is causd by a vaccine it is and always has been there...we are just recognising it better now.

Diagnosed at age 14. Am 21 now.

Wrong. I've already explain why and cited my source.

well im saying that no aspergers is caused by a vaccine..what are u saying?

Maybe the MMR vaccine makes the symptoms more obvious? But I don't think it causes it altogether, because that wouldn't explain why AS is often hereditary. I got it from my dad.