Adult Aspies - do you still fit the DSM-IV criteria?

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I match all the criteria and was diagnosed this year at 26 years old.

I do think there is a lot of confusion at the moment in what AS is and its leading normal people to self diagnose. But without having a history as a child with AS then I dont think its AS at all. Normal people who are just bad socially would be able to get diagnosed with these criteria if they arent taking in consideration its a developmental disorder from birth.

I would have met the AS criteria if I didn't have a development delay and speech delay. But I met enough in the other parts but not all of the bold.

On the surface, I don't appear to meet many of the criteria. I think, however, this is what makes adults so difficult to diagnose is that they learn over time, to hide some of their odder features. What I do inside myself is a complete mess, but I can usually appear to hold the rest of me together.

I have hope that with the advent of the DSM-V, I will meet more of the criteria. When is that sucker going to come out?

1. I consider myself shy, and usually focused more on my work than on interactions with others, although I am friendly and do interact with people.

2. Yes, I still have strong interests, and some can be considered unusual, both in intensity (a love of cats and other animals), or out of place, given my age (a 43 year old woman who likes Roger Bannister)

3. No significant impairment in anything except for lacking a driver's license. I function well, but sometimes do dumb things. I consider myself a bit clumsy, but otherwise functional.

4. This applies. I learned to speak and read well at an early age. I started out speaking German, learned English at six, and Spanish in high school. Language usage is one of my strong areas.

5. Other than being a bit clumsy, as I described earlier, and a bit introverted, I don't see myself as having notable social problems.

6. No schizophrenia or any other known disorders. They tried to tell me I was hyperactive as a child. I was high energy, but it was always focused and I was a driven person academically.

I was recently re-assessed and I was still considered to be well within the framework of AS, I thought I would be borderline at worst or a 'residual' or 'past' aspie, but no, still an aspie.

I suppose I am not surprised by this since I seem to have some dysfunctional areas that have not improved over the years.

The bits that appear to have improved are the bits where I have learned to pretend really well, but even they fall apart after quite a small amount of time.

Oh well, its not the end of the world is it

I have most of the criteria with a large over compenstion for those i dont readily show, such as eye contact and a few others. I tend to stare down people without realising it.

Daniel,

THANKS for renewing my faith in Attwood, etc... His criteria DO fit me. I guess GILLBERG'S criteria are about the only ones that don't!

SZATMARI's DOES require my taking other people's opinions of some things such as "lack of cohesion to conversation. ", but HEY, YOU said that was a GOOD thing!

i thought over sensativity to light, noise, foods etc are also an issue!
and- having problems being in the company of others. neither of these issues is covered in criteria, but seem anecdotially to be a huge problem- they are for me.

ok- thanks for the correction!

Since my diagnosis was only a year ago, everything stayed pretty much the same regarding required criteria. I was diagnosed by use of the ICD-10 though.

I could expand, because there is more to the explanation of ICD-10 than just that one paragraph. At least, people are using this further explanation all the time.

I'm sure there's a better translation than mine from German to English... but it turned out quite good actually.

I would have fit the criteria more distinctly when I was a child.

Diagnosed as an adult. AS was unheard of when I was a child, and when my kids were little.

1) qualitative impairment in social interaction

Yes. Very much so.

2) restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and interests

Yes. Creature of habit and a creature of obsession. Ongoing.

3) significant impairment in important areas of functioning

This one seemed sort of vague to me, could describe a lot of things, but yes there are a lot of problems I've dealt with in regard to functioning as a "normal" adult.

4) no significant delay in language development

I began talking at the same time I began to read, at the age of three. So yes, no significant delay.

5) no significant delay in cognitive development, self-help skills or adaptive behaviors(other than social interaction)

No delays in these areas, either, save for some minor problems with acquiring self-help skills.

6) criteria are not met for another specific pervasive developmental disorder or schizophrenia.

No other developmental disorders and though I had some problems with having a 'fantasy prone personality' in my early years, the docs assured me later on that I didn't have schizophrenia. I've since learned that AS people can often have a very detailed fantasy life.