"Self diagnosis" trends...source of ridicule

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How much does an evaluation cost?


As adult AS evaluation is difficult to obtain in Victoria OZ I haven't officially enquired.

I do recall someone mentioning that it could cost between $500;00 and $1000:00 AUD.


As I'm now on a pension it is not affordable.... also I don't feel the necessity to get a piece of paper verifying who I am.


Whilst My IQ is not of MENSA level, it is of a level that has enabled me to overcome many obstacles , however, social interaction I still find extremely difficult.
Working at trying to be "normal" takes a great deal of effort and the energy required has left me drained.
I see no point in wasting this precious energy attempting to achieve the impossible, especially as I'm actually very comfortable with little "social" contact. I have accepted that I am Normal .. that is Normal for myself as an Aspie. " Why would a cat force itself to bathe in water"?

Actually the psicologist of my daughter (HFA) refused to make a DX of me, she said: "I'm pretty sure you have Asperger, but why the hell I must DX you, you live fine with it and you don't need anything (that's true)".

Well, I'm in the US. I got a Dx for less than $200, without insurance.

When we went to the first appointment to get my youngest son diagnosed the developmental pediatrician asked if there were any differences in our families. She asked my husband once. She asked me 5 or 6 times, the last time leaning in trying to get eye contact dragging out the sentence, "anyone at alllll". I was so nervous, because I hadn't thought about my own differences yet. I couldn't figure out what she was wanting me to say, only that I was obviously not giving her the answer she was looking for. Autism was still very new to me. When I finally figured out that I may be on the spectrum I asked her when we took my other son to be diagnosed where adults can get diagnosed, and she told me there wasn't a point. The fourth time I saw her I FINALLY got her to give me a name of somewhere she thought might do it, still saying there wasn't a point, unless the person being diagnosed was getting it for benefits. Then, she went into the long speil (again) about how benefits don't pay enough to live on, so you'd be better off trying to work if you could. I never have told her that it was me that wants to be evaluated.

Just a side note, but I really don't think OCD and ADHD are included on the autism spectrum, nor sensory disintegration disorder. It's possible it's all part of an even bigger spectrum, but to my knowledge, only autistic disorder, asperger's, pdd-nos, rett's syndrome and fragile x-syndrome are autism. I might be forgetting one of the other rare chromosome deficiencies, if so, I apologize.

I can't believe people wasted their time and energy arguing with what was an obvious troll (ie someone trying to provoke). This poster attacked me for no reason on another thread, I immediately saw what this person was about and stopped answering them. Sooner or later they disappear or are banned anyway, so why bother.

This is a useless thread, since all self-diagnosed Aspies get the same credit as diagnosed Aspies everywhere (except in gov't institutions).

I agree with others on this thread who said it's a pity this kind of threads gets the most participation.

Exactly. I don't mind discussing why it might be hard to get a dx, or where someone might go to get one, ect... but I'm not going to engage in an argument that's designed by someone else to just get people riled up.

It is now my policy to ignore threads like this period, even if I have advice to offer about where/when, and how to get a diagnosis. I'm not going to help these sorts of threads along anymore more by posting to it.

True, serenity. And btw, just wanted to clarify that I don't mean the OP (I don't know the OP).

how did you manage that? I've been quoted $1000-1500 by every psychologist I talked to who assesses adults for autism. luckily I found one (yes, just one in my huge city) in my insurance network. it was the same deal when I went for the ADHD dx for my daughter. the school district requires that the dx comes from a medical doctor, but medical doctors don't dx ADHD, so I had to take her to a child psychologist for testing (pricetag $1500 but luckily insurance covered 90%) and the MD then read her report and "made" the diagnosis so my daughter can get an IEP.

I don't know that I can be truly described as self-diagnosed; the first person to diagnose me was my elder sister, who reportedly finished the Newsweek article about "Geek Syndrome" (back in '02, IIRC), put the magazine down, looked at her husband, and said, "So THAT'S what's wrong with Jon!"

I looked up the description in the DSM-IV, saw some very familiar things, then showed it to my wife, who said the opposite page should feature my picture. Others who know of the condition have agreed without prompting.

I lack the wherewithal to get a formal diagnosis (heck, I can't even afford to see a medical doctor for my extremely overdue physical, which I should have had at 40); the state of Washington has recently had to cut several recipients of Medicaid from their rolls, and is not adding anyone at this point. Besides, from my wife's experience (she has Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety Disorder, among other problems), the only place around here they'll pay for is staffed by nurse's aides, none of whom are competent to diagnose pretty much anything. (They also can't prescribe, which is why my wife suffered for several months without the antidepressants that help keep her alive; fortunately, we found someone to renew her old prescription...)

OTOH, I don't see the need for a formal diagnosis - sure, it'd be nice to get the pittance Social Security would offer me, but if I can hold out another decade and a half, I'll get that anyway, just for being old.

I can see that a diagnosis for an adult who manages to get by could be unnecessary, but I would like the people in my life to have more realistic expectations of what I can and can't do. I'm not lazy-I just can't.

Hello. I'm pretty new here and not sure where to post this message... First of all I'm not diagnosed to have an Asperger or any kind of that, and actually "so" I would like to know how people got them diagnosed by their own will and/or need to that. I've been thinking this for a quite a while because I've never really had a feeling of fitting in any group very well or even in this world. Since early childhood I've creating worlds of my own those are even now, when I'm 18, as or even more real as this "reality". Of course this is only one of the mildest things that influence my everyday life, "daydreaming" does not mean having an Asperger. Real reason why I'm asking this are all kinds of little things, my obsessions, collecting things, forgetting things generally considered as vital (like eating, birthdays...) and on the other hand remembering all kinds of little things important to me but those other people either see as nonsense or just meanless. I have always had problems in social life though when trying to fit here I have been able to get real friends and somewhat pay attention on socializing myself - neverthless it has been hard way to get even this far. And even now I somewhat suppose that when my friends move or I do, I have to start all this over again because I'm pretty much unable to preserve even closest relationships if I don't have to meet those person every week. At times I'm feeling guilty because of my need of solitude. Without having some hours of time to be all alone every day, I just get really tired and even angry.

My parents cannot understand these things. They cannot see how much struggling it needs to able to even make a call to them or to discuss about how I'm going to get home from the school (I use to go in the same ride as they return home from their work : ). Neither they - nor my friends, teachers, classmates - seem to understand why I'm so "slow". I hate returning works that have not been thoroughly thought and I'm really bad with deadlines. I just cannot really figure them out no matter how much I try. It would be somehow relieving to able to just state that this is me and try to get over with it. I cannot change in one sparkling moment and be someone else. That it's not about being lazy (I work really hard actually. I've always tended to even overdo things. Too many hobbies, too much school.) or not caring about others or duties. I just find this world so overwhelming that it takes time to try to cope with everyday life - plus all the extra things that might occur.

I don't know how you find this message but I felt a huge relieve reading your messages and all other information I could get and seeing that there are people with similar "difficulties" out there too. : ) Anyway, I fear that if I bring this up in "wrong" moment, I would be only categorized as a person seeking for some extra time for her final exams... (This is one of the largest "problems" of mine. I hate exams and tests and I cannot understand what so important in them that people need to be tested every once in a while for nothing solid. And for I feel really frustaring sitting there in an (almost) silent class, I can hardly think myself sitting voluntarily there any more minutes that is the time given. x___x) I would like to be diagnosed in seek for some way or another to ease the conflicts between me and my family as well as find a way to explain my behaviour and whims.

Still, thank you. Even though I would never be diagnosed I can relate to so many of your massages and I've found some of them even kind of helpful. n___n (And please, give me some mercy if there are grammatical errors here! I'm not a native speaker, nevertheless...)

There are a number of conditions that some practitioners diagnose which in the DSM are clumped together as PPD NOS. Intellectual/Global dyspraxia, for instance, is an Autistic Spectrum Disorder diagnosis that some physicians give, and this is in effect (if one wished to use the DSM categories) a specific example of the PDD NOS category.

Non verbal Learning Disorder and semantic pragmatic disorder are both conditions where it is entirely unclear quite what the relationship is to ASDs. Some believe one or more of these conditions are separate to Asperger Syndrome but highly co morbid (with Asperger Syndrome), and some believe one or more is a variety of ASD (possibly AS, possibly PDD NOS, possibly a group that overlaps the border between AS and PDD NOS) as conceived from a non psych field of practice.

So a number of other conditions that some physicians specifically identify, are clumped together in the DSM as PDD NOS, and additionally, there are a number of conditions where the relationship to ASDs is not clear, including whether or not the diagnostic is actually a separate diagnostic category to those specifically named in the DSM, or a PDD NOS, or not actually an ASD at all, but highly co-morbid with one or more ASDs.

Welcome to Wrong Planet utusia

Many of us know exactly how that feels. I hope you enjoy posting here. It is a new experience to talk to people who understand after so many years of feeling alone.

Idiocratik, it would help a lot of people to know how to get an evaluation for $200 -- please elaborate. Was it as a university student or something? They all seem to charge at least $100/hr, not including the time to do the analysis of the interview/testing parts, and it takes way more than 2 hours.

Yes, and welcome!